FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM
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practices. UNESCO has official relations with about 600 NGOs worldwide,
and about 1,200 NGOs cooperate with UNESCO on projects on an
occasional basis.
iii)
UNICEF
The United Nations Development Fund for Children99 (UNICEF)
looks at child labour and sexual exploitation of children as a gross violation
of children’s rights. It has regional and country-level projects on
trafficking. UNICEF works closely with other UN agencies such as the
OHCHR, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, ILO and the UN
Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and
Pornography in its projects on trafficking. In the areas of child labour
and child sexual exploitation, UNICEF holds regular consultations with
NGOs to discuss research findings, programme implementation findings
and to develop complementary policies and programmes. For example,
in West Africa, UNICEF has been networking regularly with NGOs on
child trafficking.
iv)
UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme 100 (UNDP) has
projects on trafficking under its focus areas of gender and HIV/AIDS in
some regions. For example, in South East Asia, UNDP has initiated a
project between six countries “UN Inter-Agency Project on Trafficking in
Women and Children in the Mekong Sub-Region”101 under its Gender
Division. Under a UNDP HIV and Development project in South Asia,
trafficking and related issues are key areas of focus. In Europe, a regional
Programme to support Gender and Development also focuses on
trafficking in women. In each of these programmes there is partnership
with relevant NGOs in the region.
v)
Commission on Human Rights.
The Commission on Human Rights falls under the OHCHR (Office
of the High Commissioner of Human Rights) alongside the Sub-committee
on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. Under the
99
see http://www.unicef.org.
100
see http://www.undp.org.
101
Participating countries are Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and China (Yunnan
Province).