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Assemblée parlementaire de l'OTAN
HomeMEDIA RESOURCES200430 May 2004 - Press Communique: People Trafficking
30 May 2004 - Press Communique: People Trafficking
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PEOPLE TRAFFICKING SAID TO POSE GRAVE THREAT TO SECURITY |
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BRATISLAVA, 30 May – NATO parliamentarians heard on Sunday that human trafficking, condemned as “modern-day slavery”, posed a grave threat to security throughout the Euro-Atlantic area and were urged to push for action to bring it to an end. “Its effects can be felt in every country … its society, health and security threats are enormously detrimental. It is believed that trafficking of human beings is the third biggest source of revenue for organized crime after drugs and arms and is closely interconnected,” Gudmundur Arni Stefansson (Iceland) warned. He was presenting a report on “The fight against children trafficking in Europe” to a committee meeting of the NATO-Parliamentary Assembly which is currently holding its spring session in the Slovak capital, Bratislava. Mr Stefansson told fellow parliamentarians that in Lithuania children as young as 10 years old had been used to make pornographic movies and that in Albania girls over the age of 14 had dropped out of high school because of inadequate security on the way to and from school. “Children from dysfunctional families where domestic abuse and neglect are common, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Children at high risk are usually orphans and children of trafficked women,” he told the meeting of the NATO-PA’s Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security. The committee heard that few up to date and comprehensive statistics were available, but said the European Commission now estimated that up to 120,000 women and children were being trafficked each year into western Europe. For more information: Jonathan Clayton (+421-902849128)or Keith Williams at NATO PA Press and Information Office Tel (421-2) 5752 6920/21 Fax (421-2) 5752 6922. Full report available on www.nato-pa.int |
