Michael Häupl signed the Declaration on 30 August 2006. As mayor of Vienna, he said, “I wanted to publicly commit myself to submit the declaration to Vienna's elected bodies, whereas as CEMR president I wanted to make a stand on behalf of Europe's towns and regions. Human trafficking is unacceptable, and since this is primarily a local issue, the solutions can be found mainly at local level. Therefore, I call on Europe's local and regional leaders to support this initiative. CEMR has always been deeply committed to human rights issues”.