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Mekong Governments Demonstrate Concrete Action Against Human Trafficking

The six Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Governments (Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam) concluded a three day meeting beginning on 12 May 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The goal of the meeting was to review and update the three year plan of action of joint activities to realize their vision of a trafficking-free Mekong region.

Over thirty senior government officials attended the COMMIT Senior Officials Meeting in order to review and assess the course of cooperation on trafficking in the Mekong region for the next decade and more. In his keynote address to the meeting, H.E. Mr. Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister, Royal Government of Cambodia highlighted the "need to work together towards the creation of a society where there is zero tolerance for this type of unacceptable abuse."

The crime of human trafficking continues to prevail in the region. Since the signing of the historic COMMIT Memorandum of Understanding in Yangon, Burma in October 2004 by Ministers of the six countries, the Governments have been active in laying the foundation for a network of cooperation to stop traffickers and prosecute them, protect victims of trafficking and assist them return safely home, and launch efforts to prevent others from sharing the same fate. This meeting gave the governments and partners in the COMMIT Process a chance to demonstrate the concrete action that had been taken over the past year, and fine-tune plans for activities in the coming year, based on agreed priorities.

H.E. Dr. Ing Kantha Pavi, Cambodian Minister of Women's Affairs pointed out that "the responsibility for all of us to address the human rights abuses resulting from the crime of human trafficking is an enormous one" but emphasized that "we cannot rest as long as our citizens continue to be subjected to such inhumane conditions - in effect, as modern day slaves. The measure of a nation's development and progress [will] be ascertained from the protection it affords to its citizens and in particular the most vulnerable."

The COMMIT Sub-regional Plan of Action in focusing on both the areas of law enforcement and criminal justice, and prevention, protection, recovery and reintegration of victims sets the standard for anti-trafficking work in the Asian region. The Plan itself is a practical roadmap for priority action, buttressed by the technical expertise and support of UN agencies, international and national NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral donors.

While significant achievements from the past year were highlighted, the governments in the region also acknowledged the challenges that they encountered. China reported that the regional workshop among the COMMIT countries triggered off their recognition to develop their first National Plan of Action on Human Trafficking. Burma recently passed a new national law on trafficking in persons, which incorporates victim protection at its core. Laos and Thailand reported on an innovative, new bilateral arrangement between the two countries to use information from the community to trace actual missing persons in Thailand and use existing repatriation mechanisms to return them home safely. Cambodia has been leading the way in promoting child safe tourism and reported on their strengthened law enforcement response. While Vietnam has been moving forward on implementing their national plan of action on human trafficking, they also recognize the need to strengthen their capacity in the area of repatriation and reintegration.

The UN Resident Coordinator in Cambodia, Mr. Douglas Gardner, confirmed UN support for the COMMIT Process and commended the government-led process.

Major donors have already committed to support the implementation of these activities. The Government of Norway has pledged approximately US $1 million and the SEARCH Project (a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)-supported regional project) has committed approximately US $800,000.

The Secretariat for the COMMIT Process is the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the GMS (UNIAP). Since its inception, the COMMIT initiative has received funds from the Government of Norway, SEARCH, Asian Development Bank, AusAID, NZAID, the Government of the Netherlands, Swedish SIDA, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNODC, Save the Children UK, World Vision International and International Organization for Migration (IOM).