The fight against human trafficking requires a coordinated effort between a range of different actors. For this reason, the United Nations Action for Cooperation against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT) is building the capacity of regional and national actors, including governments, civil society, and front line responders, to work in a more effective and concerted manner.
One of UN-ACT’s main areas of work is to serve as the Secretariat to the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT Process), a unique sub-regional mechanism that brings together the six governments in the Mekong region in a joint effort to fight trafficking in their region.
What makes UN-ACT unique in the world is the link it creates between the grassroots at the community level and the highest policy-making level. This link enables UN-ACT to translate what takes place at the policy level into effective action on the ground, and vice versa.
To pursue its goal to support anti-trafficking actors to work more effectively and strategically, the project has four intended outcomes:
1.
STRENGTHEN NATIONAL & REGIONAL CAPACITIES through support to the six Governments in the COMMIT Process, to ensure that they are able to effectively prevent human trafficking, deliver the services that victims are entitled to, and punish the perpetrators of the crime of trafficking in persons.
2.
INCREASE REGIONAL COOPERATION between COMMIT countries and other countries or regional mechanisms, in view of the significant human trafficking flows and linkages that exist between the Greater Mekong Sub-region and many other countries in the broader region.
3.
FURTHER EVIDENCE-BASED RESEARCH to fill the gap of reliable data on human trafficking, which has long been recognized as a significant weakness and obstacle in effective anti-trafficking work.
4.
SUPPORT CIVIL SOCIETY & OTHER NON-STATE ACTORS to contribute more effectively to anti-trafficking efforts by providing services directly to victims on the one hand, and holding governments responsible for fulfilling their duties to protect and support victims, and punish perpetrators on the other.
