UN 21 Award evaluation teams, members of the High-Level Approving Panel

and Offie of the Under-!eretar"-#eneral, $epartment of %anagement&

It is with great joy that we have received the news of a UN 21 Commendation. It is
an immense honour to be commended among so many commited and talented
colleagues in so many agencies and offices of the UN, in so many corners around
the world.
On behalf of my team roject and on my own I would li!e to than! "r. #ofi $nnan
and "r. "ar! "alloch %rown in New &or! for creating this award, !eeing it and
broadening it to include Commendations where 'O rojects li!e us may be
nominated.
(ecial gratitude to "r. $ntonio "aria Costa, in )ienna *ead+uarters of UNO,C
for his rewarding words, his ermanent interest in imlementing UN -rotocols
down to local sheres and in giving the imortance that the traffic!ing in human
beings crime deserves for being the only transnational organi.ed crime where the
object of the criminal activity / instead of drugs, arms or chemicals/ is a victimi.ed
human being turned into a commodity of crime mafias.
0o "r. (andro Calvani, our 'ield Office reresentative in Colombia, a ris! ta!er and
a leader that with atience and !indness listens to his team and suorts it with
effective decisions and concrete solutions, than! you for trusting us1 without the
wind and string you have rovided us we wouldn2t have reached this far.
3e would articularly li!e to e4ress our gratitude to the (wedish cooeration that
started this ilot roject in the region and the U# and (wiss cooeration that further
on decided to branch in and build into this collective effort. 3e would also li!e to
share this commendation with a broadened team1 our $*0U and 5$C colleagues,
and of course our dear artners of, and colleagues in, UNO,C Colombia, some of
them wor!ing ne4t door and some of them now gone, li!e our friend (imonetta
6rassi.
3e value this commendation not only as a recognition to the research efforts,
commitment and enthusiasm of the roject I have the rivilege to coordinate, but
also because it highlights the imortance of the wor! of other fellow colleagues in
local non staffed UN teams around the world. 0hey, li!e us, strive to grassroot
international law for legally emowering the individuals and authorities that live and
wor! in the millions of neighborhoods of which (tate -arties are built of.
%y teaming with N6Os in the field wor! we have confirmed that boosting crime
revention, enhancing rosecution and monitoring the absence of re/victimi.ation
and effectiveness of victims2 redress is the ultimate rotection threshold of human
rights.
0hrough constant wor! with "inistry of Interior and 7ustice, the Congress and
other authorities we have learnt that unless international rovisions are
nationali.ed in thought and adjusted to local concerns i.e. combating domestic
0*%, international objectives li!e combating transnational 0*% will not reach their
highest otential8 that building local dogmatic analysis and mirroring it with
corresondent evidence gathering tools are sine qua non factors needed to
comliment the wisdom and good intentions of the international instruments
s!illfully tailored in our UN head +uarters with (tates2 delegations.
3e have learnt too, that high and medium laced authorities are ermanently
mutating due to their olitical nature. 0hat is why students, teachers and journalists
are !ey actors to root and guarantee the sustainability of efforts8 they create
!nowledge, sensiti.e ublic oinion and launch action.
3ith senior local researchers we have managed to conclude that the underlying
culture of a given society is far more effective to 0*% victimi.ation than overty is.
3ith the Colombian business community we have confirmed that entertainment
and the ublicity of good and services shae intensively the collective imageries
and ambitions 9articularly of the young: and thus alter the threshold of ris!s and
values. 7oining efforts by means of Cororate (ocial ;esonsability and
edutainment, allows to ortray the modus operandi of 0*%, its recruitment and
victimi.ation rocess, as well as the vulnerability correlated to gender<age factors
so that they may infuse in the collective imagery in order to refrain victimi.ation
arise solidarity and commitment to crime reorting and cultural change.
3ith the courage and generosity of those victims that visit and team u with us, we
have built better !nowledge and understanding and hence detected the necessity
of advancing the need of guidelines to imlement transnational victim2s rotection
to match transnational rosecution efforts and to communicate revention in
focali.ed and simle terms.
3ith colleagues from UNO,C -eru, %ra.il, $rgentina and =cuador and local
authorities from these countries as well as )ene.uela and the U# we have reali.ed
that there is no stronger need than to build case law and simle tools to share
information of routes and rofiles for saving lives and tac!ling crime.

Colombia has a lot of difficulties and scarce economic resources that is e4actly
why imagination and assion are our best allies to innovate and e4cel in roblem
solving. 3e are hay to !now that we have contributed to the noble objectives of
of this essential organi.ation that daily wor!s to lace dignity and eace in national
and international agendas that usually fill only with what is urgent and convenient.
(aint/=4uery said that in life there is no such thing as a solution, but forces in
action, that once they are created, solution follows. 3e are roud to !now that we
might have created and fueled some, and along doing so we have also contributed
to the organi.ation.
"uch obliged,
Adriana 'ui(-'estrepo
National -roject Coordinator