United Nations Radio

The United Nations hosted a special event at its New York Headquarters, Thursday, for the victims and survivors of human trafficking.

Trafficking victims

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights organized the meeting to put a face behind the victims and give a voice to the survivors.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a broad-based call to action and urged member states to tackle the root causes and ensure swift justice against the perpetrators.

"Human trafficking injures, traumatizes, and kills individuals. It devastates families and threatens global security, and it involves abhorent practices including debt bondage, forced labor, torture, organ removal, sexual exploitation and slavery-like conditions."

Ban noted that trafficking is a worldwide industry that generates billions of dollars in profit at the expense of its victims.

The event comes on the eve of the General Assembly's the latest report on the scourge.

Jocelyne Sambira/Matthew Graham, United Nations Radio
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