BEIRUT, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon needs to enhance its capacity building and resources to end human trafficking and help its victims, a Lebanese minister said on Wednesday.
"Lebanon is currently enduring severe crisis episodes, which makes it crucial for victims to seek help. To achieve that, capacity-building and resources should be enhanced in order to use technology as a gamechanger to end human trafficking," Lebanon's Minister of Justice Henry Khoury was quoted as saying in a statement released by the United Nations Information Center in Beirut.
Khoury's remarks came during awareness-raising sessions on trafficking, which were organized by the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Lebanon, to mark the World Day against Trafficking in Persons 2022.
The sessions gathered more than 150 migrants from various communities and discussed the topics of sexual exploitation, the sponsorship system and trafficking for forced labor, in addition to an overview of smuggling and trafficking in the context of irregular migration.
"Whatever its nature, the crime of human trafficking remains one of the most heinous crimes. Its perpetrators deserve the most severe penalties, and its victims require protection and assistance to enable them to reintegrate into society," said Claudine Aoun, president of the National Commission for Lebanese Women's Affairs.
The World Day against Trafficking in Persons was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on July 30, 2013 to "raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights." ■
