Issue date: 27 Oct, 2015
THE POSTAL UNION OF THE AMERICAS, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL (UPAEP). NO TO TRAFFICKING
Trafficking, or the illegal trade of persons for unlawful purposes, is a violation of human rights that threatens the freedom and dignity of its victims.
The affected are mainly women and children who are captured through deception, coercion, abuse of power or even kidnapping, and are then taken to other regions or different countries where they will be subjected to sexual and/or labour exploitation, forced work, slavery and even illegal organ extraction.
This crime against humanity has become a global problem that has gotten so large in scale, with more than 4 million individuals exploited, that it has become known as 21st century slavery. The trafficking business moves tens of billion of dollars per year worldwide, in addition to the more than 12.3 million people who are living in conditions similar to slavery, according to a denouncement from the International Labour Organisation. In Latin America more than two million children and adolescents suffer sexual, commercial or labour abuse, and even in the European Union there could be as many as 275,000 victims of human trafficking, according to United Nations estimates.
In 2000, the UN passed the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons in response to this type of crime. The protocol is one of three passed at the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also known as the Palermo Convention. This legal instrument aims to facilitate convergence in the establishment of national criminal offences that support efficient international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting cases of human trafficking. The Protocol’s other objective is to protect and assist the victims of human trafficking with full respect for their human rights.
This year's America-UPAEP issue is dedicated to supporting the fight against human trafficking, which is particularly severe in the case of children in America and women in Europe, who are brought from countries in Eastern Europe and Africa through deceit or coercion. The solitary figure of a woman is a reminder of these victims.
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