Vietnam Women's Union

GMS reviews prevention work against human trafficking

16/05/2006

Representatives from the governments of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam gathered in Phnompenh, Cambodia on May 10-12 to update and review the Sub-regional Plan of Action over the past three years and the implementation of the fight against human trafficking in Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS).

Currently, the number of human trafficking cases in the Greater Mekong Sub-region has been increasing. Since the signing ceremony of the COMMIT Memorandum of Understanding in Myanmar on October 2004, the governments of the Greater Mekong Sub-region have actively co-ordinated in setting up a trans-border network to discover human trafficking ring, protect victims and help them repatriate and try to prevent human trafficking cases.

The collaboration among senior officials in the region is considered an important step forward, reflecting the governments’ determination to turn political commitments into concrete actions.

The COMMIT Sub-regional Plan of Action focuses on fields relating to law enforcement and the judiciary system, repatriation, protection, re-integration and criteria norms in the fights against human trafficking in Asia.

With financial and technical support from the United Nations agencies and non-profit organisations, the plan of action aims to review priority actions. Some financial donors have committed themselves to carrying out these activities. The government of Norway has offered nearly US$1 billion for such activities while the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has promised US$800,000 for its Search project.