Brussels, Belgium (AHN) – In an attempt to curb human trafficking, the European Union has approved a new law under which it will punish those who will assist the smuggling gangs with 5-10 years of jail sentence.

A large majority of Euro parliamentarians also passed tougher measures to combat forced labor as well as sexual exploitation.

Denmark and the United Kingdom were unconvinced with the new law, as they were concerned about the EU judicial powers.

Despite this, UK Conservative MEPs still voted for it. “The EU’s directive is not perfect but, given the stakes, we decided to give it our support,” said Marina Yannakoudakis, MEP of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.

She said that the EU directive came a little closer to the red line, adding that she still believes that the criminal law would continue to remain with national governments and EU would not cross it.

The directive will replace EU’s 2002 decision and broadly defines exploitation as instigating, aiding, abetting or attempting all comes under human trafficking crime. The bloc has two years’ time to bring it into effect.

If the perpetrator is a legal entity, the directive will impose sanctions like fines or exclude it from public funding. In extreme cases, it also reserves the right to permanently close the organizations.

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