Belgiums Country Statement

Gerald EVANS
Prime Minister of
Kingdom of Belgium
Honorable Chairperson
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
.
It gives us a great pleasure to attend the United Nations General Assembly and
to have an opportunity to present Belgiums Country Statement.
Belgium is the destination and transit country for human trafficking, especially
women and girls for sexual exploitation primarily from Nigeria, Russia, Albania,
Bulgaria, Romania, the Peoples Republic of China, and through Belgium to other
European country, such as United Kingdom. Besides, men also become the victims
from the human trafficking for labor exploitation in restaurant, bars, sweatshops,
horticulture, fruit farms, and construction sites.
Belgian government has been responsive for this case by giving protection and
prevention efforts for combating human trafficking in Belgium.
For the protection, the Belgian government improved its capacity to identify
and protect trafficking victims during the reporting period. In September 2008, the
Belgian government issued an interagency directive on coordination and assistance to
trafficking victims. The Belgian government continued to fund three NGOs that
sheltered and provided comprehensive assistance to trafficking victims in 2008.
Belgium law allows the provision to extendable temporary residence status and
permanent residence status victims who participated in trafficking investigations and
prosecutions.
For the prevention, the Belgian government funds all domestic NGOs and
websites to combat human trafficking and conducting campaigns to reduce demand in
Belgium. The government provided specific anti-trafficking training to Belgian troops
before they were deployed on international peacekeeping missions.
We admit honestly that the Belgian governments efforts are not complete yet.
We still need a lot of improvement for the anti-trafficking law enforcement data, such
as number of prosecutions and convictions for forced labor and trafficking for
commercial sexual exploitations, and numbers of government-assisted repatriations.
Belgium is committed to contribution greatly to combat and reduce human
trafficking by campaigning, investigating human trafficking cases, and enforcing the
anti-trafficking law effectively.
I thank you for your attention.