MONROVIA, March 26 (LINA) -Labor Minister Cllr. F. Juah Lawson has described human trafficking as “a heinous crime against humanity” and has reiterated government’s commitment to combating the practice.
Minister Lawson said it is well documented that trafficking in persons is one of the biggest violations of human rights in the world today, according to the Liberia News Agency.
She noted that statistics have shown that yearly, women and children are victims of this crime either in their country of origin or abroad, of which Liberia is no exception.
Minister Lawson, who is Liberia’s Anti- Human Trafficking Task Force Chairperson made the statement Tuesday at the Monrovia City Hall when President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf launched the five-year National Action Plan to combat human trafficking.
She noted that in Liberia, which is emerging from a devastating 14-year civil crisis, human trafficking and other transnational organized crimes have become major post-conflict national security challenges.
Lawson explained that to combat human trafficking in Liberia, the transitional Legislative Assembly of the National Transitional Government in 2005, passed an act that banned and criminalized all forms of human trafficking in the country.
She pointed out that under the Act, trafficking in persons means “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring of a person by means of threat or use of force, including other means of coercion and by abduction."
The Labor Minister indicated that government in April 2013 also amended the Penal Law regarding extortion, environmental crimes, trafficking in human beings and illicit migrant smuggling, thereby re-enforcing the legal framework for dealing with these inter-related internationally organized crime.
She maintained that the national action plan against human trafficking represents an illustration of commitment on the part of government, to match other prior actions it has taken in meeting basic national benchmarks and international obligations.
Minister Lawson then called on international partners to support the Liberian government in combating human trafficking which she noted, is modern slavery, and urged every Liberian to get involved in combating the crime.
LINA CB/TSS/PTK