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.

All it takes for evil to prosper is for good

men and women to do nothing!

WomenAid has created the UK Anti-Trafficking Network (UKAT) to focus on counter-trafficking strategies, including provision of comprehensive support and restitution for victims, promotion of effective application of legislation and the prosecution and appropriate sentencing of traffickers.

The participation of both individuals and organizations is invited.

The UK Anti-Trafficking Network Platform (UKAT) aims to:

  • Facilitate the development of effective anti-trafficking strategies by building a UK network of policy makers, the police and judiciary, local authorities, faith-based groups, charities, individual experts and non-governmental organisations;

  • Promote the effective application of existing legislation and law enforcement to ensure the prosecution and more appropriate sentencing of traffickers;

  • Lobby for the creation of new UK legislation where appropriate;

  • Support prevention and protection projects targeting those most at risk;

  • Increase public awareness of the needs of victims and of the links between trafficking and poverty;

  • Campaign for funding of appropriate legal aid and provision of support services for victims as well as victim rights to restitution;

  • Develop alliances with trades unions, academia and the commercial sector;

  • Build a resource team of individual Advocates Against Trafficking.

The UK Anti-Trafficking Network Platform hosts ‘issue-specific’ Round Table Dialogues and Network Platform meetings that will explore the complex issue of trafficking of human beings and related irregular migration issues to facilitate the development of effective counter-trafficking strategies.

 

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WOMENAID  INTERNATIONAL

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