Generating and harnessing political will to end human trafficking
Human trafficking is a direct affront to individual dignity and freedom. The sheer scale of this crime makes it one of the greatest social challenges of our time.
The numbers speak for themselves. There are an estimated 27.6 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. A third of them are children. And less than 1% of them are ever identified.
Meanwhile, traffickers’ profits reach an estimated $150 billion a year, a figure higher than the national economies of 33 out of 57 OSCE participating States. And traffickers’ profits are only growing as they exploit new avenues such as technology to expand their criminal activities.
Twenty years ago, OSCE participating States adopted the OSCE Action Plan on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. It emphasizes that the primary responsibility for combating and preventing trafficking in human beings rests with participating States.
Unfortunately, our collective response has been insufficient to overcome a challenge of this magnitude — not a single country has defeated human trafficking.
My Office’s Survey Report of Efforts to Implement OSCE Commitments and Recommended Actions to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, published last year, found that, despite some progress, there was a specific need for participating States to scale-up their responses to trafficking both at policy and practice levels. This includes governments investing more and being more strategic with existing resources to combat human trafficking.
While there is still much work to be done, I have seen inspiring examples of national leadership against human trafficking in my capacity as OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. I have visited many participating States where I have met leaders who break the mold and demonstrate the political will to achieve real impact against this heinous crime.
National leadership is at the heart of our 2023 Alliance against Trafficking in Persons Conference. The Conference is the main annual gathering for key stakeholders from across the OSCE region, including national authorities as well as international and civil society organizations. As everyone has a role to play in fostering improved national leadership against trafficking, the Alliance Conference is an important platform for us to work together. There is no better time or place than this Conference to showcase how national leadership can make a difference and encourage participating States across the OSCE region to adopt similar practices and approaches.
At the Conference, we will discuss the nature and scale of trafficking, the systems, structures and architecture for achieving an impact, and game-changing laws and policies to enable States to keep up with the evolving nature of this crime. We will also showcase inspiring examples of the anti-trafficking leadership led by a new generation of innovative anti-trafficking leaders and discuss the key elements of an effective national anti-trafficking response.
Now is the time to renew our momentum in the fight against human trafficking across the OSCE region and to create a roadmap for success over the next 20 years.
Register for the 2023 Alliance Conference from 18 to 19 April and be part of the movement to end one of the gravest challenges of our time: trafficking in human beings.