Luanda - Angola's permanent representative to United Nations Maria de Jesus Ferreira Tuesday in New York called for strengthening of international cooperation in the field of criminal justice aimed to increase the capacity for prevention of human trafficking.
Addressing a High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Assessment of the Global Plan to Address Human Trafficking, the ambassador backed the improvement of the means for exchange of experience among member states aimed at increasing the capacity to prevent other international crimes.
The ambassador put at more than 100 the number of the victims of the phenomenon on yearly basis, amongst men, women and children, belonging to vulnerable and law-income groups.
In a press release reached ANGOP, Angola’s Permanent Representation to the UN said that the country reported over 100 cases of human trafficking from 2015-2020, with stress to exploitation of child labour.
Of these cases, 22% have been tried and convicted, until July of this year.
The officials also explained that since 2014, Angolan government has adopted substantial legal provisions to crackdown this type of crime and, since then, it has been able to punish those involved in human trafficking and smuggling.
Maria de Jesus also noted that in 2020, Angola joined the countries under observation to meet the standards for combat trafficking in persons.
Ferreira said that Angola, as a State party to UNODC and its additional protocols, approved a National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons, in a clear demonstration of the Angolan State's commitment to improving the levels of combat the phenomenon.
“The Angolan Government, through the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, launched a campaign aimed to identify the practices of human trafficking and their forms in order to denounce them as a violation of human rights and freedom,” she said.
Angola's permanent representative to the UN also referred to the use of technologies for criminal activity as another challenge facing the country, warning that the increase in crimes associated with technological progress requires a similar response to the criminal investigation.
The two-day Meeting, which assessed the progress achieved in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking, gathered 91 Member States and representatives of the civil society.