Combating modern slavery

The UN global plan for combating the trade in humans came into force on September 1st. It was approved by the delegates of the latest session of the UN General Assembly and is aimed at doing away with this phenomenon, which is regarded as a hateful one for the 21st century. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the countries to remit money to the UN fund meant for the victims of human trafficking.   

According to the United Nations, the annual pay-off from the sale of humans reaches 32 billion dollars. About 2 million women are transported across borders annually for sale purposes. More than 50,000 young women are taken away from Russia alone annually. Usually they find themselves in sexual slavery, and more than 50 per cent of them are under 15. Today this criminal business has acquired such a scale that it could be compared with illegal arms, drugs and diamonds. Almost all states are involved in it: humans are taken away from certain countries and are supplied to others, the Director of the IOM (International Organization for Migration) Bureau in Moscow Enrico Ponziani says:    

"Sexual exploitation, forced labour, trafficking in children, sale of humans for the transplantats  of organs  and tissues, street begging – all these are the monstrous forms  of one and the same crime, which is known as  human trafficking, or in other words, modern slavery."

The UN Protocol on the prevention and nipping in the bud the trafficking in human beings, especially women and children, and punishment for this, was adopted 10 years ago. Actually, this was an addition to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which was signed  by more than 100 states, including the Russian Federation.

According to international documents, trafficking in human beings is qualified as a serious crime and as a gross violation of human rights. However, the fact remains that the world community has failed to nip this criminal business in the bud. 4 million people are sold, bought, detained, and transported against their will annually. Adding 10 million children, who are exploited as sex-slaves.     

To reverse the situation, the United Nations has worked out a global plan of action for combating human trafficking. It stresses that to do away with modern slavery, the world community should make effective efforts while combating against organized criminal groups. This plan contains concrete measures for the prevention of such criminal activity, for the protection of its victims and for the prosecution of traffickers of human beings.      

In 2013 the UN member-states will appraise the progress that was achieved in the course of implementing the global plan of action for combating human trafficking. To step up the fight against modern slavery, an informal voluntary association, “The Group of Friends”, was set up in the United Nations. It unites 19 states, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, India, and Egypt.