THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
HAVING SEEN the observations and recommendations of the Permanent
Council on the annual reports of the organs, agencies, and entities of
the Organization (AG/doc.4228/03), in particular as they pertain to the
annual report of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) (CP/doc.3702/03);
BEARING IN MIND resolution CIM/RES. 225/02 (XXXI-O/02) of the Inter-American
Commission of Women, entitled "Fighting the Crime of Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women, Adolescents, and Children," in which it
was decided that “a multilateral response from governments, in
consultation with civil society organizations, is necessary in order to
formulate policies to prevent trafficking in persons, protect victims,
and punish traffickers”;
BEARING IN MIND resolution AG/RES. 1776 (XXXI-O/01), “Support for the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,” in
which all OAS member states were urged to consider signing and ratifying,
ratifying, or acceding to, as the case may be, the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women
and Children;
CONSIDERING that, in keeping with the Plan of Action of the Third Summit
of the Americas, adopted in Quebec City in 2001, in which the Heads of
State and Government pledged to “[i]mplement collective strategies,
including those that emerge from the Meetings of Ministers of Justice of
the Americas … in order to jointly combat emerging forms of
transnational criminal activity, including trafficking in persons and
the laundering of the proceeds and assets of crime and cyber-crime,”
the Inter-American Commission of Women conducted research on
trafficking in persons in nine countries of the region and intends to
expand this study to include the remaining member states; and
REAFFIRMING that trafficking in persons, especially in women,
adolescents, and children is a modern form of slavery,
RESOLVES:
1.
To urge the member states, in accordance with their national
legal systems and the international instruments in force in each state,
to adopt the measures necessary to implement the recommendations of
resolution CIM/RES. 225/02 (XXXI-O/02) "Fighting the Crime of
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women, Adolescents, and Children,"
so as to enhance their legal, judicial, and administrative systems and
to consider the establishment, where appropriate, of a national
coordination mechanism to prevent and combat the crime of trafficking in
persons and to protect victims.
2.
To request the Permanent Secretariat of the Inter-American
Commission of Women (CIM):
a.
To facilitate the exchange of information and best practices
among member states that so request with a view to fighting the crime
of trafficking in persons and expanding its research to include other
member states; and
b.
To present to the Permanent Council a report on CIM activities
in the member states in connection with trafficking in persons,
especially women and children.
3.
To request the Permanent Council to report to the General
Assembly at its thirty-fourth regular session on the implementation of
this resolution and on CIM activities in the countries of the region in
connection with trafficking in persons, especially women, adolescents,
and children.
4.
To instruct the Secretary General to appoint an "OAS Coordinator on
the Issue of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women, Adolescents, and
Children," to be housed in the Permanent Secretariat of the CIM and
to be funded by a specific fund created for this purpose with
contributions from member states and other external resources, to serve
as a focal point to facilitate information exchange and the
efforts of member states that so request to prevent and combat
trafficking in persons, especially women, adolescents, and children.
