Post date: Dec 11, 2010 8:59:23 PM
Business leaders, civil society groups and Hollywood stars attend a UN conference in Luxor to discuss ways to fight the multi-billion dollar human trafficking trade.
LUXOR, EGYPT (DECEMBER 11, 2010) REUTERS - For the first time in the land of Pharaohs, the Suzanne Mubarak Women's Peaceful Movement on Saturday (December 11), in participation with private sector organizations, civil society organizations, ambassadors, professors and African senior officials, held a conference calling for an end to human trafficking.
The meeting in the Upper Egypt Governorate of Luxor under the title "stop human trafficking now", highlights a shameful trade which the United Nations office on Drug and Crime UNODC has described as being the crime of 21st century.UNODC works in Arab countries and North Africa to fight people trafficking.
It has been reported that more than 2.4 million people are in slavery prompting Egypt's First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, to invite all those able to help in confronting the trade.
"We have reached a milestone in recognizing that this problem exists in agreeing that we will do something about this, and in setting up benchmarks to be able to see after two years what we have been achieved and this is done in Luxor," the founding-member of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's Peaceful Movement, Aleya Hammad said.
The conference seeks solutions for a number of crimes concerning victims who are often kidnapped and forced to work long hours in horrible conditions without being paid.
"The message that comes out from that most important conference that Mrs Mubarak has pulled everyone together from around the world to attend from business, from government, from civil society, from media, from entertainment. The one message that we all have a role to play, we have a role to protect victims better, we have a role to prevent trafficking, awareness campaigns, creating jobs programs, training programs," the American Ambassador-at-large, Global Women's Issues, Melanne Verveer said.
In 2000, the campaign "End Human Trafficking Now" was formed, when the Palermo protocol laid out a map to prevent trafficking in people, in particular, women and children.
The Suzanne Mubarak Women's Peaceful Movement, in 2006, adopted the "Athens Ethical Principles" which drafted a zero-tolerance approach to human trafficking.
The Luxor conference on human trafficking has certain implementation guidelines such as launching an awareness-raising campaign, training sessions and workshops, producing documentaries, strategic plans to apply the zero-tolerance policy and governmental cooperation in revising laws and legislation.
"The conference is a very good opportunity to bring governments, non-governmental organizations and the business community together to send a message to the world - this is not only one organization's problem, this is everyone's problem. If we gonna find a solution to ending slavery in the 21st century; we need businesses, we need civil society and we need governments to step up," American Ambassador At-Large, Luis CdeBaca said.
Earlier this year, the "Arab Initiative to Combat Human Trafficking" was launched in Doha with the participation of the Arab League of States.