Europe Human traffickers exploit economic crisis warns high-level conference

Project : Regional Office 10 Sep 2009 | labor prevention sexual exploitation

Vienna, Austria: The impact of the global economic crisis in severely reducing legitimate employment opportunities and increasing the vulnerability of millions of people to sexual and labour exploitation is the focus of an OSCE-organized conference on the 14-15 October, 2009. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a video address opening the two-day conference, urged OSCE participating States to redouble prevention efforts. The 9th Alliance Against Trafficking in Persons Conference, focusing on “Prevention of Modern-Slavery”, brings together more than 250 experts from governments, international organizations and civil society to discuss the business of trafficking in the context of the economic crisis, which has increased both supply and demand. “Widespread unemployment, a drastic decline in opportunities and a loss in remittances from labour migrants result in desperate situations both in countries of origin and of destination, where people have few viable alternatives and are prone to take more risks,” said Eva Biaudet, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.Conference participants also discuss current best practices using a human rights approach, including the media’s role in preventing trafficking. Investigative journalists, documentary filmmakers and photographers take part in a panel discussion on the media’s role and responsibility in covering human trafficking.

Conference website here - Download the presentation from Tdh here
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