Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (Najat Maalla M’jid)
As Delivered by Joshua Kretman
United Nations Human Rights Council
Geneva, March 12, 2014
The United States would like to thank Ms. Maalla M’jid for her years of service as the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. We commend her efforts to raise global consciousness on how events, policies, and practices can contribute to children’s vulnerability. All states have a particular responsibility to protect children from all forms of sale and sexual exploitation.
The United States supports several of the recommendations in the Special Rapporteur’s report. Though the United States has numerous programs at the national, state, and local levels to provide assistance and care to child victims of crime, there is still room to do more.
In January, the United States launched its first ever Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States. The five-year Plan, developed under the leadership of the U.S. Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, enables us to better serve all trafficked persons, whether U.S. citizens or foreign nationals, adults or children.
The Plan strengthens collaboration across national, state, tribal and local levels. The goal of the plan is to increase coordination among federal agencies and other stakeholders, to improve efforts to identify victims, and to build capacity to provide comprehensive services to survivors of human trafficking, including through tailored solutions to address their short and long term health, , safety, and other needs. Engaging survivors in anti- trafficking leadership and policy development is imperative to providing effective services and is a core value of this new Action Plan.
The Plan will improve transparency and accountability of federal agencies by requiring agencies to adopt processes to implement the actions outlined in the Plan and also submitting an annual report that describes the progress of the Plan’s implementation.
The United States wishes Ms. Maalla M’jid success in her future endeavors and we look forward to working with her successor to create a safer world for our children.