CAIRO: Egypt has thrown its support behind the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) by pledging money to the new UN Trust Fund to support the victims of human trafficking. In New York, the UNODC said Egypt was joined by Belarus, Malaysia, Luxemborg, Qatar and Thailand in pledging funds for the new authority. Leading Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris, the chairman of Orascom Telecom, also was reported to support the fund through donations. It is unclear how much money was pledged. In a statement, the UNODC said the pledges were received from the six governments and the private sector in the last two weeks. Yury Fedotov, the UNODC Executive Director, however, said that the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking, Especially Women and Children, “would only be successful with broad financial support.” He encouraged all governments, foundations, the private sector and individuals to contribute generously to the fund. According to him human beings are trafficked for a wide range of terrible purposes, not only for sexual exploitation” though that is certainly one of the worst forms of this disgraceful crime against human dignity. “We hope that the new Trust Fund will help us to deal with these challenges as it provides a way to rescue victims of human trafficking and to help them to recover and rebuild their lives,” he said. He also said that the Trust Fund would provide victims with humanitarian, legal and financial aid through established channels of assistance, such as governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The UN estimates that more than 2.4 million people are currently being exploited after being trafficked by human smugglers. The Fund was launched on November 4 as an important element of the new UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in July this year. BM
