Vienna - Today's societies are geared towards favouring human trafficking, be it for sexual exploitation or forced labour, a senior United Nations official warned on Friday. Speaking to journalists at the end of UN-sponsored anti- trafficking event UN.GIFT, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) head Antonio Maria Costa said that the "dramatic trend" towards exhibiting women, for example in ads, created a vulnerability towards this crime.
"It is ... preying on women. I am also talking about rich countries, not just the gender disparities we see in developing countries," Costa said.
Furthermore, the drive to cut costs, engendered by globalization, led to more exploitation.
"People feel the moral right to go and exploit other individuals just to cut costs," Costa warned, also slamming the "benign neglect" many nations still displayed towards human trafficking, a crime significantly more challenging to combat than drug trafficking, due to lack of information and political will.
At UN.GIFT, representatives from 116 nations, international organizations and NGOs gathered to raise awareness and launch on-the-ground measures to combat trafficking, both the supply of victims and demand for goods or services produced by the victims.
Costa was buoyed by the institutional impact, awareness building and policy pledges made, all of which went beyond expectations, but stressed that the proof of commitments made in Vienna was in their implementation.
However, many governments were still unwilling to recognize the human horrors behind trafficking, hiding behind a "no, this is not happening in our country" attitude, Costa said.
Lack of knowledge remained a key issue, be it understanding what went on in the minds of both victims and perpetrators, or (for law enforcement officers) how to prosecute traffickers successfully.
The UNODC head rejected criticism that the UN.GIFT event was sponsored by the United Arab Emirates, a country regarded as having a dubious human rights record. The crown prince of Abu Dhabi contributed 50 million dollars, on behalf of the UAE towards the event.
"All countries have bad track records regarding trafficking," Costa said. "Only if we all openly recognize that we all are part of the problem can we deal with this ... I am not criticizing one country, I am criticizing all countries."
