ADD ‘PARTNERSHIP’ TO ‘THREE P’ AGENDA OF UNITED NATIONS ANTI-TRAFFICKING PROTOCOL,

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES GENERAL ASSEMBLY THEMATIC DEBATE

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s remarks to the General Assembly’s thematic debate on human trafficking, in New York today, 3 June:

Sixty years ago, this General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s most timeless statement on the freedom and equality of all people.  The Declaration specifically prohibited the slave trade and all forms of slavery.

But even today, millions of people -- mostly women and children -- are being coerced into human trafficking, which amounts to nothing more than a modern form of slavery.  They are threatened with violence and held against their will.  They are exploited for sex, forced to work and even killed for their organs.

It is difficult to get accurate statistics, but the numbers we do have are appalling.  Up to 2 million women trafficked across borders each year, and possibly double this number if we take into account domestic circumstances.

The stories are heart-rending.  A father dies and, suddenly, his teenaged daughter must sell her body to survive.  Or a boy in a war zone is handed a gun and forced to commit atrocities he should never even witness.  Or a girl in a factory toils night and day, her little hands exploited for the intricate work they can produce.  Sadly, there are countless cases like these.

Traffickers target the most vulnerable: people trapped by debt; children living in conflict or on the streets; people taking risks to find jobs in a new land.  Some victims are treated like beasts of burden, working under atrocious conditions in mines, plantations or construction sites.  Others suffer the torment of sexual exploitation -- many at the cost of their lives.  Millions spend long hours in sweatshops, but earn almost no pay.  Children conscripted as soldiers are forced to kill -- and in the process, their own youthful innocence is murdered.

To respond, we need universal ratification of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.  This crime shocks all good people of conscience, and all countries must join the effort to fight back.

This Assembly has consistently offered its support, through successive resolutions and by hosting meetings like this one.

And the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, known as “UN.GIFT”, is making a real difference in the lives of victims.

Earlier this year, members of the UN.GIFT partnership -- along with representatives from Governments, parliaments, the media, the private sector, civil society and the entertainment industry -- joined their voices at a Global Forum against human trafficking in Vienna.  They issued a call to action that deserves a response.

We know what works -- the combined efforts of prevention, prosecution and protection.  This is the “Three P” agenda of the United Nations anti-trafficking Protocol.  But I would add another one: partnership.  Because we can only beat back this deadly illegal trade with a strong and broad coalition.

For millions of people around the world, the fight against human trafficking is a matter of life and death.  To reunite families that have been torn apart, to restore childhood to kids who have been robbed of their youth, to bring back dignity to all those violated by these abuses -- we must act now.

In the name of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which we hold even more sacred today than when it was adopted 60 years ago, we cannot stop until we have freed all victims of human trafficking, for the sake of these millions of individuals and for our shared humanity.

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For information media • not an official record