Trade vs trafficking? International round-table in Athens asks firms to crack down on sex trade

 

 

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by participants in the Business Community Athens
Round-Table 2006

 

News
on the 2006 Athens Round-Table – Business Community Against
Trafficking in Human Beings

Trade
vs trafficking?

International
round-table in Athens asks firms to crack down on sex trade

By Niki Kitsantonis –
Kathimerini English Edition 

The
world of business, as well as the arts and the media, have a crucial role to
play in raising the problem of human trafficking on the global agenda and
dismantling a powerful network that is exploiting more than 2 million people
every year, leading figures from these fields told a press conference at
Athens’s Zappeion Hall yesterday.

The
activities of governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in curbing
human trafficking are invaluable but could be enhanced immeasurably by pressure
from the business world, which often turns a blind eye to the issue despite its
potential to make a difference, it was agreed during an interval of the Athens
Round-Table on the Business Community Against the Trafficking of Human Beings,
organized by the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement under the
auspices of the Greek Foreign Ministry.

The
Egyptian First Lady herself did not attend the press conference — despite her
active participation in the earlier roundtable sessions — but her absence was
compensated for by the presence of other distinguished figures from the
international stage, notably French composer and performer Jean Michel Jarre,
who drew most of the press attention — conveniently as his message was directed
at the media.

“The
most perverse aspect of the human trafficking problem is that it does not get
much media coverage, largely because (trafficking) victims often feel ashamed
and hide their ordeals,” he said. Facing a blitz of flashing cameras, the
composer appealed to reporters to “dedicate the greatest possible airtime on
their shows and the greatest possible space in their newspapers to covering this
subject.” Jarre said he aimed to secure greater commitment from musicians and
actors — with the aim of influencing public opinion and, in turn, government
stances. He said he is already working closely with American actor Richard Gere,
another round-table member who expressed his support via a recorded video
message.

The
initiative, promoted by UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyianni, also
has the support of Queen Silvia of Sweden,
who attended yesterday’s sessions along with nearly a third of the cabinet,
including Economy Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis, Education Minister Marietta
Giannakou, Defense Minister Spilios Spiliotopoulos, Development Minister
Dimitris Sioufas and Deputy Culture Minister Fani
Palli-Petralia.

Round-table
members later yesterday signed a declaration highlighting specific “principles”
for dismantling the networks profiting from trafficking which form the basis of
a plan to draw the business community into the fight against human trafficking.
A list of these principles is to be presented to high-ranking businessmen and
politicians at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland,
from tomorrow, Vardinoyianni said.

The
chief aim of the Athens
initiative is to convince businesses of all kinds to stop tolerating human
trafficking, and especially the sex trade in women and children, Dr Aleya
El-Bindari Hammad, a founding member Mubarak’s peace movement, told reporters.
“Hotels and transport organizations can all contribute — hotel staff can stop
turning a blind eye and so can truck drivers. They see what is going on,” she
said. “We have to start dismantling the production chain.”

Of
the businessmen addressing the press conference, the chief executive officer of
the British employment service organization Manpower, David Arkless, was the
most outspoken. He said his company, despite having 400,000 customers worldwide,
has pledged not to do business with firms that have links to human trafficking.
But he stressed that enterprises can only do so much and placed the onus on
governments to live up to their responsibilities. “We in the business community
can make an impact, but we can’t get the job done,” he
said.

During
one of the morning round-table sessions, another high-profile participant,
Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble, noted that only a handful of senior
officers are tackling human trafficking on the global level, and just three at
Interpol.

Dr
Hammad conceded that boosting international policing was crucial if organized
trafficking networks were to be broken, but she also laid responsibility for
this at the government level. “The main challenge for us is to make human
trafficking non-profitable (its estimated annual profits are currently $32
billion) and for this we need the support of the business world,” she
said.

Kathimerini
English Edition

https://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_206_24/01/2006_65517