"Trafficking is a development issue, it’s a human rights issue, and
it’s a security issue. It needs a coherent UN respons,"
said Ambassador Jonathan Allen, UK Deputy Permanent
Representative to the UN, on the Global Plan of Action.
He said:
Thank you Mr President,
It’s clear that people trafficking is a scourge that unites the
membership of the United Nations. No country is immune from this
awful crime, and so it is right that every country is united in
our shared commitment, made in the 2030 Agenda, to end forced
labour, modern slavery and human trafficking.
Making sure the Global Plan of Action helps deliver on this
commitment will require that we act across a number of fronts.
Let me highlight four.
First, we must bring further political attention to the issue of
human trafficking: the hidden nature of this crime makes it too
easy to ignore. The United Kingdom launched a ‘Call to Action to
End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking’ as world
leaders and their representatives gathered in New York last week.
This statement of political intent explicitly welcomes and aligns
very closely with the Global Plan. Thirty-seven countries have
endorsed this Call and I urge others to do the same.
Second, every country should develop and implement a national
strategy that addresses the four key elements of prosecution,
protection, prevention and partnerships. The UK’s approach is
underpinned by its 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy. To uncover the
scale of the problem, every country could also consider producing
an estimate of prevalence and statistics on trafficking. In 2013
we estimated there were up to 13,000 victims in the United
Kingdom.
Third, we must ensure that trafficking is stamped out of our
economies. The International Labour Organization estimates that
forced labour generates $150bn of illegal profits each year. We
must better regulate labour policies and work with business to
eradicate trafficking from supply chains. The UK’s Modern Slavery
Act requires every business with global revenues of over $48
million to report on the action it is taking. Governments, too,
must address their own procurement practices.
Fourth, our law enforcement and criminal justice systems need
specialist capabilities. The UNODC’s last report told us, the
number of global convictions remains too low. The UK introduced a
comprehensive legal framework in 2015 - and we are now seeing
growing numbers of convictions for the new offences it
introduced. We are also investing over $11 million in the police
and training over 300 new specialist investigators.
Mr President,
Trafficking is a development issue, it’s a human rights issue,
and it’s a security issue. It needs a coherent UN response. But
to date we have not seen enough progress to address the scale and
urgency of the problem. We need UN agencies cooperating and using
ICAT effectively – not competing over resources and turf. We urge
the Secretary-General to help resolve this persistent challenge.
Because whether we describe it as human trafficking, modern
slavery, or forced labour, we must stand together if the
exploitation of human beings is to end. We have reviewed our
global plan, so let us now act.
