Caribbean Women Parliamentarians Speak Out on Human Trafficking and Women's Human Rights
The
Center for Women Policy Studies is honored and proud to share the
leadership of the women Members of Parliament from the Caribbean region
who participated in our GlobalPOWER® Caribbean program
in June of 2012. As advocates for women’s human rights both within
their Parliaments and in their constituencies, these women leaders take
their place in the forefront of efforts to address the crisis of
international trafficking as a women’s human rights crisis that requires
sustained and committed engagement by elected and appointed officials,
civil society and business leaders both in the region and throughout the
world.
We invite our colleagues to endorse the Caribbean Parliamentarians’ Statement; please send an email of endorsement to: cwps@centerwomenpolicy.org.
Statement on Human Trafficking as a Women’s Human Rights Crisis
GlobalPOWER® Caribbean
Center for Women Policy Studies
June 11-13, 2012
Washington, DC
WHEREAS nine elected and appointed women representatives from seven
countries across the Caribbean region met under the auspices of GlobalPOWER®, a project of the Center for Women Policy Studies, from June 11 through June 13, 2012 in Washington DC, and
WHEREAS the theme of this convening was the international trafficking of
women and girls as a global women’s human rights crisis, the need to
confront the root causes of this crisis and to form sustainable
partnerships in order to most effectively do so, and
WHEREAS the participants deliberated on the causes of trafficking in
persons, including poverty, discriminatory policies and practices,
limited access to education, restrictive reproductive rights and health
policies, the women and HIV/AIDS epidemic, and violence against women.
WE RECALL, INVOKE, AND ACKNOWLEDGE international conventions dealing with women’s human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, theInternational
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and specifically, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
We, the Undersigned, RESOLVE:
*To
pursue vigorously the realization of the right of all women and girls to
live free from poverty, violence, discrimination and vulnerability to
trafficking;
*To
raise awareness of trafficking in persons and its causes, to enforce
existing laws and to enact new required legislation to prevent
trafficking in persons, prosecute traffickers, and protect the rights
of trafficked persons and those vulnerable to trafficking and to ensure
enforcement and implementation of these laws through Parliamentary
oversight and provision of resources;
*To
hold accountable all State agencies and regulatory bodies responsible
for the effective alignment of state resources, priorities, systems and
procedures to strengthen their capacity to more effectively prevent and
respond to trafficking in persons;
*To
hold acountable donors and our States on aid effectiveness and, in
particular, to call for alignment of aid with our States’ priorities,
systems and procedures, so that they can strengthen capacities.
WE CALL UPON Heads of State, Parliaments, the Judiciary, international
organizations, multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, and
non-governmental organizations to immediately allocate resources to
address and eliminate the scourge of international trafficking in
persons and the denial and abuse of women’s human rights.
WE
FURTHER CALL for the immediate implementation of an intersectoral
program for Victim Restitution Services as a form of affirmative action
for, and on behalf of, all victims of trafficking in persons.
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