COMMIT: How it Works

The current Plan of Action for the COMMIT MOU - the COMMIT SPA II (2008-2010) - contains eight key activities, or Project Proposal Concepts (PPCs):

1- Training and Capacity Building
2- National Plans of Action
3- Multilateral and Bilateral Partnerships
4- Legal Frameworks, Law Enforcement, and Justice
5- Victim Identification, Protection, Recovery and Reintegration
6- Preventive Measures
7- Cooperation with the Tourism Sector
8- Management: Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation

Activities under these PPCs are being implemented in each of the countries and at a multi-country level where needed (both bilateral and multilateral). Implementation is typically done in partnership between relevant government departments and non-government entities, whether UN agencies or NGOs. Since human trafficking is so multi-dimensional, each of the six COMMIT countries has a multi-disciplinary COMMIT Task Force, a governing body with oversight responsibility consisting of representatives from the relevant ministries - including police, justice, social welfare, and women's affairs.

UNIAP’s Role as Secretariat to COMMIT

UNIAP has been entrusted by the governments to act as Secretariat to COMMIT, based on its existing work and mandate as an inter-agency coordinating body. UNIAP is able to draw on its extensive network of partners throughout the region to provide technical and financial assistance to all aspects of the COMMIT process, and also works with partners to ensure that programs and activities are aligned with government priorities in the COMMIT SPA II and National Plans of Action. Technical and financial support for the COMMIT process has been further provided by a wide range of multi-sectoral partners including UN agencies, NGOs, inter-governmental organizations, and donor organizations.

The COMMIT SPA II (2008-2010) was developed with technical support from UNIAP as the COMMIT Secretariat, building from the achievements of the first COMMIT SPA and advancing on its measurable targets and progress indicators. The inter-agency collaboration fostered around the first COMMIT SPA continues through the SPA II, with implementing agencies contributing their unique technical expertise to helping the governments advance along the measurable targets and progress indicators built into the SPA II’s monitoring and evaluation framework. UNIAP project offices based in each of the six countries coordinate with government and UN agencies on a day-to-day basis to ensure that the governments have the technical, administrative and financial support necessary to progress on all aspects of SPA II.

COMMIT: Results to Date

Due to its comprehensive coverage and sound empirical basis, underpinned by high-level political commitment from the six GMS governments, the COMMIT process provides an unprecedented opportunity to advance a genuinely multi-sectoral and effective regional response to human trafficking, based on the latest in good practice and lessons learned throughout the world. Evaluation of the first COMMIT SPA (2005-2007) highlighted the following selected achievements:

1. A comprehensive training course on human counter-trafficking for government and non-government officials, providing state-of-the-art information delivered by recognized experts in the field; the course has also been translated into the six GMS languages and localized for maximum relevance;

2. The development and strengthening of National Plans of Action and bilateral cooperation mechanisms in/between many of the six GMS countries, with sound monitoring and evaluation frameworks;

3. Regional guiding principles on victim protection and labor recruitment, setting an international standard for all GMS national and cross-border mechanisms handling trafficked persons and migrants; and

4. Observable improvements of national legal frameworks and the criminal justice response to human trafficking, as it is practiced on the ground to protect trafficked persons and bring offenders to justice.