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Ambassador Milovanovic
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09 December 2005
U.S. Co-Hosts Anti-Trafficking Conference in Macedonia, December 5, 2005 (Organized crime exploits freedom and open markets, diplomat says)
Washington – There is growing awareness that human trafficking and other types of organized criminal activities pose a serious threat to democracy and that criminals are exploiting democratic freedoms to undermine societies, an American diplomat said during a southeast European conference on illicit trafficking.
“The number of democratic, free-market governments has grown consistently in Europe and around the world,” Gillian Milovanovic, the U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, said December 5 in Skopje, Macedonia. “Sadly, however, the very freedoms that characterize democracy and free markets can be and are being exploited by criminals.”
She told the conference that there is evidence that “transnational crime, corruption and violence are on the increase. And it is equally clear that trafficking undermines regional security, stability and economic development.”
Milovanovic focused on human trafficking, noting that “No country, including my own, is immune.” It is estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States every year, she said, and “worldwide, there are estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year.”
The ambassador said that on December 3, the United States became an official party to the U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children -- also known as the Palermo Protocol. (See related article.)
Victims of human trafficking “are forced into prostitution, hard labor, child soldiering and other forms of involuntary servitude – a fancy name for slavery,” Milovanovic said.
She called the Palermo Protocol “an important achievement …. It seeks to prevent trafficking, protect victims and promote anti-trafficking cooperation among nations – precisely the things you are engaged in here today.”
The specific purpose of the conference was to enhance efforts at regional cooperation against illicit trafficking.
Milovanovic said the State Department’s annual report on human trafficking provides a basis for diplomatic engagement with countries on the issue, and it helps promote action and national commitment to fight the scourge of trafficking in persons. (See related article.)
“In the last year alone, 39 countries have enacted new anti-trafficking laws, and 32 additional countries are in the process of drafting or passing new anti-trafficking legislation,” she said.
Milovanovic said such efforts “represent evidence of nations’ determination to resist the destructive effects that trafficking in persons -- along with corruption and organized crime that are associated with it -- can have on nations' security, stability and economic development.”
“Such demonstrated national commitment to combating trafficking systematically and effectively is also directly relevant ... to any country's aspirations for integration to Euro-Atlantic institutions, among them the European Union and NATO.”
The ambassador also stressed that “because trafficking is transnational, it must be defeated by working jointly with other governments and international organizations.” What matters, she said, is “what each of you and your governments will do after the conference.”
Milovanovic added that “It will require strong political leadership, clear national action plans, appropriate legislation, sufficient national resources, training of law enforcement and military personnel, efficient criminal justice systems and programs to protect victims and witnesses. That's a long list. These are big challenges. But they can be met through decisive action.”
The conference was co-sponsored by the Macedonia’s ministry of foreign affairs and the U.S. Defense Department’s George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. The three-day conference was attended by 70 government officials from more than a dozen countries, according to a news release by the U.S. European Command.
Additional information on the conference is available on the George C. Marshall Center’s Web site.
For information on U.S. efforts to combat trafficking in persons, see Human Trafficking.
