16 October 2009 - In the run up to EU Anti-Trafficking Day on 18 October, UNODC has issued a report based on the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (launched in February 2009), which shows that trafficking in persons is an under-detected crime in Europe. Along with the new report, a training video for trainers of criminal justice officials and other specialized audiences is also available.
Affected for Life promotes awareness of human trafficking. The film is targeted at prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officers and other specialized audiences, and illustrates the elements and different forms of human trafficking. The film is available in both full-length and abbreviated versions in English, with other official UN languages versions to follow.
Affected for Life promotes awareness of human trafficking. The film is targeted at prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officers and other specialized audiences, and illustrates the elements and different forms of human trafficking. The film is available in both full-length and abbreviated versions in English, with other official UN languages versions to follow
Affected for Life promotes awareness of human trafficking.
The film is targeted at prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officers and other specialized audiences, and illustrates the elements and different forms of human trafficking. The film will also be used as an awareness raising tool to exemplify some of the key facets of human trafficking, including the differences between human trafficking and smuggling of migrants.
The film is available in both full-length and abbreviated versions in English, with other official UN languages versions to follow in early 2010.
16 September 2009 - Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for action to protect women against abuses and discrimination. Secretary-General Ban made the remarks yesterday in New York at a panel discussion and book signing ceremony for Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, a book by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
14 September 2009 - Trafficking in persons is a priority concern for UNODC. Given that in India and elsewhere poverty is one of the main factors leading to human trafficking, UNODC has initiated a pilot training course for a group of young people vulnerable to being trafficked.
At the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, the Anti-Human Trafficking Manual for Criminal Justice Practitioners was launched in the presence of several practitioners from the Thai government and UN authorities, as well as members of the media and the civil society.
At the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, the Anti-Human Trafficking Manual for Criminal Justice Practitioners was launched in the presence of several practitioners from the Thai government and UN authorities, as well as members of the media and the civil society.
28 August 2009 - Today at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, UNODC released a new manual that addresses gaps in the capacity of criminal justice practitioners to prevent and combat trafficking in persons.
The manual, which was launched by United States Ambassador-at-large Luis CdeBaca, elaborates promising practices at every phase of the criminal justice response to trafficking in persons.
13 August 2009 - The recently established Inter-Secretariat Commission to Prevent and Prosecute Trafficking in Persons of Mexico has unanimously approved a UNODC proposal to launch the Blue Heart Campaign. Mexico will be the first Latin American State to take the lead in this global movement against human trafficking.
10 August 2009 - Last Thursday, on Bali, Indonesia, a jury of six eminent legal and human rights experts heard real-life testimonies of human trafficking, violence and exploitation at a symbolic trial organized to raise awareness about these issues in South-East Asia. Confronted with such testimonies, the members of the jury urged Governments, United Nations agencies, civil society organizations and others to urgently address the vulnerabilities of women to human trafficking and HIV.
23 July 2009 - A court in Accra recently made history by sentencing three Chinese traffickers to 41 years in prison.
The traffickers were arrested by the Ghana Anti-Trafficking Unit within the Criminal Investigations Department after an investigative journalist published a report.
21 July 2009 - Thousands of women are continually trafficked from West Africa to Europe in a multi-million dollar criminal industry.
The women come from Nigeria and to a lesser extent Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cameroon and Guinea. They are usually taken to Italy, as well as the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and other countries. With an estimated value of between $152 million and $228 million annually, the market sees a yearly inflow of between 3800 and 5700 women.
14 July 2009 - Human trafficking is a global problem, transcending geographical and religious borders. Measures to combat trafficking must therefore, also transcend geographical, economic, cultural and religious boundaries. In order to reach out to all Islamic countries, UNODC has released a ground-breaking paper entitled Combating Trafficking in Persons in Accordance with the Principles of Islamic Law.
6 July 2009 - It is estimated that 2.4 million people throughout the world are lured into forced labour as a result of human trafficking. Women and girls account for some 80 per cent of trafficking victims, while children account for 15-20 per cent.
UNODC has developed a model law - a generic law to guide member States in preparing their respective national laws - against trafficking in persons.
16 June 2009 - Nearly 130,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa and 230,000 in the Middle East and North Africa have been recruited into forced labour, including sexual exploitation, as a result of human trafficking. These estimates paint a grim picture of human trafficking in Africa. The African Union has chosen the Day of the African Child, celebrated today, to launch AU.COMMIT, an initiative to fight human trafficking in Africa.
An estimated
200 million children in the world today are said to be involved in child labour.
On June 12, the ILO celebrated the World Day Against Child Labour where this year's theme was "Give girls a chance". UNODC met with UNICEF representative in Austria and talked about the continuing challenges, with a focus on exploitation of girls in child labour.
12 June 2009 - Not only are girls exposed to some of the worst forms of child labour, but they are also particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. Today marks the World Day against Child Labour, which calls for action to tackle the worst forms of child labour, paying particular attention to the situation of girls.
9 June 2009 - "Any effective and sustainable efforts to combat human trafficking must be integrated, transnational and collaborative", says Professor Md. Zakir Hossain, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Chitagong, in Bangladesh. Staff from the UNODC Regional Office for South Asia recently sat down with Prof. Hossain, who is also a member of the Judicial Service Commission in Bangladesh, to discuss the challenges of human trafficking in his country.
19 May 2009 - Paintings from "Welcome to Gulu", an art exhibition that was unveiled last week at United Nations Headquarters, are now available for viewing and purchase at the prestigious Lehmann Maupin Gallery in Manhattan. The exhibition features some 200 paintings created by former child soldiers and abducted girls from Gulu, northern Uganda, who benefited from an art therapy project by acclaimed New York artist Ross Bleckner last January.
14 May 2009 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday led international calls for strong laws, broad alliances and concerted action against human trafficking at a special thematic dialogue of the General Assembly. Trafficking in weapons, drugs and blood diamonds has long been on the UN agenda, he said. "Now we must add people to that list".
13 May 2009 - Today the General Assembly will hold a thematic dialogue on human trafficking. The meeting, convened by the President of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, will look at ways of "taking collective action to end human trafficking", including the possibility of establishing a global plan of action to combat human trafficking. Among the speakers will be Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.
11 May 2009 - The United Nations is calling for collective action to end human trafficking, with proposals to scale up efforts to a global level. At the same time, art takes centre stage as a goodwill ambassador, the first time an artist is bestowed with the honour, is appointed to spearhead the campaign against human trafficking.
28 April 2009 - In March this year, a conference to foster public-private partnerships in the hope of countering human trafficking was held in Bahrain. Hosted by Her Highness Sheikha Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, the meeting was entitled "Human Trafficking at the Crossroads". It aimed to attain rapid and effective action to alleviate the exploitation of human beings and bring an end to the suffering that trafficking in humans causes to its many victims.
Last March, the Kingdom of Bahrain held a conference to foster public-private partnerships in the hope to counteract human trafficking.
The event which was attended by the First Lady of Egypt Susan Mubarak and UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa, amongst others, turned out to be a successful and productive meeting which gave birth to the Manama Declaration.
The conference also helped promote the issue and as a result, a full video report was produced shedding light on this crime that shames us all.
Last March, the Kingdom of Bahrain held a conference to foster public-private partnerships in the hope to counteract human trafficking.
The event which was attended by the First Lady of Egypt Susan Mubarak and UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa, amongst others, turned out to be a successful and productive meeting which gave birth to the Manama Declaration.
The conference also helped promote the issue and as a result, a full video report was produced shedding light on this crime that shames us all.
The Kingdom of Bahrain held a conference in early March to foster public-private partnerships. The World Business Report entitled "Stamping out Slavery" was filmed around this conference called "Human Trafficking at the Crossroads", which aimed to attain rapid and effective action to alleviate the exploitation of human beings and bring and end to the suffering that this causes to its many victims. The video also features the First Lady of Egypt Susan Mubarak and UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa.
Credits: FBC Media
17 April 2009 - The eighteenth session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice began yesterday at UNODC headquarters in Vienna. Over the course of the next six days, Member States will discuss critical international issues on global crime trends and responses. Attention will be given to what UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa has described as "a global crime wave".
14 April 2009 - I recently travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where centuries of exploitation by warlords and profiteers have taken their toll. I witnessed the effect of organized crime and saw "modern slaves".
8 April 2009 - Yesterday in the Ethiopian capital, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UNODC, in the framework of the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), launched the publication Combating Trafficking in Persons: A Handbook for Parliamentarians. "Parliaments and parliamentarians have the power to prevent human trafficking by raising awareness and curbing exploitative practices", said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.
Between 23 and 25 March 2009, criminal justice practitioners met in Cairo, Egypt, to review training material on preventing and combating the smuggling of migrants.
The UNODC Regional Programme Office for South East Europe (RPOSEE), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Mission to Serbia and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mission to Serbia organized two roundtables in Belgrade on the joint programme in the area of Anti-Human Trafficking in Serbia which was developed under the UN.GIFT.