13 June 2002

U.S. Commends OSCE for Combating Human Trafficking, June 13, 2002

(June 13, Vienna: DCM Davidson to OSCE Permanent Council)

Douglas Davidson, deputy chief of the U.S. mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, addressed the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna June 13 and commended member states for improving their record on combating trafficking in persons during 2001.

"We are pleased that the OSCE places high priority to this problem, which affects the whole OSCE region, from source, to transit, to destination countries," he said, noting that each year some 700,000 persons are trafficked across national borders.

Davidson said the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons report should not be seen as an exercise in finger-pointing but rather as "a process of open dialogue," and that the United States encourages feedback on the findings.

Following is a transcript of his statement:
(begin transcript)

United States Mission to the OSCE Vienna
June 13, 2002

STATEMENT ON THE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

Delivered by Deputy Chief of Mission Douglas Davidson to the Permanent Council

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to inform the Permanent Council today that the second annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of the United States Government was released to United States Congress on June 5, as required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

The United States takes trafficking in persons very seriously.

We are pleased that the OSCE places high priority to this problem, which affects the whole OSCE region, from source, to transit, to destination countries. Some 700,000 persons, mainly women and children, are trafficked across national borders worldwide each year.

The United States, itself, is not immune from the problem. According to this report, some 50,000 women and children are trafficked annually for sexual exploitation into the United States, which is principally a transit and destination country.

We would like to congratulate the OSCE participating States that have improved their record on combating trafficking and protecting victims. However, we must point out that there is always room for improvement for each of our countries on this matter and here the OSCE can play a pivotal role in this regard.

In the OSCE's efforts to combat trafficking and in discussions within our own countries, we should view this report not as U.S. finger-pointing but rather as a diplomatic tool to spur continued dialogue, and as a means to encourage increased prosecution, protection, and prevention. The United States seeks to work with all nations to document this egregious form of exploitation and to cooperate with them to end it once and for all.

We anticipate the forward-looking discussion on trafficking during the second week of the upcoming Human Dimension Implementation meeting will explore these possibilities and engender concrete results of how to better to implement our commitments to combat trafficking in persons, most notably at the Vienna Ministerial.

We also look to the leadership of Russia and Belgium to continue the discussions on how the OSCE can assist participating States in combating trafficking in the Informal Working Group.

The U.S. has made every effort to collect information for the report through a very thorough and rigorous process. The review includes reports from our missions overseas, the media, from international and academic organizations and from NGOs. I encourage all states to view these reports, which you can find on the USOSCE website, and I would welcome any useful information in this regard that anyone cares to share with us. We do see this as a process of open dialogue and we very much encourage feedback.

(end transcript)