Episode Details

Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak talk to Panagiotis Papadimitriou to discuss the important work he is doing at UNODC. They discuss the legal database and research he is conducting. They also talk about the difference between human trafficking and migrant smuggling and why it is so critical to understand the distinction.

Key Points

• Much of UNODC’s work revolves around developing studies and conducting research.
• UNODC’s target audience is people involved in the criminal justice processes.
• UNODC maintains a database that allows practitioners to search for past cases to use as a reference.
• Many people, including government officials, confuse and conflate human trafficking with migrant smuggling.
• Human trafficking revolves around the key concept of exploitation.
• Human smuggling involves moving from one person to another location illegally, but this often leads to human trafficking.
• Trafficking victims often have more protections than illegal migrants.

Resources

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

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Transcript

Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 160, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Production Credits: [00:00:08] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential.

Dave: [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan.

Dave: [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, one of the great benefits that I’ve gotten just on a purely selfish level over the years of being a cohost on the show with you is learning so many things about the world, organizations that you’ve partnered with Sandie, and so much about this issue. And one of the institutions that I’ve learned a little bit about in that time is the United Nations. And I’m really excited today to be able to learn more about a part of the United Nations I’m very unaware of and I think our audience will learn a lot too. And today’s guest comes from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and his name is Panagiotis Papadimitriou. Panagiotis is a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice officer working in the human trafficking and migrant smuggling section of the Organized Crime Branch of the division of treaty affairs under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime headquarters. He joined Sandie in Athens, Greece for the conference on human trafficking during the Greece summer study abroad. And Sandie, that was this past summer wasn’t it.

Sandie: [00:01:51] That’s right. And we’ve been invited back. So welcome to the show. We’ll dispense with formalities and we’re just going to call you Takis because you’ve become a great friend and we have learned so much from you since meeting you in Greece this last summer.

Pana