F A C T   F I L E:

“Women and children are not property, but human beings. The international community should declare, loudly and more strongly than ever, that we are all members of the human family. Slavery simply has no place in a world of human rights”.

UN Secretary-General,

Kofi Annan

“It is clear that governments acting individually cannot address the problem adequately”.

Antonio Vitorino, EU

Home Affairs Commissioner.

“The UN’s code of conduct for peacekeepers is not enough.  Awareness training for peacekeepers should be an integral part of their training before being deployed. It is essential that all UN forces are held to the same standards of international human rights law as are nation states - to do otherwise creates a climate of impunity in which offences proliferate”.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women, commenting on the increasing trafficking of women for prostitution in areas where UN peacekeepers are stationed.