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Californian governor highlights fight against human trafficking

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-15 08:02

LOS ANGELES-- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday highlighted the fight against human trafficking at the 26th Annual Border Governors Conference being held in Los Angeles.

While pledging to further California's commitment to take action and end human trafficking, Schwarzenegger called for stronger cooperation among the border states to finally put a stop to this human rights violation.

"The practice of trafficking human beings is modern-day slavery and it should not be tolerated by any society," Schwarzenegger told a policy forum designed to develop solutions to combat human trafficking across the US-Mexico border.

"California has a proud legacy of offering protection and safety to the victims of such horrific crimes and I am pleased that the border states are coming together at this year's conference to collaborate on solutions to this crime that will work on both sides of the border," the governor said.

The policy forum, entitled "Human Trafficking ... A Unified Call to Action," is one of four forums that will be held during the conference. The forum featured experts from the US and Mexico, including leaders in the fields of law enforcement, international human rights, victim assistance and human trafficking survivors who will discuss the impact human trafficking has had on the border region and look at collaborative solutions to fight it.

California's second largest community of foreign trafficking victims comes from Mexico. According to the US State Department, an estimated 600,000 to 820,000 individuals are trafficked across international borders each year. Of these trafficked individuals, close to 90 percent are women and children. It is also estimated that up to 20,000 children are victimized in commercial sexual exploitation in Mexico every year.

At the conference, Schwarzenegger was pushing for the border states' action against this crime of humanity. Currently five Mexican states have enacted comprehensive anti-trafficking laws.

Schwarzenegger launched the conference on Wednesday with the aim of "building green economies" throughout the border region.

Ten US border governors were attending the conference with federal officials from the US and Mexico, including US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, US Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Mexican Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino and Mexican Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira.

Spanning nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers), the US-Mexico border is the busiest international border in the world with approximately 250 million people crossing annually. More than 90 million people call the border region home, and it represents a collective economy that ranks third in the world.