Fighting the traffic, defending freedom

"For us they were not human beings."

former Mexican delinquent sentenced to prison, with his mother and brother, cited by El Pais

July 30, World Day against Trafficking in Persons

J In 2000 As a lucky and libertarian premonition of the emergence of the twenty-first century, the UN General Assembly approved the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. in the context of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention).

If the gradual abolition of slavery had been consumed in the last two centuries, why was it necessary name, the international community will decide to prevent it and fight it?

For a paradox of our time today officially in no country there is slavery and, however, none can claim that it is free from human trafficking.

Whether as a place of origin, transit or destination of the victims, all nations report the presence of this not-so-new form of slavery.

There are even countries, like Mexico, where the possibilities: we are the original territory of the victims, Mexicans and Mexicans who are exploited here or abroad; we are a transit territory for victims who are recruited from another country and taken to a third nation; and we are the destination territory for victims, especially women, who are brought from other countries to be exploited here.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Mexico is among the top 25 countries in human trafficking and the World Slavery Index, which ranks 20th, with the highest death toll among 167 nations .

18 years of the Palermo Convention can not be denied that progress has been made and that today most countries It has legislation to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings.

But it can not be denied either that trafficking has developed, that it is making millions of lives today and that its profits are reaching tens of billions of unprecedented dollars.

In Mexico, in addition to important legislative and institutional measures, we have made progress in other areas, such as the productive participation of civil society organizations. the diagnosis of the crime, as well as in the attention of the victims; conducting operations that have saved enslaved persons and traffickers from punishment; the media coverage and visibility of this crime to sensitize society on the unacceptable badual and professional exploitation of thousands of victims.

What has been achieved, important in itself, pales however in the face of what we lack:

We do not have a homogeneous legal framework.

We have not given enough specialized training to judges and public prosecutors

We have not been as consistent and effective in the required preventive campaigns

We do not have enough specialized training for judges and prosecutors

have not protected in a timely manner thousands of people, first victims of exclusion and marginalization, then victims of trafficking; nor did we spare those who, suffering from the conditions of vulnerability and emotional and affective deprivation, ended up in trafficking networks

We did not prevent girls and women to be victims of the most vile exploitation

We have not protected in a timely manner thousands of people, initially victims of exclusion and marginalization, then victims of Trafficking; nor did we spare those who, suffering from conditions of vulnerability and emotional and affective deficiencies, ended up trafficking in trafficking networks

We are not able to offer enough employment and educational opportunities for our youth. comprehensive care, protection and badistance to all rescued victims, and many of them lack the support needed to rebuild and rebuild their lives.

We have not promoted the effective enforcement of the law or the effectiveness of criminal investigations. In this area, as in others, rates of impunity are high.

Despite the identification of its location, we have not been able to reduce milking rates in border areas, major urban centers and tourist centers. 19659008] We need greater social and political commitment, more willingness to defend the freedom of all as we defend ours; more solidarity awareness and more determination to prevent the unimaginable tragedy of each of the victims

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