Trafficking – UN Officials Call for Urgent Action to End Human Trafficking – Modern Slave Trade
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: March 5, 2007
Action to End Human Trafficking, a ‘Modern-Day Slave Trade’
Asha-Rose Migiro |
5 March 2007 –
United Nations officials today called for increased efforts – by
Governments, civil society, law enforcement agencies, the private sector and
international organizations including the UN – to curb human trafficking,
especially in women and girls.
Although this year marks the bicentennial of the end of the trans-Atlantic
slave trade, “the fact that there are forms of slavery in our world today should
fill us all with shame,” Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told
delegates from around the world who converged at UN Headquarters in New York to
attend the International Conference on Trafficking in Women and Girls. “As an
African woman, I would add that it also fills me with rage.”
She advocated increased cooperation among Governments, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and the media, among other groups, to halt trafficking,
prosecute those guilty of perpetrating such crimes and to protect victims.
Ms. Migiro also urged States to join the Global Initiative to fight Human
Trafficking and Modern Slavery, a new UN program which will be launched later
this year in Vienna. “We must act together to stop a crime in our midst that
deprives countless victims of their liberty, dignity and human rights.”
Citing trafficking’s global scope, General Assembly President Sheikha Haya
Rashed Al Khalifa said that it impacts millions of people, particularly those in
poor countries, and is a multi-billion dollar industry that lines the pockets of
organized crime.
“I cannot imagine a more terrible crime than the sale of women and children
to be exploited and abused by others,” Sheikha Haya told the Conference’s
participants.
She lauded strengthened international legal instruments, such as the 2000
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking, Especially Women and
Children, which entered into force on 25 December 2003, and said that such
agreements must be applied effectively.
Also, Sheikha Haya suggested a “bottom-up approach” to curtail human
trafficking, including awareness-raising campaigns at the local-level, having
vulnerable groups join in discussions on finding solutions to the problem and
improving local economies to prevent “risky migration practices.”
In a related development, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today that
enhanced measures, including improving educational opportunities and enlisting
the help of men and boys, are necessary to combat enduring discrimination and
violence against girls.
“It is long past time that countries, cultures and communities everywhere
accept that it is in their own best interests to treat girls and women as
equals,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said on the occasion of the UN
Commission on the Status of Women, currently in its 51st Session in New York.
Despite progress, millions of girls are not receiving adequate educations,
exploited for their labour, trafficked and exposed to diseases such as HIV/AIDS,
she added. “Common sense and economics alike tell us that a society cannot
possibly marginalize half its population and expect positive
outcomes.”
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