Special Representative for Combating Human Trafficking addresses U.S. Helsinki Commission, calls for enhanced legal response in OSCE region

The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, cautioned that more must be done to enforce existing laws against human trafficking across the OSCE region in her testimony before the U.S. Helsinki Commission on 17 September 2013.

“Although numerous good practices exist in the OSCE participating States, a significant gap between regulation and actual implementation has been highlighted,” Giammarinaro told the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe at the U.S. Congress.

“There is no doubt that trafficking in human beings has developed into a major criminal phenomenon entailing gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and heavily affecting economic and labour market sectors such as agriculture, construction, fishing, the textile industry, tourism and domestic work.”

The Special Representative said that while participating States must stiffen their resolve to combat trafficking, greater emphasis must also be placed on the issue of social justice.
 

The prevention of, and fight against human trafficking is first and foremost about building a more fair society, in which there is no acceptance or indifference toward the exploitation of people who are easily enslaved simply because they are poor, destitute, uneducated, marginalised and discriminated against, and therefore deprived of the basic protection of the rule of law,” Giammarinaro said.

Her testimony was part of a hearing entitled "OSCE Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking: Outlook and Opportunities", which examined the role of the Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in its leadership to combat modern day slavery in the OSCE region.

Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and Representative Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman, as well as Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and John Boozman, and Representative Steve Cohen were among the officials who attended the hearing.