In collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Presidency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office organized a meeting this Wednesday to present a guide to indicators for identifying child victims of the crime of human trafficking.
On this occasion, El Hassan Daki, King’s Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation and Attorney General, stressed that this crime constitutes a threat to the stability of society, noting that the perpetrators of this crime, which is the third most profitable after weapons and drugs, seek to return humanity to the era of slavery and servitude.
The crime of human trafficking is considered one of the most serious and widespread crimes in the world. El Hassan Daki explained that this type of crime targets the victims using various methods of deception and fraud in order to lure and exploit them in the worst possible way. He stressed that this constitutes a waste of human dignity and a violation of the rights of victims.
Although the international community has made significant progress in promoting human rights and combating all forms of slavery, he recalled, the perpetrators of the crime of human trafficking seek to bring back the humanity at the time of slavery and servitude, emphasizes the Attorney General. They transform the human being into an exchangeable and exploitable commodity in order to obtain material advantages and profits, he denounced.
The Attorney General pointed out that the crime of human trafficking provides its perpetrators with huge illegal financial flows. This crime is ranked as the third illegal trade that generates revenue internationally, after the trade in weapons and drugs, he recalled.
To fight against the crime of trafficking in human beings, El Hassan Daki insisted on the need for the presence of a human element who knows the formative elements of the crime of trafficking in human beings. Since it is committed in closed circumstances and in circumstances where the most intelligent means of circumvention are used, this crime is committed against people in a situation of vulnerability which prevents them from fleeing.
Daki therefore specified that the human element in charge of unraveling the threads of this crime should be imbued with the culture of human rights and have the capacity to find a balance between the protection of the victims and the benefit of the guarantees of a fair trial for the perpetrators of the crime.
It has therefore become necessary to become familiar with the various indicators that allow the various law enforcement officials to identify the victims of this crime against children, argued the Attorney General. This will protect them, he stressed, assist them and allow them to be protected by the legislator noting that the judicial approach is not enough to fight against the crime of human trafficking.
With the support of the EU, UNICEF and public prosecution, a set of tools has been developed to help governments, civil society and all actors who are in contact with children at risk of becoming victims of human trafficking,” Naseem Awl, UNICEF deputy representative in Morocco, told MoroccoLatestNews.
“ The tools you see today are a synthesis. Our discussion today will provide insight into the process we used to develop this guide. You will also notice that it is a participatory process that has been put in place. We sought to understand the particular context in Morocco, the situations and experiences of child victims of trafficking “, she explained.
According to the UNICEF official, the objective is to provide professionals and actors with the necessary tools to identify children who could be victims of this practice.
” We know that border actors need practical elements that they can use or that can inspire them immediately on how to identify these children and how to connect them with support services immediately. It is in this spirit that we have developed these elements “, she concluded.