UN General Assembly reviews efforts to combat human trafficking
Baku, May 17 (AZERTAC). Policy-makers put human trafficking on center stage at a High Level Meeting of the General Assembly chaired by President of the GA Vuk Jeremic and in the presence of the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. The event was attended by 85 states, UNODC Goodwill Ambassador to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Mira Sorvino, as well as representatives from civil society.
At the event Azerbaijan was presented by Vilayat Eyvazov, National Coordinator for Combating Human Trafficking and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.
Delivering a speech at the event, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed that human trafficking devastated individuals and undermines national economies. Billions of dollars are generated through exploitation and abuse. These black market funds support illegal drugs, corruption and other crimes.
Human trafficking is a crime that stretches across the globe with millions of victims, although much of it remains hidden. "We are dealing with a crime of the 21st Century: adaptive, cynical, sophisticated; existing in developed and developing countries alike," said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov at the opening of the high level meeting.
In an effort to spur concerted international action to fight modern slavery, countries adopted a Global Plan of Action in July 2010 to report on human trafficking and to strengthen the collective response.
Reviewing progress on the Global Plan in New York, Mr. Fedotov revealed some good news: today, 83 per cent of countries have proper legislation to combat human trafficking, whereas in 2009 - before the Global Plan - this figure was only 60 per cent. "What is encouraging is the number of countries in Africa and the Middle East that have anti-human trafficking legislation. This number has doubled during the last three years," he continued.
Further, according to the UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2012 the number of convictions globally has increased: 25 percent of countries reported a marked increase in convictions, while remaining countries viewed the situation as stable.
However, challenges in the fight against human trafficking remain: overall conviction rates continue to be low, data-collection remains a challenge, and 39 Member States still need to ratify the Trafficking in Persons Protocol. Further, support to Victims remains inadequate, as mechanisms such as the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking are not funded to the levels appropriate to give victims worldwide full assistance and support.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all Member States to ratify the Trafficking in Persons Protocol with the goal of achieving universal ratification and implementation.
In his speech Vilayat Eyvazov spoke about the struggle against human trafficking in Azerbaijan. He called for more cooperation among states to meet this global challenge. He underlined that success against traffickers can only come if we engage more fully in the elaborated mechanisms of cooperation. We need more sharing of best practices, greater mutual legal assistance, more joint operations across borders, national strategies on human trafficking linked to regional and international approaches, as well as the cooperation of key stakeholders such as civil society, the private sector and the media.
The Azerbaijani representative met with Luis CdeBaka, Ambassador of The State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking and Persons, to discuss prospects for cooperation in struggle against human trafficking.
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