The Diplomat
The female Foreign Ministers of fifteen countries addressed yesterday, at the initiative of Spain and Australia, the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls, with special attention to the victims and survivors of human trafficking, “a scourge that has increased during the pandemic”.
Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya and Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Marise Payne, co-organized the virtual meeting of women Foreign ministers, which was attended by the heads of diplomacy of Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Libya, Liechtenstein, Norway, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden and Timor-Leste.
During the meeting, the ministers expressed their concern about the effects of the pandemic on girls and women and warned that the profound economic consequences of COVID-19 “are not only increasing situations of vulnerability, but have also increased the risk of human trafficking around the world,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.
For this reason, they stressed the importance for administrations to collaborate with civil society, businesses, international organizations and other stakeholders in countries of origin, transit and destination to prevent and prosecute this crime and to provide support to survivors of trafficking, of which girls and women are victims for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The ministers also urged all governments to continue to support the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which provides grants to civil society organizations working with survivors around the world. González Laya and her Australian counterpart pledged to take advantage of future opportunities at the UN General Assembly and regional forums, especially the OSCE and the Bali Process, to continue this discussion.
Increased access to high-speed Internet has helped human traffickers “exploit girls and women in their own homes, making them even more invisible as victims than before the pandemic”, González Laya said. “The public authorities are redoubling their efforts to fight human trafficking during the pandemic. We will not allow the most vulnerable to lose hope”, she continued. “Together we want to drive international responses to the trafficking of women and girls, a scourge that has increased during the pandemic”, the minister also stated via her Twitter account. “Now, more than ever, international collaboration is critical to combat human trafficking, as we are aware of the increased risks to girls and women brought on by the COVID-19 crisis”, said, for her part, Marise Payne.
