OSCE Special Representative for Combating Human Trafficking calls for enhanced victim protection mechanisms at U.S. Helsinki Commission

WASHINGTON, 14 July 2010 - More committed implementation of victim protection mechanisms will strengthen the fight against the trafficking in human beings, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, told the U.S. Helsinki Commission today.

"Vulnerable workers who have been subject to trafficking must be protected, empowered and supported to take their lives in their own hands," Giammarinaro told the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe at the U.S. Congress.

"The anti-trafficking mechanisms established throughout the OSCE region over the past 10 years should now work on a much larger scale, especially to address the massive phenomenon of trafficking for labour exploitation, including domestic servitude. A significant percentage of the victims of such trafficking are children."

Giammarinaro called for improved co-operation between governments and civil society to enhance implementation of national anti-trafficking mechanisms, such as National Referral Mechanisms, action plans and co-ordination mechanisms. She also said human trafficking had to be recognized as a serious transnational threat for security and a highly profitable criminal business.

Her testimony was part of a hearing entitled "A Decade of the Trafficking in Persons Report", which followed the launch in June of the tenth Trafficking in Persons Report by the U.S. State Department's Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

During the visit to the United States, Giammarinaro and Deputy Co-ordinator Ruth Freedom Pojman will meet members of the U.S. Congress, high-ranking officials at the US Departments of State, Justice, Labor, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Defence, as well as with academics and NGOs in Washington and New York.