Statement by H.E. Mrs. Mar\u00eda Fernanda Espinosa Garc\u00e9s, President of the 73rd<\/sup> Session of the 爆料网 General Assembly<\/h3>\nDelivered by Toni-Shae Freckleton, Senior Adviser on Sustainable Development<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n17 July 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/73\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2019\/07\/Toni-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Excellencies, distinguished panellists, ladies and gentlemen,<\/p>\n
It is a pleasure to deliver this message on behalf of the President of the General Assembly, Her Excellency Mar\u00eda Fernanda Espinosa.<\/p>\n
Dear friends,<\/p>\n
I am sorry that I cannot join you today for the launch of this excellent report, “Measurement, Action, Freedom”, by the Minderoo Foundation’s Walk Free initiative, on Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.<\/p>\n
Embedded in SDG8 on decent work, target 7 represents the international community\u2019s promise to end modern slavery in all its forms. As we review Goal 8 during this High-Level Political Forum, this report provides a timely, albeit sobering, assessment of progress.<\/p>\n
Over 70 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed \u201cno one shall be held in slavery\u201d, nearly 4 decades since the last country abolished the practice, slavery is still a reality for millions of people \u2013 and I quote:<\/p>\n
\u201cI nearly suffocated in the mine.\u201d \u201cI worked all day without food.\u201d \u201cHe said he\u2019d get me a good job, but he lied. He raped me.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\nThese are the voices of child workers, forced labourers, those trafficked into prostitution. Over 40 million people today are victims of modern forms of slavery \u2013 more than twice the number involved in the transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history. Over 70 percent of them are women. Some 5 million are children.<\/p>\n
The \u201cWalk Free\u201d report provides an independent assessment of 183 governments, and their response to modern slavery. It notes that nearly 100 countries have not criminalised forced labour in a meaningful way; 47 have not done so for human trafficking; and less than a third protect women and girls from forced marriage.<\/p>\n
The most eye-watering statistic, perhaps, is that a staggering 10,000<\/strong> people must be freed every<\/strong> day<\/strong> if we are to achieve SDG 8.7 and eradicate modern slavery by 2030. Clearly, we need to take dramatic action as we enter the \u201cdecade for delivery\u201d of the Goals.<\/p>\nThis HLPF represents the completion of the first cycle of reviews, and it has been encouraging to see so many countries reporting on progress through their Voluntary National Reviews. But we need to do much, much more to fulfil our promise to \u201cleave no on behind\u201d.<\/p>\n
We must focus our attention not only on the countries where slavery is perpetrated, but the global networks and systems that enable these crimes to be committed. This means action on transnational crime and to strengthen legal frameworks, but it also means looking at our social policies \u2013 ensuring that we do not treat victims as criminals \u2013 and monitoring our supply chains.<\/p>\n
The Global Slavery Index puts the value of \u201cat-risk\u201d products imported by G20 countries at $354 billion, with the top 5 products being laptops, computers and mobile phones; garments; fish; cocoa and sugarcane.<\/p>\n
Crucially, as with all SDGs, we must have the data and evidence we need to design appropriate responses, and to measure our progress. Which is why this report is so important.<\/p>\n
Slavery is not something that happened in the past. It is not something that happens \u201cover there\u201d. It is an affront to human right and dignity that should spur us all into greater action \u2013 as policy-makers, as businesses and civil society, as consumers and as people.<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, MARI\u0301A FERNANDA ESPINOSA GARC\u00c9S – Launch of the \u201cMeasurement, Action, Freedom\u201d Report on Progress on SDG 8.7 by the Minderoo Foundation\u2019s Walk Free Initiative
\n0800-1000, 18 July 2019, Delegates\u2019 Dining Room
\nDelivered by Toni-Shae Freckleton, Senior Adviser on Sustainable Development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266,"featured_media":200051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speeches","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
Launch of the \u201cMeasurement, Action, Freedom\u201d Report - General Assembly of the United Nations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/73\/2019\/07\/17\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Launch of the \u201cMeasurement, Action, Freedom\u201d Report - General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, MARI\u0301A FERNANDA ESPINOSA GARC\u00c9S - Launch of the \u201cMeasurement, Action, Freedom\u201d Report on Progress on SDG 8.7 by the Minderoo Foundation\u2019s Walk Free Initiative 0800-1000, 18 July 2019, Delegates\u2019 Dining Room Delivered by Toni-Shae Freckleton, Senior Adviser on Sustainable Development\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/73\/2019\/07\/17\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"General Assembly of the United Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-17T16:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2019\/07\/Toni.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"959\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Denise Kling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Denise Kling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/17\\\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/17\\\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Denise Kling\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af470bea9354ed1b453ade6d22b5c9ee\"},\"headline\":\"Launch of the \u201cMeasurement, Action, Freedom\u201d Report\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-17T16:00:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/17\\\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1237,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/17\\\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/53\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Toni.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Speeches\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/17\\\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.un.org\\\/pga\\\/73\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/17\\\/launch-of-the-measurement-action-freedom-report\\\/\",\"name\":\"Launch of the \u201cMeasurement, Action, Freedom\u201d Report - 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17 July 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Excellencies, distinguished panellists, ladies and gentlemen,<\/p>\n It is a pleasure to deliver this message on behalf of the President of the General Assembly, Her Excellency Mar\u00eda Fernanda Espinosa.<\/p>\n Dear friends,<\/p>\n I am sorry that I cannot join you today for the launch of this excellent report, “Measurement, Action, Freedom”, by the Minderoo Foundation’s Walk Free initiative, on Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.<\/p>\n Embedded in SDG8 on decent work, target 7 represents the international community\u2019s promise to end modern slavery in all its forms. As we review Goal 8 during this High-Level Political Forum, this report provides a timely, albeit sobering, assessment of progress.<\/p>\n Over 70 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed \u201cno one shall be held in slavery\u201d, nearly 4 decades since the last country abolished the practice, slavery is still a reality for millions of people \u2013 and I quote:<\/p>\n \u201cI nearly suffocated in the mine.\u201d \u201cI worked all day without food.\u201d \u201cHe said he\u2019d get me a good job, but he lied. He raped me.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n These are the voices of child workers, forced labourers, those trafficked into prostitution. Over 40 million people today are victims of modern forms of slavery \u2013 more than twice the number involved in the transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history. Over 70 percent of them are women. Some 5 million are children.<\/p>\n The \u201cWalk Free\u201d report provides an independent assessment of 183 governments, and their response to modern slavery. It notes that nearly 100 countries have not criminalised forced labour in a meaningful way; 47 have not done so for human trafficking; and less than a third protect women and girls from forced marriage.<\/p>\n The most eye-watering statistic, perhaps, is that a staggering 10,000<\/strong> people must be freed every<\/strong> day<\/strong> if we are to achieve SDG 8.7 and eradicate modern slavery by 2030. Clearly, we need to take dramatic action as we enter the \u201cdecade for delivery\u201d of the Goals.<\/p>\n This HLPF represents the completion of the first cycle of reviews, and it has been encouraging to see so many countries reporting on progress through their Voluntary National Reviews. But we need to do much, much more to fulfil our promise to \u201cleave no on behind\u201d.<\/p>\n We must focus our attention not only on the countries where slavery is perpetrated, but the global networks and systems that enable these crimes to be committed. This means action on transnational crime and to strengthen legal frameworks, but it also means looking at our social policies \u2013 ensuring that we do not treat victims as criminals \u2013 and monitoring our supply chains.<\/p>\n The Global Slavery Index puts the value of \u201cat-risk\u201d products imported by G20 countries at $354 billion, with the top 5 products being laptops, computers and mobile phones; garments; fish; cocoa and sugarcane.<\/p>\n Crucially, as with all SDGs, we must have the data and evidence we need to design appropriate responses, and to measure our progress. Which is why this report is so important.<\/p>\n Slavery is not something that happened in the past. It is not something that happens \u201cover there\u201d. It is an affront to human right and dignity that should spur us all into greater action \u2013 as policy-makers, as businesses and civil society, as consumers and as people.<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, MARI\u0301A FERNANDA ESPINOSA GARC\u00c9S – Launch of the \u201cMeasurement, Action, Freedom\u201d Report on Progress on SDG 8.7 by the Minderoo Foundation\u2019s Walk Free Initiative<\/p>\n
\n0800-1000, 18 July 2019, Delegates\u2019 Dining Room
\nDelivered by Toni-Shae Freckleton, Senior Adviser on Sustainable Development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266,"featured_media":200051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-speeches","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n