Athens , 16 April 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Friends,

I would like to welcome you all and thank you for being here at the Museum of Cycladic Art.

Seeing human trafficking in its true dimensions – that is, as a global problem – the Foreign Ministry, within the framework of the closer cooperation it has established with major international organizations, is joining UNICEF in an information and awareness campaign on child trafficking worldwide.

Trafficking has concerned and, unfortunately, continues to concern the global community. The reasons for this are many and obvious:

We all know that the main causes of the problem have not been eradicated. Poverty and a lack of development prospects affect a large portion of our world. Armed conflicts – civil wars as well as other conflicts – lead to mass migration flows. They lead to the disintegration of states and societies. Violence and the inequality between men and women continue to plague human communities. And all of this is happening in an environment of constant challenges – such as climate change, rising food prices, rising oil prices – that jeopardise not only our prospects of achieving the Millennium Goals, but also development itself.

Trafficking is a manifestation of organised crime; crime that knows no territorial borders. And this means cross-border cooperation between slave runners; corruption and the involvement of public servants; money laundering and fear.

Fear of coming out and talking openly about the problem and denouncing perpetrators.

One would think that in the case of child victims, it would be “easier” – there would be a “moral imperative” – to denounce the perpetrators. But this isn’t always the case.

Many child victims are first exploited by their own families, and the problem is frequently treated as a private, family matter, with third party involvement out of the question.

Whatever the case, the result is that there are children whose lives are derailed, along with their happiness and dignity. And the truth is that they never get back on those tracks.

A million children are trafficked globally every year.

The number of children involved in forms of forced labour or slavery is estimated at 5.7 million. Half the population of Greece. At the same time, 1.8 million children – mostly girls – are victims of sexual exploitation.

When we talk about trafficking and children, no matter how much we say, it is never enough. We need to constantly raise awareness of the problem and the forms it takes. We need to be vigilant and constantly remind everyone – citizens, journalist, politicians ourselves – that we must always do more. To help child victims to get out and to stop new victims from being made.

Not just because it does no credit to our culture. Not just so we can sleep easy. Not just to avoid bankrupting our future. But also to stop ourselves from becoming accustomed to the sight of children begging on the streets; children being treated disgracefully; children being enlisted to fight for one armed faction or another. Children working as slaves.

We must not become accustomed to these images and accept them passively as inevitable. Albert Camus once said that the children will continue to be the undeserving victims, even in a perfect society. I think he was right. But because I am optimistic by nature, I agree more with the opinion of a more contemporary author – Tom Robbins – who says that it is never too late for a happy childhood. Even if we can’t save all the child victims, we have to be in a position to offer them a second chance in life.

My dear friends, I am particularly pleased because through this effort of the Foreign Ministry and UNICEF we found people from the arts and media who said “no” to the modern face of barbarism being shown to children.

And from this podium, I want to offer them my heartfelt thanks.

I want to thank the news anchors of the country’s major television channels, the artists and all those who contributed to the campaign that the Chairman of the Greek National Committee for UNICEF, Mr. Lambros Kanellopoulos, will tell you more about.

I would also like to thank public television for the support they have given all these years to initiatives aimed at helping children.

The central slogan of this campaign is “Together, we can”.

We believe this and we are pursuing this. We want all of you to help so that more and more of our fellow citizens can understand the problem, get informed, become aware.

I’ve said this many times, and it is my unshakeable belief: We Greeks, despite our problems, despite everything happening around us, hold fast to our humanity.

Thank you.