On July 8 and 9, UN’s ‘Office on Drugs and Crime’ held the 14th Session of its Human Trafficking Working Group in Vienna. The Session focused on child trafficking as well as on trafficking for the removal of organs. Since 2023 and within its Migration & Asylum Ministry, Greece has established the Secretariat General for Vulnerable Persons.
Addressing the Session, Secretary General Heracles Moskoff presented the award winning “National Emergency Response Mechanism” (NERM), a 24/7 tracing line to identify children in need with mobile units and accommodation facilities across the country. During the last three years only, the pan-hellenic support network of NERM has saved 5,000 children which would otherwise be in grave danger. Greece argued in favor of this early warning mechanism and encouraged participating countries to emulate this example of best practice. Indeed, the final text -adopted unanimously by the participating countries- came in support of the Greek paradigm.
The Mechanism proposed is in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, a 2000 United Nations-sponsored monumental treaty and one of the most adhered to legal instruments.
Ministry of Migration and Asylum: The (Greek) National Emergency Response Mechanism
Photo: Secretary Special for the Protection of the Unaccompanied Minors presents Hellenic Republic President Katerina Sakellaropoulou with a collection of drawings by unaccompanied minors hosted in Greece (March 14, 2023).