A/HRC/23/48 “To discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to trafficking, each Party shall adopt or strengthen legislative, administrative, educational, social, cultural or other measures including: a research on best practices, methods and strategies; b raising awareness of the responsibility and important role of media and civil society in identifying the demand as one of the root causes of trafficking in human beings; c target information campaigns involving, as appropriate, inter alia, public authorities and policy makers; d preventive measures, including educational programmes for boys and girls during their schooling, which stress the unacceptable nature of discrimination based on sex, and its disastrous consequences, the importance of gender equality and the dignity and integrity of every human being.” 31. The 2003 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings recommended “adopting or strengthening legislative, educational, social, cultural or other measures, and, where applicable, penal legislation, including through bilateral and multilateral co-operation, to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, and that leads to trafficking”. Furthermore, in its decision No. 8/07 on combating trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation, the Organization‟s Ministerial Council urged participating States to “develop programmes to curb the fraudulent recruitment used by some employment agencies that can make persons more vulnerable to being trafficked” (para. 16). 32. The Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) adopted in 2004 a Memorandum of Understanding in which Member States recognize the “link between the demand for trafficking and the growing demand for exploitative labour and exploitative sexual services”. It also lays emphasis on the importance of bilateral arrangements in “promoting safe, orderly and well-regulated migration as this serves to reduce the demand for illegal migration services which provide opportunities for traffickers” and “encouraging destination countries, including those from outside the Greater Mekong Sub-region to effectively enforce relevant national laws in order to reduce the acceptance of exploitation of persons that fuels the demand for the labour of trafficked persons”. 33. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Inter-Parliamentary Organization‟s resolution on the role of Parliament in combating trafficking in women and children in the ASEAN region, adopted in 2004, appeals to the Governments of ASEAN countries to “strengthen existing legislation and enforcement mechanisms to punish particularly those who create demand for illicit sex or who use force or fraud to traffic women or minors into the international sex trade, while protecting the rights of the trafficking victims”. 34. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Initial Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons (2002–2003) provided that member States, in partnership with NGOs, other civil society groups, and public and private media, shall develop and disseminate public awareness materials focusing on raising public understanding that trafficking in persons is a crime, and discouraging the demand that leads to trafficking, particularly by addressing those who might exploit victims of trafficking, for example as child domestics or farm labourers. 9