Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,



I have this morning once again the pleasure and honor to address an
important gathering in the Black Sea Region.



The Black Sea Region is the focus of strategic, geopolitical and
security interest. It has been a natural crossroads of goods and
people from the days of the Silk Road to modern oil pipelines.



As some of you may remember, in March 2003, almost exactly three
years ago, the Romanian Government and IOM jointly organized a
conference, here in Bucharest, under the title Irregular Migration
and Security in the Black Sea Region.



Today, I have the pleasure of signing a Memorandum of Understanding
between IOM and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization,
thus laying the groundwork for concrete cooperation between our two
Organizations.



Why is cooperation with BSECO so important for IOM? All around the
world, governments have come together in regional processes to
discuss migration management and take cooperative action. IOM
encourages and supports regional dialogue on migration wherever and
whenever we can.



We participate in the 5+ 5 Ministerial Dialogue in the Western
Mediterranean, in the Puebla Process in Central and North America,
in the Colombo Group of Labour Ministers of South and East Asia, in
the Lima Process in South America and in many, many more regional
consultative processes, sometimes building on existing
institutions, sometimes starting from scratch.



I believe there is an important role for BSECO as a regional
organization in the global migration debate and for migration as a
common-denominator policy issue for all the BSECO states. The
economic and developmental dimension of migration policy is more
prominent every day, standing side by side with the security and
regulatory agenda, itself also growing and taking new forms.



A number of developments in and around the Black Sea have
contributed to the timeliness of developing this regional dialogue.
Allow me to highlight few of these developments:

• The European Union is moving steadily closer to the shores of
  the Black Sea. Once Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have joined, the
  Black Sea will mark a boundary between east and west in Europe, but
  not a barrier, and an important watershed for migrants seeking work
  in other countries. The European Neighborhood Policy holds promise
  for the BSECO countries in the context of “the wider
  Europe”. 
• The Commonwealth of Independent States for its part is taking a
  new and active interest in migration issues, particularly in the
  areas of capacity building for governments, measures to counter
  trafficking and smuggling of persons and broadly compatible
  biometric identity systems. 
• Western Europe increasingly recognizes the necessity of labor
  migration to fill vacancies in their job market and offset the
  effects of their shrinking, aging populations and labor
  forces. 
• Considerable international attention is focusing on the better
  use of remittance transfers as a development tools, allowing poorer
  nations or parts of nations to profit from the wages of those who
  seek work where it can be found.
•  At the same time -- and this is not news to you,
  ministers and high officials responsible for migration issues --
  irregular migration and trafficking in persons continue
  disturbingly both in this region and elsewhere on the globe, in
  spite of all our efforts.
• In a nutshell, the advantages and problems of globalization
  have come to center on the BSECO region and the attendant need to
  work together on population mobility questions can only grow.

So how can IOM help you to cope with this rapidly expanding
migration workload? IOM has offices in all the BSECO countries, in
most from the early 1990s, when the BSECO was created. Our offices
carry out a number and should spread to all of the region’s
states through regional information sharing and training.

• For example, in the field of assistance to the victims of
  trafficking, an area specifically mentioned in the new Memorandum
  of Understanding, IOM offices carry out a range of advanced
  rehabilitation and job integration programs.
• Bulgaria’s and Romania’s efforts to assist victims
  of trafficking could be a model for similar activities in other
  countries.
• IOM Ankara has developed trafficking statistics and cartography
  models that are just waiting for application at full regional
  level.

The economic agenda of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization inspires further ideas for greater pro-activity in
making migration a component of regional integration and economic
progress.

• Labour migration should be linked to the plans to create a
  Black Sea Free Trade Area. Trans-border cooperation, temporary work
  permits for workers within the region and outside, facilitated
  return, remittance management and micro-credit investment schemes
  for returnees and to dampen migration pressures – all these
  are good options.
• As the European Union pursues its ambitious plans to administer
  and manage legal labor migration, a regional dialogue with the
  European Commission would be most useful in articulating the
  interests of all involved states and creating concrete action.
• IOM has relevant experience in labour migration arrangements
  between states, as between Italy and Albania or Moldova or between
  the Czech Republic and Ukraine and Serbia and Montenegro.

These are options that we need to begin discussing right away, in
capitals and at the BSECO Headquarters.



On the global level as well, migration is one of the main themes of
2006. The United Nations will hold a High Level Dialogue on the
subject in September and governments are preparing to come together
at Ministerial level for an important exchange of views. As the
leading international organization in the migration field, IOM is
deeply engaged. BSECO governments will have much to say at the HLD.




In preparation for the HLD the interested international agencies
have enhanced their cooperation. The Geneva Migration Group will
shortly expand to ten agencies through the addition of the World
Bank and other development-oriented institutions.



Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,



My brief remarks should have given you some sense of the enthusiasm
and gratitude with which I approach the possibility of cooperation
with the BSECO. I sincerely believe that we can accomplish much
together.



In conclusion, let me repeat that through the BSECO and its
Istanbul Headquarters, but also through the capitals of all nations
represented here, IOM will seek to develop better migration
management in the region, help you to face up to the major
challenges of the future and work hard to make the Black Sea a
model of international cooperation in the field of human mobility.




Thank you very much.

Usually I speak of the positive effects of migration and how this
global and historic human phenomenon benefits both migrants and
society. Today, however, we are discussing the darkest side of
migration – the exploitation and abuse of the most vulnerable
of all migrants: children, both boys and girls.

There are no concrete statistics on the scale of child
trafficking, with estimates varying widely. The recently released
Second Annual Report on Victims of Trafficking produced by IOM and
the Stability Pact Task Force/IOM-sponsored Regional Clearing Point
in Belgrade concludes that victims, including children, are
increasingly being trafficked for forced labour, begging and
delinquency, as well as sexual exploitation or a combination of
both. Statistics remain elusive due to the clandestine nature of
trafficking in human beings and the lack of comparable data.

There are a variety of reasons for the lack of comparable
statistics. Notable with data relating to children is that age is
difficult to determine, and data is recorded based on the age of
the victim upon identification rather than recruitment. Of victims
identified and assisted in South Eastern Europe in 2003, 35% were
under 18 years old on identification, however 59% were under 18
years old when recruited. Thus the actual number of trafficked
children is likely to be higher than statistics reveal.

Child victims of trafficking – boys and girls -- are often
subject to a variety of forms of exploitation including sexual
exploitation, forced labour, begging and delinquency. There is
emerging evidence to suggest that the exploitation of trafficked
children is often progressive - once they are caught up in the
situation, they are vulnerable to repeated and various
exploitations.

Allow me to quickly go through what I consider to be some of the
most worrisome aspects of child trafficking today.

There are huge gaps in the identification of child victims, and
while there is no evidence to suggest a change in the overall
number of children trafficked, NGOs say that the majority of
victims are children when they are recruited. For example, there
remains a focus on trafficking for sexual exploitation, but more
attention and recognition needs to be given to other forms of child
trafficking in which they are compelled into begging, forced labour
and criminal activities. Under-reporting is still evident as in
many cases children are not identified as trafficked or exploited
but seen as delinquents, and the distinction between adult and
child victims still remains too rare.

In some countries, trafficking legislation and practice continue
to focus on foreign victims, whereas there are indications of a
significant growth in internal trafficking in children. More
attention should be paid to child victims of internal
trafficking.

Here in Europe, IOM and other agencies have noted a new trend of
children trafficked with their parents or mothers, often for
exploitation in street begging. This may be a strategy to foil
authorities or simply a method of exerting greater control by the
trafficker.

There is also the increasing phenomenon of unaccompanied minors
intercepted upon arrival in EU States and who subsequently
disappear from reception centres. Are they victims of traffickers?
We do not know if they are or not, but this phenomenon is a
reflection of the complexities of global migration today, and the
particularly vulnerable position of children. It should lead us to
the conclusion that when there is doubt as to a migrant
child’s status, the State should provide at least the same
level of protection as it would for one of its nationals. In short,
child protection systems should be better applied at the national
level in order to protect children more effectively from becoming
vulnerable to trafficking and unsafe migration.

Let us also not forget the children left at home by trafficked
women: they too are victims of traffickers. In some countries, over
one third of trafficked women are single mothers whose desperation
to provide for their child has led them into the clutches of
traffickers.

Whether we are speaking of a child trafficked for begging on the
streets of Europe, a young girl in Asia coerced into prostitution,
or a boy in Africa abducted and forced to take up arms, the extreme
forms of trauma experienced by these children are the same:
separation from loved ones and support systems; psychological
humiliation; witnessing and suffering physical violence and sexual
abuse. The list goes on. And all of us here today have a
responsibility to spare no effort to try to put and end to this
suffering and prevent it from happening.

In this regard I applaud the participants from the law
enforcement field who took part in the Austrian Federal Ministry of
Interior and IOM’s training in combating child trafficking
here in Vienna this week. It is my sincere hope that they will
apply the skills they have acquired in making inroads against this
most serious of crimes that attacks the most vulnerable members of
our society. I urge all practitioners to make use of the Resource
Book that has been developed through this AGIS project.

From the side of IOM I can assure all of you here today that we
shall continue, with our partners, to contribute to the fight
against human trafficking that we have now been involved in for ten
years. Over the coming months, as part of our contribution to the
High Level Dialogue on Migration, we shall be emphasising the need
to consider human trafficking as a core migration issue. Later this
year, at the request of the Government of Belarus, we expect to
work with them in organising a major conference in Minsk that will
address, among other issues, that of the demand that leads to
trafficking and exploitation. While IOM is committed to addressing
human trafficking through global policy fora, IOM Missions in more
than 70 countries are working with governments, law enforcement
bodies and NGOs at the operational level.

I would like to express my deep appreciation to the European
Commission and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Interior who
provided the funding for this important project that I have no
doubt will significantly contribute to the protection of our
children. And here I would like to acknowledge the Austrian EU
Presidency’s particular focus on child trafficking. I am also
most grateful to the other project partners including the Swedish
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Belgian Federal Police, Europol and
OSCE. And of course I thank our colleagues from IOM’s Mission
in Austria who contributed so much to the project’s
success.

In order to make real progress in the fight against human
trafficking, Governments, International Organisations and NGOs need
to work closely together to address this phenomenon of exploitation
and violation of rights that encompasses such a vast array of
issues as organised crime, migration, health and development. Where
there is true cooperation between partners, positive results ensue.
The AGIS Programme on Law Enforcement Training on Child Trafficking
is one such example.

Let us all continue to combine our efforts to more effectively
prosecute and convict child traffickers, and provide better
protection to children from all nations.

Thank you.

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target="_blank" title="">Draft Agenda

"http://www.osce.org/conferences/cthb_2006.html?page=18348" target=
"_blank" title="">Speech in OSCE Website

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"">Press Release from OSCE

"http://www.bmi.gv.at/eu2006/" target="_blank" title="">Press
Release from the Austrian MoI

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target="_blank" title="">Information on the Project and
Conference