the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the Convention, Recalling also the resolve of the heads of State and Government expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration to intensify efforts to fight transnational organized crime in all its dimensions, including trafficking in human beings, Taking note of the Vienna Forum against Trafficking in Persons in the framework of the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, held from 13 to 15 February 2008, and of the thematic debate on the issue of trafficking in persons in the framework of the General Assembly on 3 June 2008, Recognizing that victims of trafficking are particularly exposed to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and that women and girl victims are often subject to multiple forms of discrimination and violence, including on the grounds of their gender, age, ethnicity, culture and religion, as well as their origins, and that these forms of discrimination themselves may fuel trafficking in persons, Recognizing also that trafficking in persons violates human rights and impairs the enjoyment of human rights, continues to pose a serious challenge to humanity and requires a concerted international assessment and response and genuine multilateral cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination in order to be eradicated, 1. Expresses concern at: (a) The high number of persons, especially women and children, in particular from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, who are being trafficked to developed countries, as well as within and between regions and States; (b) The increasing activities of transnational and national organized crime and others that profit from trafficking in persons, especially women and children, without regard for dangerous and inhumane conditions and in flagrant violation of domestic