Ms. Gun-Britt Andersson, Swedish State Secretary for Development Cooperation, Migration and Asylum Policy, will on Monday 7 October 2002 open a 2-day conference on Promoting Gender Equality to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children at the United Nations Conference Center, Bangkok.
In the afternoon, Mr. Bo Lewin, Professor of Sociology, University of Uppsala, Sweden, will speak on “Promoting Changes in Existing Social Attitudes to Women and Sexuality”.
Over 150 high-level experts and State representatives from ASEM countries, NGOs, the United Nations and other international development agencies will participate in the conference which is being convened by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in partnership with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and with the support of UN ESCAP. The conference is a follow-up initiative to the ASEM Beijing 2001 meeting, which identified trafficking as a priority issue for its member countries.
A panel discussion on Tuesday morning will – apart from Ms. Gun-Britt Andersson – include a Thai woman, Ai, who has experienced being sold.
The closing session will be delivered on Wednesday, 9th of October, 2002 at 2.30pm by the Italian Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Margerita Boniver who will present closing remarks for Europe and a representative of the Thai Government will present closing remarks on behalf of Asia.
