United Nations Radio

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched, in Brussels on Monday, a new campaign against trafficking in people for profit.

The launch coincided with the third European Union (EU) Anti-Trafficking Day and the start of a European ministerial conference on global EU action against human trafficking.

IOM estimates that over 12 million people are trafficked for labour exploitation at any given time around the world.

It says that eliminating the demand for trafficked and exploited labour to provide the cheap goods and huge profits desired by consumers and businesses is critical for successful global efforts to end human trafficking.

IOM spokesperson in Geneva, Jemini Pandya, says the campaign, which started with a live enactment of a television spot, is aimed at tackling the demand side of human trafficking.

"It is a campaign that is going to try very hard to change the mindset of people, to get them to really think about behavioural change, to question what are the things that lie behind the products that they buy in a shop every single day and by that to try through their own investigation and their own awareness to actually start encouraging and putting pressure on business to look at the ways that it operates."

IOM says consumers are encouraged to visit www.buyresponsibility.org to find out more about human trafficking for labour exploitation and what they can to do end it.

Gail Walker, United Nations Radio
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