Oldal 298 [298]
FERENC ÍRK
forms of exploitation, which belong to the category of normality at present, needs
to be changed. As a conseguence, the scope of potential victims may be expected to
expand inevitably. Making their helpless situation visible may give more emphasis
to their role. Ihe ethical and legal norms can reinforce each other so there is more
hope for the fulfilment of the demand that Károly Bárd emphasises in his academic
dissertation? about the obligations of the state, namely that the victims “have the
right concerning the crimes committed against them to be persecuted by the state”.
The reduction of the role of present-day multinational business activities that
in the short term focus on extra profit only can be achieved by having the values
declared in the European Union prevail. The following conditions have to be
fulfilled to achieve that:
— It should not be possible for the main economic and political actors in the
states to regard the exploitation of labour as part of normality but these acts
should belong to the category of prohibited deviances both form a moral and
a legal point of view.
— The morally upheld legal norms should be kept.
— It should be possible to enforce the compliance with the norms if need be
through regular inspections at all the main points of the chains consisting
of points for the production, transport and sale of products.
— It should be possible to enforce these principles.
The initial steps aimed at the elimination of the exploitation of labour can already
be seen in some European countries. These suggest that neither those who sell
the end product nor the consumers will be able to avoid the responsibility much
longer for the malfunctioning system. For this to happen it has to become clear
that the victims of this faulty system who are still silent secure others’ wealth and
well-being. This condition is, however, morally unacceptable. At the same time,
we must be aware of the fact that “giving voice to the victim only means — and
the merits of the victimology movement cannot be denied in this respect - that
abstract legal order, the abstract ethical order is infringed indirectly but through
very concrete individual pain and suffering.” **
33 Bard, Karoly, The dignity of the victims and the rights of the defendants — comparative
legal study [Az áldozatok méltósága és a vádlottak jogai — összehasonlító jogi tanulmány],
Doctoral thesis, Budapest, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 2020, 144.
34 Bard, The dignity of the victim, 186.
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