Caption: Participants take a photo with U.S. Ambassador Frankie Reed at the regional workshop in Nadi, Fiji.
Nadi, April 23, 2013 – U.S. Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu Frankie Reed opened a three-day regional workshop today on combating human trafficking and child sex tourism. The workshop aims to develop regional strategies to combat human trafficking and will include 27 senior legal officials, prosecutors, customs and immigration officers from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
In her opening remarks Ambassador Reed said the United States of America is committed to fighting human trafficking at home and around the world using the “3P” approach – prosecuting traffickers, protecting trafficking victims, and preventingtrafficking from occurring in the future.
“During this workshop you’ll hear about the “three Ps,” but you’ll also hear about a fourth “P” which is essential to realizing all of those goals: partnership. We’re committed to partnering with governments in the Pacific to address this transnational problem. We are much more effective when work as a region to combat human trafficking and this workshop will only help increase our law enforcement coordination and further protect our peoples of becoming victims,” she added, “We must also work with stakeholders in civil society, the faith community, and the private sector, which all bring unique capabilities and expertise to this struggle.”
Law enforcement experts from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the New Zealand Police will facilitate the conference to help participants identify cases of child sex tourism and share best practices on the prevention of human trafficking, the protection of trafficking victims, and the prosecution of perpetrators of these heinous crimes.
Participants will share experiences and collaborate to explore links between international criminal networks and human trafficking as there is an imperative need for strong regional and international cooperation, in real time, in order to fight against these powerful networks.
PRESS RELEASE