The Government has agreed to do an action plan against trafficking (Mbl 11. des. 2007)

11.12.2007

Victims of trafficking get help

An action plan against trafficking will be prepared soon, the Government has accepted the proposal of the Minister of Social and Judicial Affairs on the subject. This is the first plan of this sort in Iceland, but the other Nordic countries have all prepared such action plans. According to Hrannar B. Arnarsson, the assistant of Minister of Social affairs, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, a special consultative group is making the plan, which is expected to be finished in April. The Ministry of Social Affairs will be in charge of the policy area, but it was in the hands of the Ministry of Justice before. Their work has been reviewing the legislation and the international conventions that Iceland is a member of, related to this area. The group will go through issues related to trafficking. They will see how agents can be reinforced, such as the health care, police and customs to recognize victims of trafficking. “Another factor and probably the most important one is how to assist victims of trafficking,” says Hrannar Björn. They must be helped so that they have the courage themselves to break out of the vicious circle that trafficking is, whether the person wishes to settle down here in Iceland or return home. A representative of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, that ended yesterday, gave the Minister of Social and Judicial Affairs a list of proposals the group had put together and signatures of 1.700 people, requesting the action plan be done. Guðrún Dögg Guðmundsdóttir, Executive Director of the Icelandic Human Rights Centre, says the supporters of the campaign are very happy that the action plan will be prepared. “We have requested this for a long time”.

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