Combating Online Sex Trafficking

Published on Thursday, 15 March 2018 21:13

Colloquium during the 62nd session of the UNCSW brings together key players in the global fight against online sex trafficking: policy makers, tech companies, law firms, law enforcement, business leaders, NGOs to confront challenges and forge cooperation

Who: François Delattre, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations; Per-Anders Sunesson, Swedish Ambassador at Large for Combating Trafficking in Persons; Melanie Thompson, Survivor of internet-facilitated sex trafficking; Mary Marzio, Producer and Director, "I am Jane Doe"; Cyrus Vance, New York County District Attorney; Monique Villa, CEO, Thomson Reuters Foundation; Yves Charpenel, Deputy State Prosecutor, Supreme Court in France, and President, Scelles Foundation; Valiant Richey, Prosecutor, King County, Washington; Julie Cordua, CEO, Thorn; Angel Nguyen, Vice President of Compliance and Financial Crimes Solutions, Enigma. Bob Herbert, veteran journalist and former New York Times columnist, will facilitate the discussion.

What: "Combating Online Sex Trafficking: Confronting Challenges, Forging Cooperation," an international colloquium on the pervasiveness and harm of online sex trafficking and how to combat it. The panel will explore how technologies are diverted by traffickers to sexually exploit vulnerable human beings, primarily women and children; the best legislative, judicial and tech practices to raise awareness of, prevent, and curtail online sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation; the necessary commitment of tech companies; the need for public-private transnational cooperation strategies.

Why: The fight against online sex trafficking is a fight against one of the most brutal forms of violence against women and girls and widespread international criminal activities. Since more than 50% of sex trafficking now takes place online, and since this part of the Internet will continue to increase, the global community must develop and implement more effective policies to combat internet sex trafficking and the criminal organizations behind it. That situation can be reversed by increasing the awareness and understanding of the nature and prevalence of online sex trafficking and of the harm it engenders, and by enlisting the engagement of all sectors of society.

>>> To learn more about the Fight Against Online Sex Trafficking