UN Calls for World Efforts to Combat $32 Billion Human Trafficking Industry (VIDEO)

"Words must be put into action to fight human trafficking" – Assembly President Srgjan Kerim says.

Startling and heart wrenching images of children involved in Human Trafficking from one of the YouTube videos included here titled Human Trafficking: "Today's Slavery".

(NEW YORK) - As we fight a war in Iraq that has destabilized an entire region of the world, and our President continues to suggest that Iran is a danger, a $32 billion annual industry in Human Trafficking is flourishing.

Most people in the United States pay little attention, but they might raise an eyebrow when they learn it that human slavery is a serious problem in an American state like Colorado.

"Global and regional pacts must be put into action if the world is to tackle the scourge of human trafficking," United Nations General Assembly President, Srgjan Kerim, said Tuesday in New York. He says that despite United Nations-backed agreements and initiatives, "there remains a vast gulf between the letter of the law and the situation on the ground."

The slavery problem as measured in 2007, is bigger than it was 200 years ago, say the producers of "Rocky Mountain Slavery: The Story of Human Trafficking in Colorado", an overview of the human slavery and sex trade problems in the Centennial State.

Despite such pacts as the landmark UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, roughly 2.5 million people worldwide – mostly women and children – are believed to be victims of human trafficking. That is a figure released Tuesday by the UN. That is an incredibly large number of human beings.

Where are they from?

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has identified 127 different countries as the sources of trafficked people. These are African nations, Asian nations, and obviously many other places judging by the number. The bottom line is that most are from third-world countries and they are not trusting of authority. Most will not even tell their stories for fear of retaliation against their families at home. They are brainwashed and abused in unimaginable ways both sexually, and through forced labor. One of the worst countries for human slavery today and trafficking is India.

They go on to say that they have identified 137 nations as destinations for these victims. Obviously the United States and other wealthy western nations are on the list, but stop and think about all of this trading of living people happening in so many places. It seems like there have to be a lot of people involved at different levels. It needs to end and resources need to be dedicated toward eradicating these problems.

Mr. Kerim told participants at a debate on Tuesday that increased global interdependence has "provided new avenues for criminal networks to operate on a global scale." While recognizing that the problem is largely restricted to underdeveloped and poverty ridden nations, Kerim adds that trafficking affects all regions of the world and does not discriminate between developed and developing areas.

He urged Member States to act on their commitments, to enhance protection and assistance for victims and to prosecute traffickers. He also stressed the need to boost the economic and social conditions to minimize people’s vulnerability to trafficking, and also appealed for stepped up cooperation among the private sector and nations.

American actress and philanthropist Ashley Judd meets with UN General Assembly President, Srgjan Kerim in New York Tuesday

UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called on all countries to ratify the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.

"For millions of people around the world, the fight against human trafficking is a matter of life and death," she told the debate. "To reunite families that have been torn apart, to restore childhood to kids who have been robbed of their youth, to bring back dignity to all those violated by these abuses – we must act now."

Last year, the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), an initiative launched by UNODC and several UN partners last year to bring governments, the private sector, academia, civil society and the media together to combat a practice that is viewed as modern-day slavery, was launched.

Anwar Gargash, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said that the Gulf nation, which has been a strong supporter of UN.GIFT since its inception, is endeavoring to address the problem.

That country’s "wake-up call" came when it was discovered that camel jockeys were being exploited, he said at a press conference Tuesday and convinced the UAE that global partnerships were key to tackling the problem of trafficking due to its transnational nature.

"We understand that it is not a stigma to have human trafficking but the stigma is not to do anything about it," Mr. Gargash said, adding that the UAE is leading the fight in the region against human trafficking.

Another keynote speaker at today’s Assembly debate was United States actress Ashley Judd, who, as an active member of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Population Services International (PSI), has toured 12 countries to visit brothels, slums, hospices and other facilities.

"My objective was to bring the UN into the ‘sacred circle’ of sharing because I know that the unheard are helped when they are heard. I know that compassionate listening helps me and my goals was to help them," she told reporters, in reference to victims of trafficking she has met in her visits to different nations.

Tuesday's event comes on the heels of the first-ever global forum to address human trafficking in 2007 convened by UN.GIFT, which brought together more than 1,000 experts, government authorities, law enforcement officials, business leaders, people who had been trafficked from over 100 countries, and others.

A related issue to all of this is piracy. Terms like piracy are lost on society somewhere between copyright infringement and Johnny Depp, but in reality pirates rage off the coasts of Asia and Africa and they operate fast boats and carry large weapons. They are ruthless and in addition to murder and high seas thievery, they also work in Human Trafficking. I revealed in an article recently that in some of the fishing villages in Thailand, piracy is a right of passage for males; it isn't necessarily because they are poor, it is their culture. That in my opinion, makes the challenge of dealing with the problems all the more difficult. We need to regain our focus as a nation and as a world, and focus some of the billions set aside to fight wars for problems that plague the whole world over, including Americans.

This video on the subject of Human trafficking comes to you courtesy of Aljazeera network and YouTube, it is the story of a woman from Nigeria who was deceived into becoming part of the sex slave trade in Italy. She survived and emerged from that life and wrote a book that is already causing hundreds of girls and women in similar situations to contact her:

Video

The next video titled Human Trafficking: "Today's Slavery" is extremely shocking and features images of children involved in Human Trafficking. Extremely graphic content advised! It comes to you courtesy of YouTube and rodri119.

The next video is titled "Human Trafficking, Who Funds it?" and addresses some of the more important questions that a person may ask about this extremely serious subject like who is funding this kind of awful stuff? The answer will surprise you. This one is by the Australian non-profit group STIR. They can be found at stir.org.au/stir/:

A State Department report that was issued last year criticized India's human trafficking record. Girls as young as 13 are being sold as sex slaves. Katie Couric says it's time for the two countries to have a serious talk. This one comes to you courtesy of YouTube and CBSNews.com:

This one will take you by surprise again. Why? Because it is about the serious Human Trafficking problems in Colorado. Colorado: land of the Rocky Mountains, most Americans have no idea. Why and how there are as young as 12-year-old sex slaves in Colorado?

In 2007, there are more slaves in the world than 200 years ago. Modern slavery is known as human trafficking and it is the fastest growing global crime.

Produced by three University of Colorado students (Spring 2007), "Rocky Mountain Slavery: The Story of Human Trafficking in Colorado" gives the picture of sex trade in the Centennial State.

An undercover investigator, an elected official and other community members share information about this heinous crime that most Coloradoans are not aware of. An ordinary citizen in downtown Denver thinks human trafficking means "lots of people walking on the street." Students find out that there are, indeed, "lost of people" in trafficking, but they are not walking on the street at all. They are isolated, beaten, raped and dehumanized in the most unimaginable ways

Produced by Ashley Garrod, Nico Nagel and Simon Maghakyan. Narrated by Simon Maghakyan. Photographs from official U.S. websites, www.hetq.am or by Simon Maghakyan. Music by Enigma. Released May 10, 2007. For more information visit: myspace.com/rockymountainslavery

If you know of a resource or a place where victims can turn, please leave the information below. If you believe Human Trafficking is happening, tell us by leaving a comment or if you aren't comfortable with that then email our newsroom at newsroom@salem-news.com. Take a stand, we will if you will. As a world we have to take a stand on this overlooked subject.

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators. Tim's coverage from Iraq that was set to begin in April has been delayed and may not take place until August, 2008. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com