LONDON, March 26 (UPI) -- The United Nations, governments and NGOs are calling for an end to modern slavery.
On the 200th anniversary of trans-Atlantic slave trade's abolition, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in London Monday that "slavery is a booming international trade, less obvious than 200 years ago for sure, but all around us."
The initiative to fight human trafficking will strive to generate the political will, resources and awareness necessary to fight modern slavery.
Most victims of trafficking are sexually exploited women and girls, Costa said. The U.N. International Labor Organization estimates 12.3 million people can be qualified as modern slaves in a market valued at $32 billion.
The U.S. government estimates between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year.
Trafficked men usually work in fields, mines and quarries, while children are often exploited in fields such as fishing, agriculture or textile.
The U.N. Protocol Against Trafficking in Persons was ratified by 110 states, but few countries have taken steps to apply it. "The Protocol is only a piece of paper unless it is implemented," said Costa.
At the conference, he regretted a lack of political will.
"Everyone agrees trafficking is a problem, but funding for global action by UNODC has been less than $15 million for the past seven years," Costa said. "We have the tools to do this but we do not have the political will, large-scale public awareness or the resources to make it happen."
During a commemoration conference held at U.N. headquarters in New York Monday, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro urged member states to take action.
"There should be no place in the 21st century for trafficking, forced labor or sexual exploitation," she said.
