In 2013 the United Nations General Assembly designated 30 of July as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons which is celebrated in 2014 for the first time.
According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “The first World Day against Trafficking in Persons is a call to action to end this crime and give hope to the victims, who often live unrecognized among us. To stop the traffickers, we must sever funding pipelines and seize assets. I urge all countries to ratify and fully implement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol on Trafficking in Persons."
In order to commemorate the World Day against Trafficking in Persons the Embassy of Belarus in Budapest organized a Roundtable Meeting. Mr Aliaksandr Khainouski, Ambassador of Belarus to Hungary highlighted that the fight against human trafficking became very important in global context and joint international actions and close cooperation are very important in combating this transnational modern-day crime. The Ambassador provided a presentation on the trends and efforts of the Republic of Belarus on international level, including within the United Nations.
The Roundtable Meeting was attended by Dr. Krisztina Berta, Deputy State Secretary for EU and International Relations, National Anti-Trafficking Coordinator of the Ministry of Interior of Hungary, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and the Ministry of Interior of Hungary, experts of International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
In the framework of the event participants were provided opportunity to present their experience of the phenomenon, exchange views and information on the efforts of the Hungarian government and international organizations to fight trafficking in human beings, and they agreed on the need of further close cooperation in this area.