Ambassador Henry Illes, Suriname’s Permanent Representative to the OAS and Coordinator of the Caucus of Caribbean Community Ambassadors, has called for the establishment of national, regional and hemispheric programs to combat corruption especially in relation to trafficking in human beings.
Illes made the call yesterday at the opening day session of an Organization of the America’s conference on human trafficking in The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles, Saint Lucia and Suriname.
The three-day conference, a gathering of government officials and experts, marks the first time representatives from across the region are gathering to specifically address the question of trafficking in persons and to seek to develop a regional strategic approach to preventing and combating the problem.
The historic meeting is a joint initiative of the OASﾴ Inter-American Commission of Women and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and was called to assess progress and plan the follow-up to a research and training project on human trafficking in the seven Caribbean countries cited. The conference continues in D.C. today.
Hardbeatnews.com
