UNB, Dhaka :
United Nations Human Rights expert Maria Grazia Giammarinaro has urged all states to protect people, particularly women and children, from trafficking in persons.
It made a special appeal to those countries hosting victims and potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict around the world. The UN expert made the call while speaking ahead of World Day against Trafficking in Persons that falls today according to a message received here from
Geneva on Friday. “Walls, fences and laws criminalising irregular migration do not prevent human trafficking; on the contrary, they increase the vulnerabilities of people fleeing conflict, persecution, crisis situations and extreme poverty, who can fall easy prey to traffickers and exploiters,” said Maria Grazia.
States should establish or adapt existing procedures and services aimed at providing assistance and protection, including gender- and child-sensitive measures, to victims of trafficking, and consider extending some assistance measures – especially help for job opportunities – to people at risk of trafficking and exploitation, said the UN expert. Such national procedures and mechanisms should be established, in close cooperation with civil society organizations, in all hotspots, reception and administrative detention centers, where situations of trafficking and risk of trafficking and exploitation can be detected and addressed, Maria Grazia observed.
“It is time to take action, and put in place policies based on shared responsibilities, aimed at ensuring survival, relocation and social inclusion of people fleeing conflict, and preventing trafficking and exploitation in the context of mixed migration flows of people.” Over the past years thousands of people including many children fleeing conflict have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.
In the first half of 2016 only, the International Organization for Migration estimated 2.856 deaths or missing persons. Such tragedies have fostered enormous emotion and solidarity in the public opinion, but unfortunately have not substantially changed the terms of the discussion at the government level.
United Nations Human Rights expert Maria Grazia Giammarinaro has urged all states to protect people, particularly women and children, from trafficking in persons.
It made a special appeal to those countries hosting victims and potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict around the world. The UN expert made the call while speaking ahead of World Day against Trafficking in Persons that falls today according to a message received here from
Geneva on Friday. “Walls, fences and laws criminalising irregular migration do not prevent human trafficking; on the contrary, they increase the vulnerabilities of people fleeing conflict, persecution, crisis situations and extreme poverty, who can fall easy prey to traffickers and exploiters,” said Maria Grazia.
States should establish or adapt existing procedures and services aimed at providing assistance and protection, including gender- and child-sensitive measures, to victims of trafficking, and consider extending some assistance measures – especially help for job opportunities – to people at risk of trafficking and exploitation, said the UN expert. Such national procedures and mechanisms should be established, in close cooperation with civil society organizations, in all hotspots, reception and administrative detention centers, where situations of trafficking and risk of trafficking and exploitation can be detected and addressed, Maria Grazia observed.
“It is time to take action, and put in place policies based on shared responsibilities, aimed at ensuring survival, relocation and social inclusion of people fleeing conflict, and preventing trafficking and exploitation in the context of mixed migration flows of people.” Over the past years thousands of people including many children fleeing conflict have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.
In the first half of 2016 only, the International Organization for Migration estimated 2.856 deaths or missing persons. Such tragedies have fostered enormous emotion and solidarity in the public opinion, but unfortunately have not substantially changed the terms of the discussion at the government level.
