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Romania’s Permanent Representative intervention on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security” – Agenda Item “Trafficking in Persons in Conflict Situations”
On the 20th of December, 2016, the Spanish Presidency of the UN Security Council organized a ministerial level open debate on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security” – Agenda Item “Trafficking in Persons in Conflict Situations”. The meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister of Spain, Mr. Mariano Rajoy.
In his statement, Romania’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Ion Jinga, highlighted that: “Worldwide conflicts are becoming more connected to terrorist activities, while human trafficking plays a significant role in generating revenue and profit for terrorist organizations. Linkages between conflict and trafficking in persons, particularly of women and children, were clearly documented by the Special Raporteur of the Human Rights Council. The horrible crimes that the terrorist organization Daesh committed in territories it controls have shaken up the entire world, and the atrocities against women and girls from the Yazidi community have generated a huge wave of sympathy from all over the world for these victim.”
Noting that prevention plays a key role not just in pre-conflict situations, but also during the development of a conflict, the Romanian diplomat mentioned that an important role is played by the peace-keeping personnel deployed under the UN flag. “Assuring a pre-deployment preparation on how to identify characteristics of trafficking in persons has to be part of the training given to all those deployed in missions in conflict areas, including civil society or humanitarian organizations representatives. Romanian personnel participating in UN missions and operations is given a specific pre-deployment training on how to identify and protect victims of human trafficking.”
Remarking the complex nexus between human trafficking, organized crime, corruption, armed conflict and terrorism, Ambassador Ion Jinga underlined that efforts at national level for combating this scourge have to be accompanied by regional and international cooperation. There is a need for real-time information exchange between countries of origin, transit and destination of trafficking in persons, leading to saving the victims, protecting their rights and combating the impunity of perpetrators: “Combating human trafficking is an undergoing battle in which the focus should be on victims protection. Legislative measures for prevention and investigation of this particularly grave crime, punishing the offenders and offering assistance to the victims needs to be continued with firm determination.
Information exchange between national authorities, with the involvement of UN entities and other international organizations, like Interpol or the International Organization for Migration, is essential. In this common effort, the civil society, the private sector and the media are also major partners.”
Highlighting that trafficking in persons is one of the fastest growing crimes, and the second largest criminal enterprise after drug trafficking, he noted that today there are more slaves than in any other period in history –estimates show that 27 million adults and 13 million children live as modern slaves. Romania’s Permanent Representative gave as example of best practices the way trafficking in persons is handled in our country: “In Romania, the National Agency for Combating Human Trafficking coordinates, evaluates and monitors dealing with human trafficking. The importance of the partnership with civil society is reflected by more than 60 such projects. At the same time, within the Romanian National Police, a special unit is dedicated to combating human trafficking and it has 15 regional teams with specialized agents, totaling around 250 operational staff. About 400 other officers are dispatched from the General Inspectorate of the Border Police to FRONTEX projects, as part of European Border and Coast Guard Teams. Their main goal is combating illegal immigration at the borders of the European Union and of related crimes – trafficking in persons, drug trafficking, victim identification within migrants, fake travel documents etc.
All of these demonstrate that Romania remains fully committed to the global effort to eradicate trafficking in persons, regardless the context. For us, the key words are: Prevention, Protection (of victims), Prosecution (of perpetrators) and Partnership with stakeholders involved in this common effort. We see this approach as part of our collective sense of humanity.”