Human trafficking not adequately punished in Americas: OAS
The crime of human trafficking is not punished enough in the Americas, an official with the Organization of American States (OAS) said Tuesday.

"Many of the forums for action, defense and victim support are not used appropriately, in part because human trafficking has yet to reach the national agenda for many countries in the region," John Biehl, representative of the OAS secretary general, told an OAS conference which started on Tuesday.

The National Authorities Meeting on Human Trafficking, which is being held on the Margarita island, just off Venezuela's Caribbean coast, will generate recommendations to be considered by OAS justice ministers at their next general assembly.

Human trafficking includes wage slavery, sexual exploitation, organ trafficking and the trade in minors. Among all these crimes, prosecutors tend to focus on abuses directed at women and minors.

OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza recently described human trafficking as "one of the most brutal criminal activities in this hemisphere," saying the cruel trade cannot be tackled unilaterally.

Insulza has already ordered the setup of a special department to tackle the issue, moving staff from the Inter-American Women's Commission to the Public Security Department to strengthen enforcement.

Venezuela's Deputy Justice Minister, Rafael Jimenez, said at Tuesday's gathering that human trafficking was comparable to slavery-era abuses, adding that the meeting would generate "real, sincere and truthful" solutions to the problem.

Such conclusions will help build "a more equal society, without people who are exploited, dominated and marginalized; a society without poverty," said Jimenez.