UN Fund & Plan To Fight Trafficking And Aid Victims Established

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (Source: Reuters)

01 September 2010

Associated Press (United Nations) – The UN established and sought financial and legal aid from the international community for a trust fund, which aids several nations in their efforts to fight human trafficking and give legal, humanitarian, and financial aid to victims, and a plan to study and fight traffickers. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and the General Assembly President, Ali Abdussalam Treki, called on nations, NGOs, and corporations for financial aid for the fund and increased prosecution of traffickers. The fund, run by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, will focus on victim relief and partially on combating traffickers. The UN plan, which also includes the fund, calls for a study and analysis of the current state and patterns of human trafficking.

Source:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/1/apworld/20100901070218&sec=apworld

(Reliability: 9/10)

Comment:  (Source Reliability: The reporting of the Associated Press consistently bias free and highly accurate on details. However, the statement of the Secretary General and General Assembly President are limited with respect to the degree of urgency for donations or present state of UN funds for anti-trafficking efforts. Consequently, an analysis or prediction of the growth of UN efforts is partly limited since no information is available to determine current financial resources available to the UN and its agencies.)

Comment: Efforts which revolve around providing aid to victims, as well as studying trafficking patterns, have been consistent with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) operation since 2000. Research studies have been primarily utilized to develop specific regional trafficking prevention campaigns, law enforcement strategy and policy development (such as the October 2008 Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons), and legal/law enforcement infrastructure development (such as the 2006-2007 training of law enforcement and criminal justice officials in Africa, Eastern Europe, and South East Asia).
   
Analysis: Considering the UNODC is continuing research (most recently, a 2010 study of Baltic governments and their efforts against trafficking) and apply results to government infrastructure and policy development, it is highly likely that the UNODC will utilize new trust fund to continue the decade long strategy. However, the delivery of victim aid is usually done by other UN agencies, such as the UN Refugee Agency, and takes the form of direct distribution or program development for victim support infrastructure. Additionally, the lack of detail in the above article into UNODC priority in victim aid distribution and methodology in implementation make it difficult to predict or analyze development in victim aid distribution.

Sources for Consideration:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/prevention.html?ref=menuside

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/protection.html?ref=menuside

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/prosecution.html?ref=menuside

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/publications.html?ref=menuside