 Your Excellency Minister Cho, distinguished speakers, delegates and participants in this important occasion, it's really an honor for me to be with you as we discuss the issue of counter-trafficking. And I'm very pleased that this year's International Symposium is focused on the cooperation between the government of the Republic of Korea and civil society. I'd like to congratulate Mr. Cho and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for their constant efforts to bring human trafficking into public view. It's only in this way that we can win the fight against sexual exploitation. This is an area of unprecedented activity. It's also an era of unprecedented human mobility, of unprecedented disasters, and of unprecedented anti-migrant sentiment. Now increased migration, large-scale migration, is going to be virtually inevitable for much of the century given demographics, disasters, labor demand, and other factors. It's also highly necessary if our economies are to function, if jobs are to be filled and skills to be found, and it is highly desirable if we manage it well, including dealing with the issue of human trafficking. Good migration governments hinges on improving the quality of human mobility, practical measures that we must take to protect migrants, their rights, and by reducing the risk that they face. This means reducing both financial and human costs. This means that we must have more activity in the area of stopping trafficking and lowering the vulnerability of migrants. We want to ensure migrants' well-being, and we want to ensure that both migrants and home as well as host communities receive the full benefits of human mobility. Now I want to speak just for a minute about the relationship and the partnership between the Republic of Korea and the International Organization for Migration, particularly in the area of counter-trafficking. We have enjoyed a growing partnership and friendship with Korea for more than 20 years. This covers a broad range of migration issues. These are exemplified in the ministry itself, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Our collaboration has allowed for more effective approaches to human mobility. This includes, for example, collaborating in clarifying the types of exploitation, the routes that criminal networks use in finding vulnerable people. It means also a greater definition of policy and guidelines and, of course, faster identification and more effective assistance to the vulnerable persons who have been victims of trafficking. So in this regard, let me commend in the highest terms possible the government of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for important recent progress. I think, for example, of the modifications that have been made to the Korean criminal code in conformity with the Palambra Protocol. Secondly, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has worked effectively in protecting and assisting victims of trafficking, notably for victims of sexual exploitation and domestic violence through its safe shelters and its livelihood support to the victims in Cambodia. Let me turn more specifically to the work that the International Organization for Migration is doing in the area of counter trafficking. IOM has been working to counter human trafficking since 1994. We have assisted more than 60,000 victims of trafficking. We are, in fact, the largest global provider of such direct assistance. For example, from 2011 to 2012, the number of vulnerable migrants at IOM assisted almost doubled from 60,000 to 103,000 in 2012, of which 6,500 were victims of trafficking in that year alone. The number of victims of trafficking has risen steadily since 2011, with an increase in the number of victims of labor exploitation as well as sexual exploitation, the majority of whom are women. Women victims are overrepresented among the assisted caseload. For example, 58% of those assisted in 2011 and 2012 were women. Notwithstanding, if we consider the estimated total number of victims trafficked worldwide, the number of rescued victims of trafficking remains minimal. It is, at best, a mere drop in the ocean. For IOM, the legal approach to counter trafficking is important but not sufficient. Simply identifying victims of trafficking is necessary, but it's also very, very complex and making assistance dependent on identification alone would leave many without any support at all. A rights-based, needs-focused assistance approach is indispensable for us collectively if we are to have the necessary reach for prevention, the information required for prosecution of traffickers, and so forth. Integrating this rights-based approach into migrant-friendly policies at all levels will significantly strengthen our chances of eliminating trafficking altogether, and that must be our goal. A few concluding words. I would like to emphasize the important work that this symposium will undertake in looking for new strategies to strengthen collaboration between the Korean government and civil society in order to address the gross human rights violation that human trafficking represents. IOM remains steadfastly committed to supporting the government of the Republic of Korea through technical assistance and its work in partnership with civil society. My colleagues and I are very much looking forward to the valuable insights that we know will emanate from this session. Thank you very much.