ICE - special | All stories

The Czech authorities are also fighting a thriving trade in human misery. The Czech Republic is chiefly a transit country, although occasionally Czech women are forced into prostitution abroad, and women from Eastern Europe often end up working in the sex clubs of Prague and the border regions. Deputy director of Crime Prevention at the Czech Interior Ministry, Radim Bures, talks about the problems

The World Bank says ending the poverty of Romany people is one of the most critical issues for the EU candidate countries. The point was made after a meeting of The World Bank and eastern European governments, in Budapest. Former World Bank employee and Budapest conference coordinator Gyula Varaljai says living conditions for the Roma of central Europe are far below the average.

While Poland and the Ukraine are tackling a troubled history, Slovenia is helping some of its neighbours to clear other painful reminders of war. Slovenia's International Trust Fund for De-mining and Mine Victims Assistance was created to help Bosnia and Herzegovina clear land mines left from the wars in the former Yugoslavia. It's since become a leading humanitarian agency in South Eastern Europe. And the United States is pledging further funding for their work.

Up to a million people, most of them young women and girls are victims of human trafficking each year - according to the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime. Many of the victims are lured with false promises of jobs and wealth but end up exploited for sex and labour. Central European countries are both a destination and source of women who are trafficked. Vienna is home to the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, two organizations working hard to fight human trafficking.

In Slovakia a media campaign is trying to prevent young girls and women from falling into the hands of traffickers. The campaign has been organised by the Slovak mission of the International Organisation for Migration

Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski visited the Ukraine this week for the first-ever memorial ceremony to mark the anniversary of a World War II massacre of Poles and Ukrainians. His trip follows a declaration by both countries aimed at resolving a highly sensitive dispute. The massacres took place between 1942 and 1943 in Volhynia - then part of Poland - when nationalists on both sides killed tens of thousands. The Polish victims were killed by Ukrainian nationalists who wanted to create a sovereign Ukrainian state out of the chaos of World

The Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla was in Austria recently and expressed regret that ethnic Germans, the Sudetendeutsch, were expelled from Czech lands and dispossessed at the end of World War II. Around 300 thousand Sudetendeutsch and their descendants now live in Austria. The post-war Czech Benes decrees, which authorised the expulsions, have chilled Austrian-Czech relations over recent years. But with EU enlargement just around the corner - a thaw is suddenly taking place.

The European Commission is telling Slovakia its not spending quickly enough. It says the country should work harder to spend funds - given to Slovakia to help prepare for European Union membership. So why are Slovaks slow at spending EU money?

Silvio Berlusconi upset many across Europe this week when he compared a European Parliamentarian to a Nazi concentration camp guard - but even before this happened on the second day of Italy's EU Presidency many were saying he's not a good example for countries preparing to join the EU. He's been given immunity from prosecution on charges of bribing judges and he controls much of Italy's mass media.

Countries preparing to join the European Union, including Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic have backed EU support of the International Criminal court. That's despite pressure from the United States to sign an agreement exempting US citizens from war crimes prosecution by the court.