African Union starts campaign against human trafficking
16 June 2009 - Nearly 130, 000 people in sub-Saharan countries, and 230,000 in the Middle East and Northern Africa are in forced labour, including sexual exploitation, as a result of human trafficking. These International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates paint a grim picture of human trafficking in Africa. A greater number of trafficking victims of African origin are found within the continent, while a sizeable proportion constitutes victims who are transported to Western Europe and other parts of the world, according to a recent UN.GIFT report on global trafficking in persons.
The African Union has chosen the Day of the African Child, celebrated today, to launch AU.COMMIT, an initiative to fight human trafficking in Africa. This campaign seeks to put the fight against trafficking in persons as a priority on the development agenda of the continent. It also calls on African States to build on The Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, which guides AU Member States in developing and reforming their policies and laws on trafficking in persons.
Many African countries still do not have legislation on human trafficking, or they have laws that criminalize only some aspects of human trafficking (such as child trafficking).
"Such a campaign is badly needed" says UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. "The evidence available tells a woeful tale of how many regions of Africa are highly vulnerable to trafficking. Shockingly, in West and Central Africa, most of the perpetrators are women. Across the continent, many of the victims are children," he adds.
UNODC as the guardian of the world's anti-human trafficking instrument, innovator of the Global Initiative to fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), and provider of technical assistance, supports the African Union initiative. UNODC also collaborates with the African Union under the framework of the implementation of the AU Plan of Action on Drug Control and Crime Prevention.
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