OSCE/ODIHR action plan to combat trafficking in human beings

ISTANBUL, 18 November 1999 - At a special meeting on the margins of the OSCE Summit today prominent political figures and activists from throughout the OSCE region will highlight the OSCE's resolve to combat trafficking in human beings. Using this occasion, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights will present an Action Plan to confront this complex problem.

"Trafficking in human beings has become one of the most pressing human rights issues in the OSCE area", said Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann, OSCE/ODIHR Director. "It is also one of the fastest growing and most lucrative criminal enterprises in the world. Across the region, traffickers use deceit, coercion and debt bondage to force people to work in exploitative and abusive conditions amounting to slavery."

A large proportion of people who are trafficked are young women and girls recruited, abducted or sold into forced prostitution, false marriages, or other forms of sexual servitude, often following false promises of well-paid jobs abroad. The OSCE participating States have committed themselves to the elimination of trafficking in human beings from and within the OSCE region.

The OSCE/ODIHR, in its Action Plan, is making concrete recommendations to the participating States and the OSCE institutions at all levels, and proposes actions to enhance prevention, prosecution of trafficking perpetrators, and protection of the rights of trafficked persons. Specific priorities are:

• Strengthening the legal framework to better protect the rights of women and girls and to punish the traffickers
• Increasing public awareness, including training officials on the human rights implications of trafficking
• Assisting governments and NGOs to provide greater protection and assistance to victims of trafficking.

The proposed Action Plan, and a background document "Trafficking in human beings: Implications for the OSCE" are available on the ODIHR website: //www.osce.org/odihr.