My delegation takes this opportunity to thank the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children for her good work and useful contributions in this area. Our thanks are also due to the delegations of Germany and Philipines for their joint initiative to renew this important mandate.

My delegation fully supports the renewal and the further enhancement of this mandate in order to address this issue.    

Mr. President,

One of the most serious challenges facing human rights today is the crime of human trafficking and its various dimensions, including organized crime, prostitution, security, migration, labour and health. It is difficult to obtain accurate statistics on the number of trafficking victims, but estimates shows  millions per year.  The trafficking business generates billions of dollars per year and affects every region of the world. Trafficking and sexual slavery are inextricably linked to conflict.  Also, criminal networks involved in the arms or drug trades often expand their business to include trafficking in persons.

All forms of trafficking have been prohibited in Sri Lanka through an amendment made to the penal code. The heavy sentencing to those convicted for pedophilia has sent out signals about the seriousness of the government to deal with the problem. The establishment of a nodal agency like the National Child Protection Agency in Sri Lanka has also been instrumental in dealing with sexual exploitation of children. Sri Lanka  is also a party to SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating the Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution

Mr. President,

Any successful anti-trafficking strategy has to place the human rights of victims at the center by taking into account international best practices such as those embodied in the UN Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking.

Most of the solutions would need to look at a long term approaches. The challenge is of moving from the broad picture to the specifics: from the general to the particular. There is need to adopt a human rights approach and move away from a service delivery approach. The core objective should be to ensure a commitment towards empowering the survivors and getting them to move away from the construct of victimhood to being acknowledged as autonomous human beings.