UNIFEM CURRENTS

THE ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER OF
THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT FUND
FOR WOMEN (UNIFEM)

DEVELOPMENT KEY TO COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
Two recent gatherings on trafficking in women provided opportunities for UNIFEM to highlight causes and responses from a women’s human rights perspective. National plans of action to combat trafficking in persons need to be integrated into national development policy to be effective, said UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer in her keynote address to the International Conference on The Human Rights Challenge of Globalization in Asia-Pacific-US: The Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. “Individual policies and especially development programmes in poor areas among vulnerable and marginalized populations at high risk of being trafficked need to be assessed in terms of their potential impact on trafficking.” At the conference, organized from 13-15 November by the Globalization Research Center in Hawaii, some 300 experts discussed tools and strategies to address trafficking.

A second conference, “Promoting Gender Equality to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children,” was convened by UNIFEM and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok in September. It was the first international meeting of ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) countries to focus specifically on the issue of, and possible responses to, trafficking in persons and brought together over 150 high-level experts representing governments, NGOs, the United Nations and other international development agencies. Participants identified poverty reduction and sustainable livelihood options for women and girls as essential to combat trafficking and called upon governments to prioritize trafficking as a development issue. They also urged governments to ratify the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000).

For more information, contact Nikki Jecks, Information Officer for UNIFEM East and Southeast Asia Regional Office, at [email protected] [2]

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