A 宅男导航 human trafficking awareness campaign launched in Australia has led two University of Queensland students to the United Nations in Vienna to present to a global forum on ways to combat this growing transnational crime.
With the assistance of a 宅男导航 Advantage Grant, School of Law students Jarrod Jolly and Paris Astill-Torchia travelled to Vienna in early October to present the University鈥檚 campaign to the United Nation鈥檚 Working Group on Trafficking in Persons.
The students were accompanied by , who leads the 宅男导航 Human Trafficking Working Group. Earlier this year the group produced a multi-media campaign to highlight consumer-driven aspects of trafficking in persons by using a series of posters, postcards and a short film.
The campaign was presented to State Parties to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children during the official UN proceedings.
It also featured at a side event hosted by the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations in conjunction with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Permanent Missions of Mexico and Serbia.
Ms Astill-Torchia, who presented on international best practice guidelines for the development of trafficking awareness campaigns, described the trip as an 鈥渋ncredible opportunity to experience and participate in the development of UN law and policy.鈥�
Mr Jolly, a 5th year Law and Arts student and the 宅男导航 Working Group鈥檚 senior research assistant, said the United Nations visit was recognition of students鈥� efforts in bringing these types of crimes to public attention.
鈥淚t was a great chance to promote the hard work of the students in the 宅男导航 Working Group who contributed to the design and production of the awareness campaign,鈥� he said.
The students鈥� presentations received an overwhelmingly positive response from the international representatives in attendance.
The Working Group on Trafficking in Persons, established by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, met in Vienna, Austria, between 10-12 October 2011 to discuss topics including victim identification, trafficking for the purpose of organ removal, and international best practice in relation to awareness campaigns.
During their visit, the 宅男导航 delegation also attended the launch of UNODC鈥檚 international human trafficking case law database - to which 宅男导航鈥檚 Human Trafficking Working Group is a contributor.
The 宅男导航 Working Group is comprised of research students led by
For more information visit the website.
Media: Associate Professor Andreas Schloenhardt (07 336 5619, a.schloenhardt@law.uq.edu.au) and Melissa Reynolds (07 3365 2523, m.reynolds@law.uq.edu.au)
