GAATW welcomes the appointment of Maria Grazia Giammarinaro as the new Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women welcomes the appointment of Maria Grazia Giammarinaro as the new Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children.
Maria Grazia Giammarinaro is one of the foremost experts on trafficking. Currently an Italian penal judge, and until recently the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, she was appointed in recognition of her qualifications and her experience working with a variety of stakeholders on the issue.
Human trafficking is a human rights violation that generates considerable interest from governments, NGOs, media, and other actors. In spite of this good will, too often responses are based on misinformation, politics, or moral positions, and do not respect the agency of people who have been trafficked, and their choices about their work, migration, and lives. In her work at the OSCE, Ms. Giammarinaro included critical issues for trafficked persons of decent working conditions, social inclusion, and the right to effective remedy, amongst other concerns.
GAATW looks forward to working with Ms. Giammarinaro, as we did with her predecessors, most recently Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, to push for an evidence-based approach to anti-trafficking work that is attentive to the full breadth of human rights violations associated with trafficking in persons.
Note:
The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons is one of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. These are independent human rights experts with mandates to report annually to the Council and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. The appointment of Maria Grazia Giammarinaro as the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons was formally announced at the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday 27 June 2014.