WARSAW, 14 December 2006 — In a word delivered in Warsaw, Poland, Prince Turki Bin Talal, the personal representative of Prince Talal, president of Arab Gulf Program For United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND), has called for international solidarity to face the phenomenon of human trafficking and urged the UN and governments to take practical and strict measures to face practitioners.
He assured that fighting human trafficking requires a “true will.” Human Trafficking is a human and moral issue that violates the most important right of human race. Although there is no definite statistics of the number of victims of this phenomenon, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates the number of persons being trafficked in Europe at 100,000 to 500,000 a year. Human trafficking has accelerated in a way described by development circles and human rights activists as “forms of modern slavery.” The shame of this phenomenon will hit most of the world . Traffickers exploit the lack of social and legal protection of trafficking victims.
Prince Talal said that nondiscrimination is the safety valve for balanced and sustainable development. He added that believing in the developmental principle is what makes AGFUND specify human trafficking as the main subject for the prize in 2007 indicating the interest of the core of development sustainability reflected by this direction.
In the development demonstration witnessed by the Polish capital on Tuesday on the occasion of awarding the global prize of AGFUND for pioneering developmental projects for the winners for the year 2006, Prince Talal wished success for every work that aims to benefit humanity in any place, and human achievements must be honored regardless of his race or political belief.
At a ceremony supported by Polish President Lech Kaczynski and attended by ambassadors of developing countries in Warsaw and representatives of international and civil community organizations, Prince Turki honored the following three winning projects of AGFUND prize for 2006:
The Community-Based Primary Health Care Development in Azerbaijan implemented in Azerbaijan by the International Medical Corps was awarded the first category prize which is specified for the international and regional organizations in the field of sustainable primary health services, training and job creation for the poor in rural areas.