In the past couple of weeks, Egypt, Belarus, Malaysia, Luxembourg, Qatar and Thailand have promised money to the UN Office of Crime and Drugs (UNOCD) in order to help victims of human trafficking around the world. This plan was started on November 4th of this year. So far six nations and one private sector have donated to the 'UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking, Especially Women and Children', which UNOCD director, Yury Fedotav has been pushing. Fedotav passionately encourages generosity to help victims of trafficking. He says trafficking is not solely for the purpose of sexual exploitation, but that sex trade is the worst human rights violation of all. According to this article, Fedotav believes that “the Trust Fund would provide victims with humanitarian, legal and financial aid through established channels of assistance, such as governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations,” as more than 2.4 million people are currently being trafficked.
Well, after writing about the horrors of human trafficking all semester, an article like this is a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t very clear about whether the donations so far have been more or less than what was hoped for. Six countries donating barely seems like a drop in the bucket, but at least it’s a start. While prevention and justice are very important, I love the fact that more plans are being implemented to help victims after they have been rescued. I wish this article had given more specifics on how they are planning to help people, as it was pretty general. Overall, I would have to say that I was excited reading this today.
3 comments:
I wonder why the US doesn't lead in this effort? It seems like "western" countries ignore this violation too much for my liking.
I agree with Mark; it's somewhat embarrassing that the US hasn't made more of an effort to combat human trafficking. But it is understandable, if you look at the fact that our budget is tight from fighting wars in the Middle East and because we are not a nation that is *supplying* the victims, technically we're adding to the demand by housing some individuals that seek to exploit desperate immigrants. If the situation was reversed, and Americans were the victims, I'm sure the US would be campaigning for changes and stricter anti-human trafficking laws.
I wrote about this, too. It is a very good program to be getting implemented. There should be more nations joining soon, hopefully the U.S. including.
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