VIENNA, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Trafficking in human beings is a chronic threat that must be viewed as modern day slavery, a special representative at the OSCE said from Vienna.
Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the special representative on human trafficking at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, described the practice as a new form of slavery.
"Trafficking in human beings must be seen at the same time as a human rights violation and a transnational threat to security as it is mostly a business of organized crime which fuels corruption and money laundering, and therefore hampers economic and democratic development," she told OSCE delegates from Vienna.
In her report, Giammarinaro called on member states to change attitudes on human trafficking, accusing states of viewing it as a marginal phenomenon.
She said traffickers are changing modes of operation from physical violence to more subtle approaches, which meant the problem was infiltrating societies and cultures.
Trafficking, she said, was an assault on human dignity that required a sea change in the way member states view security.
"We should do a better job of helping trafficked persons to take their life in their hands, and have access to justice and remedies including compensation and labor law remedies," she said.
