On the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends United Against Human Trafficking at the United Nations Headquarters

26-09-2013

Belarus will continue to improve coordination and strengthen the effectiveness of the international cooperation on combating human trafficking. This was said by Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei on 26 September 2013 at the United Nations Headquarters during the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends United Against Human Trafficking.

For almost 5 years Belarus coordinates at the UN the activities of the above Group whose members include 22 states representing Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

At Belarus’ invitation this year’s meeting is being attended by representatives of the leadership of various international organizations, including UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UN Development Programme, UN Fund on Population, UN-Women structure, International Organization for Migration as well as offices of the United Nations High Commissioners for human rights and refugees.

Vladimir Makei suggested to the Group of Friends and to the international organizations implementing several practical measures designed to strengthen the activities to uproot human trafficking and provide effective assistance to victims of this crime.

Head of the Belarus’ MFA draw attention to the need for more active participation of the UN programmes and funds as well as international organizations in the implementation of the Global Plan of action against human trafficking adopted by the General Assembly in 2010 at Belarus’ initiative.

According to Minister, Belarus will continue to actively promote the Global Plan, which has been broadly recognized by the international community and proved efficient in terms of fighting human trafficking.

The meeting’s participants have supported Belarus’ approaches and spoken in favor of further enhancement of interaction among states and international organizations in the area of combating human trafficking at the national, regional as well as international levels.

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