BE SMART! BE SAFE! ANTI-TRAFFICKING CAMPAIGN

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.

BE SMART! BE SAFE!

ANTI-TRAFFICKING MULTIMEDIA CAMPAIGN

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

1. To empower Georgian women, youth and children and support the development of 'Civil Society' by the formation of a broad-based National Network Platform that will collaborate on:

The development of an anti-trafficking multi-media awareness campaign "Be Smart! Be Safe!"
Establishing recognized safety rules/guidelines that will offer protection to those at risk;
Assessment of current and definition of improved methodologies for the ongoing collection of data on irregular migration, identifying Georgia-specific trends;
Supporting government action on irregular migration, especially on trafficking by encouraging and maintaining dialogue between government, NGOs, media, police, etc.;
Increasing awareness and in-depth knowledge on the issue of trafficking of senior officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations;
Establishing a resource center for documentation on trafficking and violence in all its forms.

2. Gaining the support of the press and media to develop an awareness campaign about trafficking and presenting information through a sustained multi-media campaign.

3. Dissemination of factual information that increases awareness of the general public of the threats posed by trafficking.

4. Encourage support for the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol on Trafficking in Persons.

The central project objectives- the establishment of a National Anti-Trafficking Network Platform to ensure efforts to combat trafficking are sustained within the country and the development and launch of a broadly supported anti-trafficking multi-media campaign “Be Smart! Be Safe!” that presents to society within Georgia at large, and particularly those most at risk from irregular migration and trafficking, a set of government endorsed safety rules/guidelines, were achieved. Additionally the project substantially increased public awareness about the potential threat posed by trafficking and irregular migratory activities and increased the level of awareness about trafficking and supported the acquisition of ‘informed’ knowledge among senior professionals, government officials and non-governmental organizations.

This project was designed to lead to sustained development of prevention and protection strategies and reform of legislation necessary for Georgia to protect its citizens and to assume a fully supportive role in global efforts to combat a modern day form of slavery.