An international conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of the
opening of negotiations for the signature of the UN Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementary
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons
opens tomorrow in the Southern city of Palermo.

This two-day event, organized by IOM Rome in cooperation with
the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research
Institute (UNICRI), the University of Palermo and the Italian
Office of the Council of European Municipalities (AICCRE), brings
together members from the former Ad Hoc inter-governmental
Committee for the Elaboration of the Palermo Protocol alongside
practitioners, academics and representatives from governments,
international and national organizations.

The Palermo conference will review progress made over the past
decade in combating human trafficking, review the current
ratification status and discuss successes and new challenges in the
implementation of the Protocol.

"Over the past ten years, the IOM office in Rome with the
support of the Italian Government, the European Commission and
others, has developed and implemented innovative
counter-trafficking programmes," says Peter Schatzer, Director of
the Regional IOM Office for the Mediterranean. "This expertise will
be shared with participants in view of identifying best
counter-trafficking practices."

 

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 on 15 November
2000, is the main international instrument in the fight against
transnational organized crime. It opened for signature by Member
States at a High-level Political Conference convened for that
purpose in Palermo, Italy, on 12-15 December 2000 and entered into
force on 29 September 2003.

For further information, please contact:

Flavio Di Giacomo

IOM Rome

Tel: + 39 06 44 186 207

E-mail: "mailto:fdigiacomo@iom.int">fdigiacomo@iom.int