SI UN Reps in Geneva and Vienna


Trafficking is modern slavery Sina Stiffler SI Rep to UN Geneva reports from the TOC (Transnational Organised Crime) Conference in Vienna


As a newcomer representative to UN Geneva I happily accepted UN Vienna SI representative Roswitha Benesch’s invitation to accompany her to the TOC Conference in October 2010. Trafficking in Persons was one of the core issues, exactly ten years since the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) was decided, the resolution 55/25. Big hopes had been set on this Anti


or to get hold of the perpetrators. “Human trafficking is a too technical term for this very bad crime” says Yuri Fedorov, Executive Director an UNDOC (UN Office against Drugs and Crime). The term itself doesn’t bear meaning and doesn’t raise attention to what it is: it is simply slavery – and we should not refrain to name it. What was said in Vienna is hair-raising:


Trafficking Convention (also called Palermo Convention), the signing of which was seen “as a watershed event” by Kofi A. Annan in 2000, when he stated that “the trafficking of persons, particularly women and children, for forced and exploitative labour, including for sexual exploitation, is one of the most egregious violations of human rights that the UN now confronts”. He believed that the ratification could make a real difference in the struggle to eliminate this reprehensible trade in human beings. However ten years later, we are not there


yet. Awareness has risen – but it seems extremely difficult to help trafficked persons


not co-operate for fear of being sent back as illegal immigrants. Most organisations agree that there must


human trafficking has become the third biggest crime, with 2.4 million new victims every year. Trafficking comes in various forms: • Cross border trafficking (stealing women) from neighbouring countries into China; a shortage of women is the consequence of the one child policy (and abortion of female foetus). • Forced juvenile begging, very often it is only DNA that makes it possible to give children back to their parents when they cannot recognise them after some years. • In many countries women are employed as domestic workers but end up in forced prostitution - slavery. Sadly, when victims are freed, they often cannot go back home, they often feel ashamed or guilty. Often victims do


United Nations Human Rights Day


10 December Rosie Coutts, SI Executive Director on the history behind this year’s appeal


The promotion and protection of human rights has been a major concern for the United Nations since 1945, when the founding nations resolved that the horrors of The Second World War should never be allowed to recur. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. All States and interested organisations


have been invited by the General Assembly to observe 10 December as Human Rights Day since 1950. To quote UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon: “Discrimination targets individuals and groups that are vulnerable to attack: the disabled, women and girls, the poor, migrants, minorities, and all those who are perceived as different... But these victims of discrimination are not alone. The United Nations is standing with them, committed to defending the rights of all, and particularly the most vulnerable. That is our identity and our mission.” The UN encourages us all to make a


against discrimination, often at great personal risk, are recognised and acclaimed on this day. This focus will continue through 2011. They note that human rights defenders are active in every part of the world, working alone and in groups, in local communities, in national politics and internationally. Human Rights Day 2010 is also intended to inspire a new generation of defenders to speak up and take action to end discrimination in all of its forms whenever and wherever it is manifested. SI recognised December 10 as


Former SI President Catherine Salt, is second from right in this photograph


difference: to celebrate Human Rights Day by advocating non-discrimination, organising activities, raising awareness and reaching out to our local communities on 10 December and beyond. The UN Office of the High Commissioner


for Human Rights set 2010’s theme for Human Rights Day as ‘human rights defenders who act to end discrimination’, stating that human rights defenders acting


TIS December 2010 Page 6


International Day from 1956 onwards. In 1981 International President Catherine Salt asked members to go a step further by introducing the International President’s Appeal Day. She asked that all Soroptimists make a personal sacrifice that day, so that the money could be given at the International President’s discretion, to women in great need anywhere in the world. The first, highly successful Appeal was in


date, Soroptimists have collaborated with an impressive array of partners in every corner of the world, including 12 partnerships with the UN and inter-governmental agencies. The diversity of the Appeals is remarkable, although they all share one unifying feature: the difference that Soroptimist contributions make to the lives of women and girls. Each appeal is special and we, at SI Headquarters, feel privileged to share in their planning and keep up with their outcomes, often long after the Appeal has closed. Although usually designed to last just


1982, aiding refugee women and children on the island of Pulau Bidong in Malaysia. This excerpt from the September issue of The International Soroptimist magazine of that year makes fascinating reading – our idea of personal sacrifice might be different today! “The President hopes that all Soroptimists will observe this day by making some personal sacrifice, small or great – perhaps do without a packet of cigarettes, or a meal, or a hair-do, the choice is yours.”


one year, the impressive amounts donated by members have often ensured that the particular project can be sustained over a much longer period. The 2010 December 10 President’s


In the 28 President’s Appeals since that


be compensation for the victims for unpaid wages, psychological traumas. But who should pay? Although it is stated that about US$30 billion is earned with trafficking in any forms, it seems extremely difficult to get hold of traffickers or the money they have made with their crime. A feeling of helplessness arises during this


conference, how can we as Soroptimists, as the Civil Society, do anything to combat such awful crimes? Awareness yes, advocacy yes, but action is needed! In the March 2010 edition of TIS SI members were advised to support organisations that have the power to do something against trafficking, ‘Stop the traffik’ is one of them www.stopthetrafik.org, it has more than 1,000 member organisations in 50 countries and a grass roots following of ordinary activists around the world. The campaign is directly related to


Objective 2 in the SI Programme Focus 2007-2011.


Appeal is taking a different form from previous appeals – do read President Hanne’s comment in this magazine to find out more, and visit the international project pages on the SI website for details of current and past recent appeals.


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