Side Event at the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons

The Human Thread Foundation was represented alongside eLiberare, the Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations in New York, Equality Now, and Atlas Free at the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the appraisal of the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

For the fourth time, this meeting took place in New York, the United States, in November 2025. Member States adopted a renewed political declaration, reaffirming their commitment to dismantling trafficking networks, protecting victims, and closing the impunity gap. We co-organized a side event on ensuring survivors are guaranteed access to exercise their rights and that perpetrators are held accountable. It is crucial to lower the barrier for survivors to receive help and stop prosecuting and persecuting them. We must ensure that those who exploit pay for their crimes, not those exploited.

Lisa Kristine’s images made visible what data alone cannot — the faces of people robbed of dignity by systems of exploitation that persist because those in power choose, again and again, to look away.