Image via WikipediaNew York, United States - The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Thursday said the governments of Egypt, Belarus, Malaysia, Luxembourg, Qatar and Thailand had pledged various sums of money to the newly-created UN Trust Fund to support victims of human trafficking. It said Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of Orascom Telecom, had also pledged his support to the fund.In a statement given to PANA in New York, the UNODC said the pledges were received from the six governments and the private sector in the last two weeks.
Yury Fedotov, the UNODC Executive Director, however, said that the fund known as 'UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking, Especially Women and Children', would only be successful with broad financial support.
He encouraged all governments, foundations, the private sector and individuals to contribute generously to the fund.
According to him human beings are trafficked for a wide range of terrible purposes, not only for sexual exploitation" though that is certainly one of the worst forms of this disgraceful crime against human dignity.
'We hope that the new Trust Fund will help us to deal with these challenges as it provides a way to rescue victims of human trafficking and to help them to recover and rebuild their lives,' he stated.
He also said that the Trust Fund would provide victims with humanitarian, legal and financial aid through established channels of assistance, such as governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.
The UN estimates that more than 2.4 million people are currently being exploited after being trafficked by human smugglers.
The Fund was launched on 4 November as an important element of the new UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in July this year.
Meanwhile, the UNODC has announced the appointment of members of the Trust Fund's Board of Advisers (Trustees), which will have representations from different regions of the world.
It said the Trustees would serve a three-year term and would advice UNODC on the implementation of the Fund.
It also disclosed that the trustees were selected by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
They are Aleya Hammad of Egypt, Saisuree Chutikul of Thailand, Nick Kinsella of the United Kingdom, Virginia Murillo Herrera of Costa Rica and Klara Skrivankova of the Czech Republic.
New York - Pana 19/11/2010
Source: Afrique en ligne
Egypt, 5 others support UN Trust Fund for Human Trafficking victims
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