Youth Share Experiences on Preventing Human Trafficking

Young people from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam representing over 5,000 youth from their countries is meeting in Phnom Penh for the Regional COMMIT Youth Forum (CYF) to share their experiences and achievements in preventing human trafficking and unsafe migration in their communities.

“They will then develop recommendations for government about how to best support and maximize the positive impact that young people can have in the fight against human trafficking”, said John Wan Yoon, World Vision’s regional program manager for End Trafficking in Persons (ETIP)

 The CYF theme for 2015 focuses on the role of young people in actively supporting the government’s implementation of the fourth Sub-regional Plan of Action (SPA-IV). The young delegates will meet with government officials and ministers during the COMMIT (Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking) Senior Officials Meeting (SOM-10) and the Inter-Ministerial Meeting, share their own commitments for local action, present their recommendations, and make the case for government support for prevention activities carried out by young people.

The COMMIT Youth Forum, originally known as the Mekong Youth Forum (MYF), was established in 2004 as an initiative of a coalition of children’s rights and anti-trafficking organizations.

“We promote the important role that young people play in countering human trafficking and to provide a platform for them to share their recommendations with governments”, said Mr. Yoon.

The transition from the Mekong Youth Forum to the COMMIT Youth Forum reflects the increasing integration of youth participation in national and regional anti-trafficking efforts.

“The process of the CYF starts at the national level, where each country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region organises a national youth forum in which children and young people actively involved in anti-trafficking work discuss the challenges of their own countries and develop recommendations for their respective government. The national forum is also a platform for the children and youth to select their representatives to participate in the Regional COMMIT Youth forum”, said Mr. Yoon.

The Regional COMMIT Youth Forum is endorsed by the six COMMIT governments and organised and supported by child rights and anti-trafficking organisations and bodies – IOM X, Save the Children, World Vision, Terre des Hommes Netherlands and UN-ACT.