As the Third Committee of the General Assembly heard from the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Ms. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the Maldives urged the need to address the continuing and increasing scourge of human trafficking and people smuggling around the world, by granting redress to victims and enforcing mechanisms for apprehending perpetrators.
The Maldives informed the Committee that its Government had taken decisive and firm measures, including enacting legislation on Anti-Human Trafficking in 2013, following recent reports of trafficking through or to the Maldives. Despite these measures, combatting trafficking would always remain a challenge in the Maldives due to its incredibly porous borders, it was told.
In the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur, the Maldives brought up the role of regional organizations and the mechanisms that would most effectively aid cooperation in addressing human trafficking. In response, the Special Rapporteur focused on strategies for tackling the problem at the national level, for example, through national human rights mechanisms.
The intervention was made by Ms. Shiruzimath Sameer, representative of the Maldives delegation.
