Continue Shining Spotlight on Human Trafficking, Secretary-General Urges

 

Luxor International Forum, Saying Victims Often Lost in Shadows

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message for the Luxor Forum against Human Trafficking at Luxor, Egypt, on 11 December:

Madame First Lady, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to send my greetings to the Luxor International Forum against Human Trafficking.  It is heartening to know that so many leading figures, from such a wide range of sectors and industries, are joining together to bring an end to this shameful violation of human rights and human dignity.

I thank Her Excellency Suzanne Mubarak for her tireless advocacy to advance the health, education and status of women and children, and for her long-standing commitment to peace.  I also thank the End Human Trafficking Now! Campaign and the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking — UN GIFT — for organizing this Forum.

Human trafficking has many faces:  women coerced into domestic servitude, forced marriage or the sex trade; men compelled to work for little or no pay in inhumane conditions; children turned into beggars, prostitutes, slave labourers and soldiers.

This despicable crime is no longer being ignored.  One hundred and forty-one States are party to the Protocol to the Palermo Convention on Transnational Organized Crime.  Many countries have adopted strategies and legislation and established anti-trafficking police units.

The private sector is increasingly recognizing its responsibility to prevent human trafficking from tainting their businesses and supply chains.  And this year, the United Nations General Assembly launched a Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, and established the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons.  These steps are helping to liberate victims and to put traffickers behind bars.

Victims of human trafficking are often lost in society’s shadows.  Many, if not most, are never identified or assisted.  To help them, we must continue to shine a spotlight on the issue.

I am grateful for your commitment to this cause.  Please accept my best wishes for a successful conference.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record