OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS
Trafficking in women and girls
Commission on Human Rights Resolution: 2004/45
The Commission on Human Rights,
Recalling the United Nations Millennium Declaration, particularly the resolve
expressed by heads of State and Government to intensify efforts to fight transnational
organized crime in all its dimensions, including trafficking in human beings,
Recalling also all previous resolutions on the problem of the traffic in women and girls
adopted by the General Assembly and the Commission, including their reaffirmation of the
principles set forth in relevant human rights instruments and declarations, as well as the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography, and the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in
Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,
Welcoming the entry into force on 29 September 2003 and 25 December 2003,
respectively, of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children, supplementing the Convention,
Reaffirming the provisions pertaining to trafficking in persons, especially women and
children, contained in the outcome documents of relevant international conferences and
summits,
Stressing once again the urgent need to eliminate all forms of sexual violence and
trafficking, including for prostitution, which both violate and impair or nullify the enjoyment
of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of victims of trafficking and are incompatible
with the dignity and worth of the human person, through the adoption of effective measures
nationally, regionally and internationally,
Recognizing that victims of trafficking are particularly exposed to racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,
Noting with concern that women and girls are often subject to multiple forms of
discrimination on the grounds of their gender as well as their origin, particularly when they
are victims of trafficking,
Recognizing the importance of bilateral, subregional and regional cooperation
mechanisms and initiatives to address the problem of trafficking in persons, especially women
and children, and taking note of relevant efforts in this regard (most recently, the second
Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related
Transnational Crime, held at Bali, Indonesia, from 28 to 30 April 2003, and the eighth
Regional Conference on Migration, held at Cancún, Mexico, on 29 and 30 May 2003 as part
of the Puebla Process, as well as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, endorsed at the Eleventh Meeting of the
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