DECISION ON STRENGTHENING THE COOPERATION BETWEEN THE
UNITED NATIONS AND THE AFRICAN UNION IN COMBATING
TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS
The Assembly:
RECOGNIZES that trafficking in human beings is increasingly becoming a global scourge affecting all countries around the world, especially in Africa;
STRESSES the importance of the 2000 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, as the first comprehensive international instrument dealing with this important issue and calling for achieving its universality as soon as possible;
WELCOMES the increased efforts to intensify dealing with this issue in the United Nations General Assembly as well as in other regional organizations, as manifested in the 2004 ASEAN declaration against trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, the 2005 Convention of the Council of Europe on action against trafficking in human beings, 2006 AU/EU Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, especially women and children as well as the ECOWAS Declaration to combat Trafficking in Persons (2001) and the ECOWAS Initial Action Plan Against Trafficking in Persons (2001) and the AU Migration Framework for Africa;
FURTHER WELCOMES the establishment in 2007 of the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UNGIFT) to coordinate actions among governments, United Nations Organs, Civil Society, Non-Governmental Organizations and the Private Sector in order to fully ensure protection, prosecution and prevention in dealing with human trafficking;
EXPRESSES its appreciation to the “Suzan Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement” for all its efforts in raising public awareness for this important issue and for all its work to further develop public/private partnership to help African countries in combating human trafficking through ensuring protection, prevention and prosecution, in full cooperation with the United Nations and the African Union and through her global ambitious initiative “End Human Trafficking Now”;
COMMENDS the efforts exerted by various African Union organs and United Nations dealing with the issue of trafficking in human beings, in particular the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UNGIFT), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Organization on Migration (IOM), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and STRESSES the need for enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Commission and all other organs and stakeholders dealing with this important issue;
DIRECTS the Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the African Union to the United Nations in New York to propose and start negotiations on a Global Action Plan for combating trafficking in human beings under the auspices of the President of the United Nations General Assembly, taking the 2006 Ouagadougou Action Plan and other regional Action Plans, in particular the ECOWAS Initial Action Plan Against Trafficking in Persons as a basis for the African position, and to coordinate with other interested Member States with similar action plans or similar positions towards achieving our objectives;
REQUESTS the Commission to provide all necessary support to the Permanent Representatives in New York throughout the negotiation process and to intensify its interaction with all organs and stakeholders dealing with this issue with a view to ensuring the early adoption of the proposed Global Action Plan, and to present a Progress Report, to the next Ordinary Session of the Assembly in January 2009.