An international conference under the patronage of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak was held this week in Luxor, aiming to find ways of ending the scourge of human trafficking, writes Mona Mikhail* I read with great interest a recent article in Ms Magazine entitled 10 Things Men and Boys can do to stop Human Trafficking, and it occurred to me that some may be unaware of an ongoing initiative -- End Human Trafficking Now! -- spearheaded by an established organisation, the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement (SMWIPM). This organisation has adopted this cause as its first priority, not only in the Arab world but also throughout Europe -- SMWIPM is based in Geneva under the direction of Aleya Hammad -- and ultimately in the world at large. Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, has been tirelessly working with members of the SMWIPM board to organise an international conference on this issue, and this was held in Luxor, the one-time capital of ancient Egypt, on 10-12 December. Mrs Mubarak has rallied around her a formidable coterie of organisations, business leaders, academics and media personalities, who attended the conference in order to find ways of putting a definitive end to this modern form of slavery that is plaguing our planet. In 2009, a preliminary conference was held in Manama, Bahrain, under the auspices of Sabika Al-Khalifa, wife of the king, and Suzanne Mubarak. The resulting Manama Declaration promised to work for the protection, safety and dignity of vulnerable groups, especially women and children, whose survival is threatened. The efforts of SMWIPM supplement those carried out under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. The organisation coordinates with regional entities to develop frameworks to enhance international collaboration to end human trafficking among Middle Eastern countries. Momentum was triggered in Athens in 2006, when business leaders from the Arab world and the EU signed up to the Athens Ethical Principles, all of them subscribing to a zero-tolerance approach to human trafficking. Amongst other things, the Luxor meeting continued to urge business leaders to include the elimination of human trafficking in their corporate social responsibility programmes. The Arab world is especially vulnerable to this plague, as it includes countries of passage for this traffic. Geography in this instance is not a blessing, but rather seems to be a curse. A prestigious prize was to be offered at the Luxor meeting to the business leader who has worked most diligently towards a strategy of zero tolerance, and this prize is intended to be a major step towards restoring trust in the role of the private sector. The role of the public sector, including government and police, was also discussed in Luxor, as well as its central role in stopping human trafficking both within countries and at their borders. The conference organisers are fully cognisant of the pivotal role of the media, including the press and cultural and artistic groups, in influencing the public at large. Leading actors from the US, Europe and the Arab world have faithfully reflected the condition of people who have been trafficked or tortured in the films or television series that they have appeared in, and many of these were invited to Luxor in order to share their thoughts on how best to end this plague. NGOs, civil society, and inter-governmental organisations have also striven to put an end to this scourge. This issue is now finally taking on the importance it deserves, both nationally and internationally. I have been stopped on the streets of New York, where I live, by young women requesting signatures to petitions against human trafficking sponsored by the Body Shop cosmetics chain, and these have helped to bring the matter home to a wider public. It is my hope that after the Luxor meeting we will see young people requesting signatures to similar petitions on the streets of Cairo, Damascus, Beirut, Manama, and other Arab capitals. * The writer is a professor at AUC and a board member of the SMWIPM.
