GloAct against human trafficking launched

KATHMANDU: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today announced the implementation of Global Action against human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants in thirteen countries including Nepal, on the occasion of the 107th International Women's Day.

The joint initiative by the UNODC and the European Union (EU) is supported by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and shall remain in effect until 2019.

On the occasion, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Radhika Aryal said the government was seriously working to combat human trafficking and necessary acts including the anti-gender based violence act had already been endorsed and implemented.

At the programme here today, representatives of the GloAct partner organisations highlighted the need and importance of this initiative to control human trafficking and smuggling of migrants remaining as social taboos.

The aim of the campaign is to assist the selected countries in developing and implementing comprehensive national counter-trafficking and counter-smuggling responses.

These organisations will cooperate with the Office of Attorney General in Nepal to seek a legal remedy for survivors, assist the Nepal Police in setting up a special unit to effectively combat against human trafficking, help protect rights of those survivors staying in the rehabilitation centres and guarantee their rights to live with dignity.

The selected countries would be suggested to work together and adopt a zero-tolerance against women and adolescent girls working in the entertainment industry are other priorities of the campaign.

The Action has been enforced in Brazil and Colombia (in South America) Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Niger and South Africa (Africa), Belarus and Ukraine (Eastern Europe) and Nepal, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan (Asia).