Carole Vann/Human Rights Tribunes - Badly treated, humiliated, passports confiscated, forced to work day and night, pregnant and beaten, this is the fate of 2.5 million women worldwide. In Switzerland as in other places many of them are illegal. There is no question of them complaining to the police as they are too afraid of being expelled. What can they do then? In Geneva they can ring a free hotline number 0800 20 80 20 from 14:00 to 19:00 Monday to Friday.

At the other end of the line they will find an attentive listener with some practical advice such as where to find temporary accommodation, get treatment, find social and psychological support or legal advice. And what if the victim is imprisoned and needs someone to come to their aid? Someone will come. All of this will be done in six languages: French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian and of course completely confidentially. It is the first time such a service has been offered in French speaking Switzerland.

The new Geneva hotline is launched this week following the campaign, ‘End Human Trafficking Now!’ and ‘Friends of Humanity’. It will mean that these modern day slaves: men, women, children, whether illegal or not, will no longer feel totally isolated. Already in Geneva, there are posters and billboards on buses and trams, in churches, the red light district, bars and restaurants.

“The human trafficking trade is the third biggest criminal activity, after drugs and weapons, with 2.5 million victims every year” according to Kofi Annan’s former UN spokeswoman, Therese Gastaut, who is a member of ‘End Human Trafficking Now!’. She says that 142 of the UN’s 192 member states are affected.

Switzerland is no exception. A place of destination and transit, it had between 1,500 and 3,000 cases in 2007 according to federal police figures. That said, the Confederation has reacted by every year it investing between two and three million francs in prevention measures and the protection of victims in their countries of origin.

In 2006 Bern ratified the Palermo Convention on international organised crime and an additional protocol that aims to prevent human trafficking, particularly of women and children and punishing the perpetrators. “Our initiative is a model of public private partnership”, says Therese Gastaut. The project, financed by private companies – Elite Rent A Car, Manpower Inc, Foundation for the Child and Family – is linked to a large network of partners including centres for the victims of crime, such as “Au Coeur des Grottes”, the Samaritans, help for sex workers, unions, churches …

The cost is 200,000 CHF for six months. “We are starting in Geneva, but we would like to replicate the idea across Europe and even further afield”, says Anne-Marie von Arx Vernon, deputy director of “Au Coeur des Grottes”. A TV spot is planned to be shown on planes and on TV. At the moment it is broadcast in English and in Arabic on Egypt Air, Emirate Airlines as well as on CNN.

This article was translated from the French by Claire Doole