WUNRN
UN GLOBAL PLAN OF ACTION TO COMBAT
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
Direct
Link: Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
UN
General Assembly Voices Concern on the State of Human Trafficking Across the
Globe
“Human trafficking has developed into a global criminal enterprise that generates an estimated US$21 billion in illicit revenue per year,” said Vuk Jeremić, President of the UN General Assembly, during the opening of the High-level Meeting on the Appraisal of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. With around 25 million victims, human trafficking affects every country in the world. The Global Plan of Action, established by the Assembly in 2010, aims to prevent the trafficking in persons; protect and assist the victims; prosecute the crimes; and strengthen partnerships against this practice. The two-day High-level Meeting, which opened on 13 May, reviewed progress made since the adoption of the Global Plan in order to strengthen national and international efforts to end this global enterprise.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described trafficking a “vicious chain that binds victims to criminals,” and called upon the international community to “break this chain with the force of human solidarity.” In his view, it was time to listen to the voices of the victims in order to do them justice and to end impunity. As poverty is at the heart of making people vulnerable to human trafficking, the Secretary-General urged greater action on the UN Millennium Development Goals and to add momentum to the UN’s efforts to develop an post-2015 development agenda.
Although women and girls are generally the most vulnerable in terms of trafficking, Thailand’s representative explained that it was the level of education, and not gender that made people vulnerable and fall victim of trafficking. Morocco’s representative added illiteracy and social exclusion, whereas Barbados’ representative argued that the lack of respect for the rule of law an human rights was an important factor. Belarus’ and Austria’s representatives, amongst others, emphasized that human trafficking was not only related to sexual exploitation, but also to forced labour and illegal organ removals. Several representatives and speakers defined trafficking as “modern slavery.” whereas Brazil underscored the multifaceted nature of the practice and tackled the fact that also the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community was vulnerable to this practice.
The afternoon of the first day of the High-level Meeting was marked by two interactive panel discussions on “The appraisal on the Global Plan of Action, relevant legal instruments, and effective partnerships to protect and assist victims of human trafficking” and on “Sharing bet practices and lessons learned for prevention and prosecution in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action, and relevant legal instruments.” The first panel featured, amongst other panellists, Rani Hong, Founder of the Tronie Foundation, but also a trafficking survivor. Ms. Hong had been taken from her family at the age of seven to work in conditions of slavery until she was sold into legal adoption. At that moment, her health condition had worsened to such an extent that she was no longer of use to her owner. To help other children like her, Ms. Hong is trying to halt trafficking, educate consumers about the practice, label products made by former slaves; and protect and assist trafficking victims.
Despite the negative connotations underlying the debate on human trafficking, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Yury Fedotov brought some positive results to the debate. Today, 83% of the countries have proper legislation to combat human trafficking, he said. This is a considerable increase compared to 2009, when only 60% of the countries had such legislation in place. The number of countries that have ratified the Trafficking in Persons Protocol had grown from 139 countries to 154 since the adoption of the Global Plan of Action. In addition, the number of convictions at the global level also increased in 2012. UNODC’s Executive Director further welcomed the fact that human trafficking is now clearly visible on the radar screens of governments, international organizations, civil society, the business community, and the media.
Yet, as the overall debate made clear, more efforts are needed to effectively combat practices of human trafficking. Almost all participants, whether from the UN system, Member States, civil society and trafficking victims, called upon countries that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Trafficking in Persons Protocol. Better data collection, victim support, law enforcement, prosecution, awareness raising campaigns, information sharing, capacity-building and coordination between countries of origin, transit and destination, as well as more resources, including for the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking, were reiterated more than once at the meeting. The latter was particularly urgent. As Saisuree Chutikul, Member of the Board of Trustees for the UN Voluntary Trust Fund, explained during one of the panel discussions, out of 193 Member States, only 12 had actually contributed to the Fund. Some countries, which had made pledges during the establishment of the Fund, had basically used empty words.
_____________________________________________________
Link type size larger for easier reading.
