Exhibition "United Europe Against Slavery" opens in Yerevan

YEREVAN, 18 November 2002 - The exhibition United Europe Against Slavery, which opens today at the Moskva Cinema Theater in Yerevan, is a landmark event to raise public awareness on human trafficking issues.

In addition to posters provided by the French non-governmental organization Comité Contre L'Esclavage Moderne, the visitors will see a documentary of trafficking, Bought and Sold. Produced by the Global Survival Network, the documentary is a result of a two-year undercover investigation into the trafficking of women for prostitution from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

A series of side discussions, moderated by an expert sponsored by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and sent by a leading anti-trafficking NGO, La Strada Ukraine, will bring together key government officials, NGO representatives and media professionals in an effort to raise their awareness of one of the most abhorrent human rights violations in modern society.

On 21 November the exhibition will move to Gyumri, Armenia's second major city and the place of origin of many Armenian trafficking victims.

The exhibition, organized under the auspices of the Armenian Interagency Commission on Human Trafficking, is supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the OSCE, American Bar Association Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI), U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Austrian Airlines.