Director General/Executive Director
Delivered on behalf of the UNODC Executive Director by Director, UNODC New York Liaison Office
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
The Group of Friends United against Human Trafficking was created "to help reinvigorate and consolidate the global fight" against this crime.
Nearly ten years after, we can say with certainty that the Group has played a key role in keeping the fight against trafficking in persons high on the international community agenda.
I would particularly like to thank Belarus and Ambassador Rybakov for his leadership in New York, as well as Ambassador Kupchyna, who has played a key role as Chair of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice this year. The 28 th CCPCJ's landmark resolution on countering child sexual exploitation online paves the way for joint responses to this threat.
UNODC is proud of the Group of Friends' steadfast support for our work and that of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons, or ICAT, for which UNODC serves as Secretariat and Permanent Coordinator.
ICAT has expanded its membership to 24 agencies and partners across the UN system and beyond. In 2019, ICAT continued to drive the UN anti-trafficking agenda forward, facilitating key policy discussions and producing essential policy briefs on preventing and combating trafficking in persons facilitated by the criminal misuse of information and communications technologies, and on forced labour.
Moving forward, UNODC's support of anti-trafficking efforts through the UN Global Protection Cluster and membership of the Executive Committee of the UN Migration Network , as well as through engagement in Alliance 8.7 and other initiatives, will further help promote UN-wide coordination. With UNODC's lead, the Network issued its first joint statement on World Day against Trafficking in Persons in July this year.
As guardian of the Protocol against Trafficking in Persons under the UN Organized Crime Convention, UNODC is strengthening the ability of countries to prevent and counter human trafficking, and support victims. We have developed and deployed sustained and impactful global programmes such as GLO.ACT, supported by the EU and carried out in cooperation with IOM and UNICEF.
Now in its second phase, GLO.ACT will be implemented in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan, building on best practices.
In another positive development this year, the number of countries who have joined UNODC's flagship Blue Heart campaign against human trafficking has risen to 31. All campaign donations go towards the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking. For the past nine years, the Trust Fund has been supporting projects implemented by grass roots organizations and NGOs to provide direct assistance to a minimum of 3,000 victims annually.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Traffickers exploit instability and target the vulnerable. As the world enters a decade of action to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and deliver on the 2030 Agenda, UNODC is determined to do its part.
We are committed to leave no-one behind, and we rely on your continued engagement to help prevent and counter human trafficking and enable victims to become survivors.
I am confident that, with the support of the Group of Friends, we can keep the international community mobilized and continue making progress, as we approach the 20 th anniversary of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime next year.
Thank you.