NEW YORK, March 5 (UPI) -- The United Nations called on governments, civil society and international organizations to put an end to human trafficking.
"The fact that there are forms of slavery in our world today should fill us all with shame. As an African woman, I would add that it also fills me with rage," said U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro Monday at the International Conference on Trafficking in Women and Girls.
Migiro urged states to join the Global Initiative to fight Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, a new U.N. program which will be launched this year in Vienna.
The trade in human beings for exploitation in forced labor or the sex trade is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Later this month, around 1,000 representatives from governments and non-governmental organizations were to attend the Abu Dhabi Global Initiative to End Trafficking in Persons, supported by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime
The meeting is part of global momentum building against trafficking in persons, according to UNDOC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.
At the Monday conference, General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa lauded international legal instruments, such as the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking, Especially Women and Children, which entered into force in December 2003.
The protocol's measures are intended to make it more difficult for organized criminal groups to take advantage of gaps in national law.
Sheikha Haya also suggested a bottom-up approach, including awareness-raising campaigns at the local-level to prevent risky migration practices.
