Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons

UN General Assembly Voices Concern

© UN News

In 2010 the UN General Assembly established a Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.  A  two-day High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly took place on 13th and 14th May.  The meeting aimed to review progress made since the adoption of the Global Plan in order to strengthen national and international efforts to end this global enterprise.  With around 25 million victims human trafficking affects every country in the world.

The meeting determined 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.  Read more…

Click on the following links to view panel discussions during the meeting:  Panel 1, Panel 2