Freedom without Borders Launches Portal to Help Stem Human Trafficking

Freedom without Borders Launches Portal to Help Stem Human Trafficking
New York, 9/22/2011

The idea of the portal is to create the facility for people from anywhere in the world to be able to denounce any offense or transnational crime having to do with human trafficking.

The idea of the portal is to create the facility for people from anywhere in the world to be able to denounce any offense or transnational crime having to do with human trafficking.

Dominican First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, introduced the portal in New York: “Freedom without Borders,” an initiative that utilizes Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to combat and prevent human trafficking crimes.

Doctor Cedeño de Fernández, launched the site Freedom without Borders, in the South-South News offices at One Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, with the support of Airline Ambassadors and South-South News. This portal provides the facility for people from anywhere in the world to denounce any offense or transnational crime having to do with human trafficking.

In her speech, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández said that ever since she assumed the role of First Lady, her goal was to help the development of Dominican citizens, providing them with the necessary tools to forge their own destiny, out of which was born the organization, Progresando. She said that despite all the advances that have been made, human trafficking continues to be a determining factor in the development of communities.

“Human trafficking is fed by our different situations, such as poverty, the need for cheap labor, wars, natural disasters, to name a few. This scourge does not only affect developing countries. Victims do not have a specific profile, which is what makes this difficult to combat,” said Cedeño de Fernández when introducing Freedom without Borders.

She added that “as a firm believer in the power of ICTs, this portal will serve to disseminate information in the 75 communities where Community Technology Centers (CTC) are located in addition to making use of Community Radios to disseminate true and reliable information.”

The Dominican First Lady is part of the Women Leaders’ Council (WLC) which struggles against human trafficking. It was created with support from the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), conceived to promote the global fight against human trafficking, on the basis of international agreements reached in the UN at a meeting held on February 14, 2008 at the Vienna Forum.

The idea of the site was evolving to the point that led to the creation of an international space for the exchange of information and action.

Doctor Cedeño de Fernández, proposed the creation on the Internet site with a global character that will be enriched by civil society, various UN agencies as well as individual and national action undertaken around the issue of human trafficking.

The idea of the site was evolving to the point that led to the creation of an international space for the exchange of information and action. It is directed at the Spanish-speaking community, especially Latin America and the Caribbean insofar as the majority of the resources are in Spanish.

Freedom without Borders has two ways to report a crime. One is a 700 Line which offers assistance to victims or persons who may be vulnerable to human trafficking. The line links them directly to the pertinent authorities. In addition, different social networks are integrated into the portal to make contact and dissemination of information more efficient.

The Office of the First Lady (DPD in Spanish) is working jointly with other institutions that form part of the Human Trafficking Commission to help provide support, protection, prevention and to facilitate punishment of criminals who traffic in women and children forcing them into illegal, and often, slave labor.  This effort has the support of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Airline Ambassadors and South-South News.

Those present at the event included president of Airline Ambassadors, Nancy Rivard; the director UN Office on Drugs and Crime Drogas (UNDOC), Yury Fedotov; the president de South-South News, Francis Lorenzo with Mildred Espinosa; the First Lady of Haiti, Sofía Martelly; Grace Nelson and Katie Ford of the Ford Foundation; Cristina Sánchez of “Tu Mujer”; Santo Rosario of COIN; William Lacey Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Dominican Immigration Director, José Ricardo Taveras.

First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, as she introduces the Freedom without Borders site.

First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, launching the Freedom without Borders portal in New York.

First Lady Margarita Cedeño de Fernández speaks with UNDOC Director,  Yury Fedotov, at the launch of the portal, Freedom without Borders.