Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 30 July (BelTA) – The international community should share the shame of the increasing scope of human trafficking, Belarus Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Dapkiunas told a press briefing on 30 July arranged by the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly with the Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Belarus on the occasion of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, BelTA has learned.

The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons has been marked for the fifth time already. However, this event should provoke deliberations, rather than jubilations. It is a day to remember those who fell victim to modern-day traders in human beings and to realize how much more can be done to eradicate this phenomenon from the modern-day life.

Andrei Dapkiunas said that the movement of people around the world offers a favorable environment for modern forms of exploitation. “Human traffickers hunt for those who badly need protection and use intimidation and deception. The most likely trafficking victims are migrants and refugees, women and children. Human traffickers come up with increasingly sophisticated methods and take advantage of modern information and communication technology to reach their ends. In the information age they target active Internet users, first of all, young people,” Andrei Dapkiunas said.

In September 2017, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Group of Friends United against Human Trafficking coordinated by Belarus took part in the thematic dialogue “Trade in Minors in the Digital Age: Waking Up the World to the Dire Need to Stop Trafficking in Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Including Via the Internet”. The event was organized on the initiative of Belarus by the Group of Friends together with partners from international and American non-governmental organizations, representatives of the United States Congress, senior officials of the OSCE and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The recommendations put forward at the event made their way into Belarus-sponsored draft resolution on the prevention of trafficking in human beings using technological means that was adopted by the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna this year. “This resolution urges experts to unite efforts to better protect potential trafficking victims and to identify perpetrators,” he said.

He also mentioned the awareness-raising campaign Stop Human Trafficking implemented in Belarus by the International Organization for Migration in cooperation with a number of international and national partners. The summer camp timed to the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons has already become a traditional event. This is one of the formats to teach young people to recognize human traffickers and not to fall into the trap set for them by criminals. Andrei Dapkiunas deems it important that the participants of the campaign will share their knowledge with peers.

Taking part in the event were Zeinal Hajiyev, Head of the Office of the International Organization for Migration in Belarus, Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus, as well as representatives of government agencies, international organizations and the academic community.