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Assemblée parlementaire de l'OTAN
HomeMEDIA RESOURCES200414 November 2004 - PRESS COMMUNIQUE: END CHILD TRAFFICKING
14 November 2004 - PRESS COMMUNIQUE: END CHILD TRAFFICKING
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A four-pronged attack on the trafficking of children in Europe was called for by NATO parliamentarians meeting in Venice today. |
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A resolution on this issue based on a report by Icelandic member Gudmundur STEFANSSON (Social Alliance) was presented to the Committee of Civil Dimension of Security which described human trafficking as “a serious threat to security throughout the Euro-Atlantic area. This form of modern-day slavery, in which human beings are treated as commodities, constitutes a serious violation of basic human rights and poses a great challenge for the Euro-Atlantic community at the dawn of a new century.” The report quotes global estimates of between 2 and 4 million children being trafficked worldwide every year. According to the NGO Terre des homes “the price for an Albanian girl trafficked to Italy is between 2,500 and 4,000 USD, and 10,000 USD if she is a virgin.” The committee resolution calls for a) legal measures “to ratify and implement the existing international laws and principles concerning child trafficking,” b) to adopt measures “to facilitate the identification of migrant children, including passport and visa regulations” and c) training for “international military, police peacekeepers and related civilian contractors” particularly in the area of the rights of children and “special protection measures for child victims of trafficking.” The resolution emphasized the need for national and international coordination to “ensure proper coordination between all authorities in charge of counter-trafficking and assistance to victims of trafficking”, the need for bilateral and multilateral exchanges of information and the need to harmonize national legislation and penalties to avoid gaps in jurisdiction. This resolution is one of a series which will be presented to the plenary session of the NATO parliamentary Assembly in Venice on Tuesday 16 November 2004 following five days of intensive meetings by five committees attended by over 300 parliamentarians from 26 NATO member countries and 13 associates |
