At least 21
million people are victims of human trafficking, the UN Secretary-General
António Guterres said on Wednesday, adding that the traffickers are smiling to
the bank with $150 billion every year.
Guterres
described the human trafficking trade as appalling.
Guterres,
who made the remarks at the ‘Ministerial Open Debate on Trafficking in Persons
in Conflict Situations: Forced labour, slavery and other similar practices’
organised by the Security Council, condemned the rising cases of human
trafficking.
The UN
scribe estimated that traffickers made $150 billion annually through different
forms of human trafficking and called for strong efforts to stop the evil
trade.
“The
International Labour Organisation reports that 21 million people around the
world are victims of forced labour and extreme exploitation. Annual profits are
estimated to be $150 billion.
“Beyond
these numbers is the human toll – the lives cut short, the families and
societies torn apart, the gross violations of human rights and international
humanitarian law,” Guterres lamented.
The UN chief
explained that human trafficking took many forms, pointing out that “women and
girls in particular are targeted again and again and again”.
“We see
brutal sexual exploitation, including forced prostitution, forced marriage and
sexual slavery. We see the appalling trade in human organs.
“Let us also
remember that modern manifestations of servitude may touch and even implicate
us all. Global supply-chains have transformed many lives for the better – but
not always without costs.
“In some
situations – clothes, food, smartphones, jewellery and other consumer goods may
bear, wittingly or unwittingly, the traces of exploitation.
“Gleaming
new skyscrapers may owe some of their shine to the sweat of bonded labourers,”
he said.
According to
him, human trafficking thrives where the rule of law is weak or non-existent,
while situations of armed conflict are especially virulent breeding grounds for
human trafficking.
“In some of
today’s conflicts, we are confronted by armed groups that not only openly
engage in enslavement and forced labour, but actually argue that it is legal.
“In Syria,
Daesh has organised slave markets and even published manuals instructing its
fighters on how to capture, control and trade enslaved women and girls.
“The leaders
of Boko Haram have also argued that slavery is legal.
“In other
conflicts, other groups force men, women and children under their control to
labour in unsafe mines, as porters and domestic servants, and on the
frontlines.”
Guterres
said smugglers often coerced and manipulated individuals for profit and make
them victims of sex or labour trafficking while terrorists and violent
extremists used sexual enslavement as a tool for recruitment.
Drug
traffickers use kidnapping and ransom to finance their operations. Criminal
gangs force unaccompanied children into a life of petty crime, he added.
He, however,
noted UNODC’s December 2016 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, that there
are hardly any convictions for crimes related to human trafficking in conflict
situations or elsewhere.
Guterres
warned that the lack of aggressive investigations and prosecutions only adds to
the injustice, allows perpetrators to function without fear, fuels corruption
and creates widespread disillusion.
“There is
much that we can do both to punish human trafficking, and to prevent it in the
first place.
“A solid
legal and normative framework is in place, including the UN Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol.
“This
includes the first internationally agreed definition of the crime of
trafficking in persons and provides a framework to effectively prevent and
combat it.
“ILO
Conventions and the Global Plan of Action on Human Trafficking complement the
Protocol, and are further key parts of the picture.
“All of
these build on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Under the Rome
Statute, enslavement can constitute a crime against humanity,” the UN scribe
said.
(NAN)
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