UNIS/NAR/951
20 April 2006

MEDIA ADVISORY

UNODC Report on Human Trafficking to Be Unveiled at UN Crime Commission

Actress and Goodwill Ambassador, Julia Ormond, and UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa, Will Launch Report at News Conference on Monday 24 April at 1300

VIENNA, 20 April 2006 (UN Information Service) - A new report on global patterns in human trafficking will be published on Monday 24 April as officials from United Nations Member States gather in Vienna for a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

The report, prepared by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, will examine trafficking trends in countries of origin, transit and destination and make recommendations on how countries can do more to prevent the crime, punish criminals and protect victims.

The Crime Commission formulates international policies in the field of crime control. Its 15th session, from April 24 to 28, will consider a broad range of issues including transnational organized crime and corruption as well as UNODC technical assistance to Member States in areas such as money-laundering and criminal justice reform.

UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa will be joined by the organization's Goodwill Ambassador on human trafficking, British actress Julia Ormond, at a news conference at 1300 on Monday 24 April in Room C03, Vienna International Centre at which he will present the Report.

Julia Ormond, who has appeared in films including Legends of the Fall (with Brad Pitt), Sabrina (with Harrison Ford), First Knight (with Sean Connery) and Smilla's Sense of Snow (with Gabriel Byrne), will be returning from a visit to Ghana, where she has been meeting children forced to work for fishermen.

A comprehensive programme of side events includes an exhibition of paintings by prisoners from throughout the world, which will open at 1830 on Monday in the Rotunda of the Vienna International Centre, a panel discussion on the criminal justice response to violence against women and a workshop on urban crime prevention.

On Friday 28 April at 1500, there will be a presentation of pictures by photographers Joao Silva and Alessandro Scotti entitled Prisons through a Lens.

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For information contact:

Richard Murphy
Chief, Advocacy Section, UNODC
Telephone: +43 1 260 60 5761
E-mail: richard.murphy@unodc.org