Melanne Verveer

PAS Istanbul Hosts Round-Table Discussion On TIP (Trafficking in Person Program)

July 27, 2005

On July 27, the Public Affairs Section Istanbul hosted a round-table discussion for NGOs with Melanne Verveer, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that supports women leaders in building democracies and strong economies, and with Carol Lancaster, a member of the Board.  The discussion with a group of NGO representatives centered around another goal of Vital Voices:  To raise public awareness about the TIP problem.  Although there was general agreement that the lack of public awareness was an issue that needed to be addressed, the NGO representatives complained that they received no funding from either the GOT or from the private sector for such outreach.  Verveer suggested that working together with journalists would be one effective and also cost-free way to make the public more aware of this problem.  She also offered to include information about the funding problems in the group's electronic newsletter Trafficking Alert, which is distributed to anti-trafficking advocates around the world.

Turkish NGOs involved in anti-trafficking efforts will become part of Vital Voices' worldwide network, which will encourage information sharing and possibly even lead to funding for projects to help raise public awareness.