Some 800,000 to 900,000 people worldwide are trafficked every year into forced labour and sexual exploitation, a highly lucrative global industry controlled by powerful criminal organizations, according to a collaborative report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The State Department of the United States research shows that 80 per cent of victims trafficked across international borders are women and girls, 70 per cent of them for sexual exploitation.

Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, President of the General Assembly UN photo/Mark Garten

"Human trafficking is a modern-day slave trade. It violates fundamental human rights and exploits innocent people", said Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, President of the General Assembly, in her opening remarks at the International Conference on Trafficking in Women and Girls, held at UN Headquarters on 5 March 2007. "Preventing this kind of activity should be one of the main objectives of the international community", she said, pointing out that human trafficking disproportionately impacts millions of people in poor countries and is a multi-billion dollar industry that lines the pockets of organized crime. She suggested a "bottom-up approach" to combat such trade, which would include local public awareness campaigns, with vulnerable groups joining in discussions on finding solutions and improving local economies to prevent "risky migration practices".

Somaly Mam, President and co-founder of a non-governmental organization called Acting for Women in Distressing Situations (AFESIP), informed delegates about the thriving sex trade in Cambodia where, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 30 per cent of sex workers are under 18 years old. She called for the international community's attention to women and girls, who are trafficked and forced into prostitution, saying further that government corruption and law enforcement in Cambodia should be addressed to combat the trafficking of women and young girls.

Abandoned and raped at 12, Ms. Mam was sold off two years later and forced to marry a stranger who mistreated her. At 30, she became a spokesperson for women and children tortured in the brothels of Cambodia. She now leads AFESIP in the fight against trafficking in women and children for sex slavery and rescues victims in Thailand, Viet Nam and the Lao People's Democratic Republic. AFESIP was founded in 1996, and since then Ms. Mam has saved over 3,000 young girls who were sold and forced into prostitution, despite threats from gangs and traffickers. Ms. Mam, who has dedicated her life to rescuing these women and girls, was honoured by Glamour magazine as one of the Women of the Year in 2006.

The year 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of transatlantic slavery, but "modern slavery has become more devious and brutal", said Natalya Petkevich, Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of Belarus. Located in Eastern Europe, Belarus is a primary source of women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Japan and South Korea, according to the State Department's report. In 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 61/180, sponsored by Belarus, on improving coordination of efforts against trafficking in persons.

Not only are there significant numbers of illegal migrants and victims of human trafficking within the country, said Ms. Petkevich, but "Belarusians themselves also become export commodities". She suggested two directions to effectively combat human trafficking: stopping the criminals behind the trade and ensuring economic and social stability in societies. "We will never defeat this social evil unless there is an effective counteraction to factors, such as poverty, gender inequality and lack of education, and decisively address corruption, which fuels the demand for trafficking", she concluded.

UN Deputy-Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro UN photo/ Paulo Filgueiras

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Yet, around the world, millions of people are still deprived of their freedom", said UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro. "There should be no place in the twenty-first century for forced labour or sexual exploitation. These are forms of slavery in our world today and should fill us with shame-as an African woman, it also fills me with rage", she noted. She urged all Member States to ratify and implement the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by the General Assembly in 2000 and signed by 177 Member States, with 110 ratifying it.

The International Conference on Trafficking in Women and Girls was organized by the Governments of Belarus and the Philippines, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and Vital Voices. For more information, please visit http://www.unodc.org, http://www.afesip.org and http://www.vitalvoices.org