The interlocking relationships among poverty, health,education, and ethnic status contribute to the problem of human and sex trafficking and drug abuse. Those who are forced into the sex industry are particularly at risk for STIs, HIV infection, and physical and sexual abuse. The program was already successfully implemented in the Upper Mekong Region, which includes Thailand, Lao DPR and the Yunnan province in China. In order to disseminate this successful methodology and apply it in other parts of Asia and in Africa a training session on Cultural Approaches to HIV and Trafficking Prevention was organized on 12-13 October 2006 to build the capacity of UNESCO staff and project partners. In Africa, UNESCO provides recommendations and tools for better policy-making via the analysis of factors favoring human trafficking in Benin, Togo and Nigeria, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa. HIV and AIDS is one of these factors. As HIV infected parents become unable to provide for their children, AIDS orphans are driven away from home. Children are thus more exposed to traffickers and trafficking. The spread of HIV also plays a role in the increased demand for virgin girls as they are perceived as being “clean” and therefore able to cure or delay onset of the disease. Not only does HIV prevalence increase the number of persons trafficked, but trafficking increases the number of HIV infections. Persons can be trafficked for sex work or can be molested while exploited for domestic work. They are unable to insist on using condoms, to receive medical help, to understand or speak the language in a foreign country, and their poverty and lack of freedom impede access to health care. As a result they risk infecting future partners and any children they conceive. Contacts: S. Terada and H. Drobna
| Start Date |
12 Oct 2006 |
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| End Date |
13 Oct 2006 |
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| Event Type |
Training session |
| Event Location |
Paris, France |
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| Email |
h.drobna@unesco.org |
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