32/41 Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons,especially women and children
Document Type: Final Report
Date: 2016 May
Session: 32nd Regular Session (2016 Jun)
Agenda Item: Item3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
Human Rights Council Thirty-second session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children
Note by the Secretariat
The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the thematic
report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children,
Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, prepared pursuant to Council resolution 26/8. In her report the
Special Rapporteur addresses the linkage between trafficking in persons and conflict, which
she had identified in her previous report to the Council (A/HRC/29/38) as one of the areas
of interest to and further research by her mandate. In the present report the Special
Rapporteur raises international awareness on the forms and nature of trafficking related to
the complex situation of conflict.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children
Contents
Page
I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3
II. Activities carried out by the Special Rapporteur .............................................................................. 3
A. Participation in conferences and consultations ........................................................................ 3
B. Country visits ........................................................................................................................... 3
III. Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations: protecting victims of
trafficking and people at risk of trafficking, especially women and children .................................. 4
A. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4
B. Context and identification of the problem ............................................................................... 4
C. Trafficking of persons fleeing conflict .................................................................................... 5
D. Trafficking during conflict ....................................................................................................... 7
E. Trafficking in post-conflict situations ...................................................................................... 10
F. International legal framework .................................................................................................. 12
IV. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 16
V. Recommendations ............................................................................................................................ 17
I. Introduction
1. In the present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 26/8,
the Special Rapporteur outlines her activities undertaken during the period under review
and presents a thematic report on the subject of trafficking in persons in conflict and post-
conflict situations: protecting victims of trafficking and people at risk of trafficking,
especially women and children.
II. Activities carried out by the Special Rapporteur
A. Participation in conferences and consultations
2. On 11 April 2016, the Special Rapporteur took part in the sixteenth conference of
the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons organized by the Office of the Special
Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Vienna.
3. On 29 and 30 November 2015, the Special Rapporteur convened, in Amman, an
expert group meeting on the impact of armed conflict on people’s vulnerability to
trafficking in persons, including sexual and labour exploitation.
4. On 16 November, she delivered opening remarks at the sixth session of the Working
Group on Trafficking in Persons, established by the States parties to the Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, held
in Vienna.
5. On 23 October, she presented her thematic report on due diligence and trafficking in
persons (A/70/260) to the General Assembly at its seventieth session.
6. On 24 June, she took part in an event on the margins of the twenty-ninth session of
the Human Rights Council in connection with a global call for action to prevent and
respond to abuse and fraud in the recruitment of labour, including its relationship to
trafficking in persons, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
B. Country visits
7. The Special Rapporteur visited Jordan from 28 January to 4 February 2016, at the
invitation of the Government. The report on the visit is contained in the addendum to the
present report. She thanks the Government for its cooperation prior to and during the visit.
She also wishes to thank the Governments of Cuba, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Madagascar,
Nigeria, Switzerland and the United States of America for inviting her to visit their
countries. She will visit Kuwait from 6 to 14 September 2016 and hopes to be able to
honour the remaining invitations in 2016 and 2017 in the expectation that mutually
convenient dates can be agreed promptly.
III. Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations: protecting victims of trafficking and people at risk of trafficking, especially women and children
A. Introduction
8. In her previous report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/29/38), the Special
Rapporteur identified the linkage between human trafficking and conflict of interest to her
mandate.
9. In the present report she intends to provide information on various ways in which
trafficking in persons and conflict interact and intersect. She will first focus on the context
and will aim to identify the problem by looking at cases that illustrate different trafficking
trends. She will map the legal and policy framework with a view to identifying weaknesses
and opportunities. Lastly, she offers recommendations to address trafficking in persons in
conflict and post-conflict situations in collaboration with States, civil society and the
international community.
B. Context and identification of the problem
10. Trafficking in persons violates human rights and continues to pose a serious
challenge to humanity, including in conflict situations.
11. Conflict severely affects individuals, families, communities and nations on a global
scale. In 2014, 41 active conflicts were identified, with the most acute in Africa, the Middle
East and Asia.1 In the same year, conflict and persecution forced a daily average of 42,500
individuals to leave their homes and seek protection, either within their own country or in
other countries.2 The number of persons displaced because of conflict and persecution in
2014 stood at an unprecedented 59.5 million, a 40 per cent increase in just three years.3
12. The features and patterns of modern-day conflict are linked to trafficking in persons,
especially women and children. While there have been several large-scale conflicts between
States in the past decade, the trend towards internal conflict continues to grow. Indeed,
several international armed conflicts in recent times have morphed into complex internal
conflicts and often spilled over to fuel internal crises in neighbouring States.
13. Conflict is accompanied by a breakdown in public institutions, violation of human
rights, erosion of essential services, heightened tensions within and between communities
that previously coexisted in relative peace, inequalities and impoverishment. Conflicts and
the resulting increase in displacement affect an already strained international
asylum/refugee system. Lack of access to safe and legal migration options forces many
persons fleeing conflict to use the services of illegal facilitators, increasing their exposure
to exploitation, including trafficking.
14. Human trafficking is an increasingly common feature of modern conflict, whether
non-international or international. Existing vulnerabilities to trafficking, from gender-based
violence to discrimination to lack of economic opportunity, are exacerbated before, during
1 International Institute for Strategic Studies, Armed Conflict Database, available from
https://acd.iiss.org/en/conflicts?tags=D6943ABDB5364229B5A0E3338AC94EA1.
2 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World at War – Global
Trends: Forced Displacement in 2014 (Geneva, 2015).
3 Ibid.
and after conflict. Furthermore, conflict tends to fuel impunity, the breakdown of law and
order and the destruction of institutions and communities, which foster the conditions
within which trafficking will flourish, often past the point at which hostilities cease.
15. In order to provide a description and to establish the nature and scope of the
problem, the Special Rapporteur will consider trafficking in conflict from three
perspectives: trafficking of persons fleeing conflict; trafficking during conflict; and
trafficking in post-conflict situations.4 In practice, overlapping between these aspects is
common. However, it is possible to identify particular features or issues of trafficking
associated with each to understand how different situations and vulnerabilities arise and
how they can be addressed. Because of a dearth of information, the Special Rapporteur
addresses the most common forms of trafficking in conflict and post-conflict situations.
C. Trafficking of persons fleeing conflict
16. Individuals fleeing anticipated or actual conflict, or the aftermath of conflict, are
vulnerable to trafficking. The pressure to move is often urgent and intense, leading people
to take risks that would be unacceptable under normal circumstances. Conflict weakens
State structures, removes protections and enables criminal networks to operate more freely,
including across borders. Sometimes trafficking will occur within the conflict zone or in
another part of the affected country to which the victims have been displaced. Increasingly,
persons who have escaped conflict in another country as part of a larger, mixed migration
process become victims of trafficking at some point in their journey or at their intended
destination.
Trafficking of persons internally displaced by conflict
17. Internal displacement due to conflict and persecution affects almost 40 million
people.5 Most of the world’s internally displaced persons live outside camps, in urban areas
and with host communities, and remain invisible because they have not registered as
internally displaced persons or wish to remain anonymous. These persons face greater risk
of trafficking and exploitation.
18. Forced displacement can increase the risk of trafficking by weakening or destroying
family support structures, community bonds and self-protection mechanisms that might
otherwise serve as a buffer against human trafficking. Because internally displaced persons
often lack documentation and have limited access to education, resources and self-reliance
opportunities, they may be particularly vulnerable to traffickers who appear to offer life-
saving access to employment and other opportunities. Internally displaced persons who fear
for their lives and wish to seek protection abroad can also fall prey to traffickers who claim
to offer a route to safety. Traffickers specifically target impoverished communities,
including the internally displaced, in order to exploit their vulnerability. Poor and displaced
families may entrust the care of their children to traffickers who promise to provide them
with education or skills training, but ultimately exploit them for the purposes of
prostitution, forced labour or irregular adoption.6 Internally displaced women and girls are
4 The division of conflict into these three stages has been used for the purposes of the present report,
taking into consideration that in practice, not all conflicts can be so clearly divided and that
overlapping may occur.
5 UNHCR, World at War.
6 UNHCR, Handbook for the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons, Action Sheet No.7, “Human
trafficking” (n.d.).
often disproportionately affected by the loss of livelihoods during displacement (see
A/HRC/23/44, para. 46).
19. Conflict-related violence, such as sexual violence, can itself be a driver of forced
internal displacement, which in turn increases vulnerability to further exploitation,
including through trafficking. For instance, sexual violence by armed groups has forced
ethnic minority women and girls in remote rural areas away from their communities and
placed them at greater risk of trafficking within the country as well as overseas.7
Additionally, worsening security situations and overcrowded camps with inadequate basic
services cause some internally displaced persons to risk crossing borders in an irregular
manner in search of employment, putting themselves at high risk of exploitation because of
their lack of legal status.8 Military attacks on camps further worsens displacement and
causes undocumented internally displaced persons, including women and unaccompanied
children, to flee their camps, exposing them to the risk of being exploited or trafficked.9
Trafficking of refugees and asylum seekers fleeing conflict
20. For the millions of people who are forced to flee their country because of armed
conflict, the journey of escape has become increasingly expensive and hazardous, with a
tangible risk of trafficking-related exploitation. Sometimes these dangers relate to the
available paths of escape. Throughout their journey and at their destination, migrants,
including refugees and asylum seekers, are highly vulnerable to physical violence, sexual
assault, extortion and trafficking, as well as detention by national authorities.10 The journey
of female migrants and unaccompanied children travelling through the Horn of Africa is
particularly hazardous. Thousands have disappeared, presumably abducted for purposes of
exploitation.11
21. Refugees and asylum seekers are vulnerable to trafficking. Refugees fleeing the
conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic through Lebanon and Turkey often become subject to
trafficking-related exploitation, including child labour, forced prostitution, forced and early
marriage and exploitation and begging.12 Refugees and asylum seekers, including numerous
unaccompanied children from the Sudan and Somalia, have been kidnapped or lured from
refugee camps or while en route, sold on and subsequently held captive in Libya or the
Sinai desert for purposes of exploitation through extortion.13
22. After fleeing conflict, children may be compelled to work to sustain themselves
and/or to support their families. Unaccompanied children often have no choice but to work
7 See S/2015/203, para. 20 and Luz Estella Nagel, “How conflict and displacement fuel human
trafficking and abuse of vulnerable groups: the case of Colombia and opportunities for real action and
innovative solutions”, Groningen Journal of International Law, vol. 1, No. 2 (2013). See also Sonja
Wolte, “Armed conflict and trafficking in women” German Agency for Technical Cooperation, 2004,
pp. 21-21.
8 Kachin Women’s Association Thailand, “Pushed to the brink: conflict and human trafficking on the
Kachin-China border”, June 2013.
9 Ibid.
10 Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat, Abused and Abducted: The Plight of Female Migrants from
the Horn of Africa in Yemen, Mixed Migration Research Series, Study 7, October 2014.
11 Ibid. See also Human Rights Watch, “Yemen’s torture camps: abuse of migrants by human traffickers
in a climate of impunity”, May 2014.
12 See, for example, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children, Small Hands,
Heavy Burden: How the Syria Conflict is Driving More Children into the Workforce (Amman, 2015);
Secours catholique-Caritas France and Olivier Peyroux, Trafficking in Human Beings in Conflict and
Post-Conflict Situations (2015).
13 UNHCR, Smuggling and Trafficking from the East and Horn of Africa: Progress Report (2013).
to meet their basic needs. Iraqi and Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, for example, work
in textile factories, in construction, in the food service industry, in agricultural labour or as
street vendors in conditions amounting to forced labour. There appear to be organized
systems within refugee camps for making these work arrangements.14 In May 2015, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that
there were at least 1,500 children, 75 per cent of whom were Syrian, begging or working as
street vendors in and around Beirut, working excessive hours to earn income for their
families.15 These child labour situations often mask other forms of exploitation, such as
trafficking for forced labour and sexual exploitation, and have negative consequences on
children’s health and education.
23. Persons fleeing conflict could also be vulnerable to trafficking for purposes of organ
removal. There was evidence that migrants fleeing conflict in the Sudan were being targeted
for organ harvesting in Egypt. In addition, medical practitioners from post-conflict
Kosovo16 were found to be involved in the trafficking of victims from the Republic of
Moldova, the Russian Federation and Turkey to Kosovo for the purpose of organ removal
(see A/68/256, para. 29). Certainly, conflict and post-conflict situations provide fertile
ground for increasing vulnerability to this form of trafficking and enables impunity for
exploiters.
24. Moreover, increasingly restrictive and exclusionary immigration policies, including
criminalization and detention of irregular migrants, insufficient channels for regular
migration and family reunification and lack of regular access to the labour market for
asylum seekers, refugees and migrants further contribute to an increase in the exploitation
of migrants, including through trafficking. During the past decade in particular, restrictions
on entry to preferred countries of asylum have become more onerous and appear directed
towards thwarting the arrival of those who might claim asylum and refugee status. This
forces migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees fleeing conflict, into the arms of
those able to help them circumvent controls. For such migrants, the clandestine nature of
their journey, the often unscrupulous and corrupt conduct of their facilitators and
collaborators and the extent to which some States will go to prevent their departure, transit
or arrival all operate to create or exacerbate opportunities for traffickers who prey on their
precarious situation. For instance, Rohingya from Myanmar typically embark on maritime
and overland journeys, often via Thailand, to irregularly reach Malaysia. Initially smuggled
across borders, some are subsequently trafficked to fishing boats and palm oil plantations
for labour exploitation, ending up in bonded labour to repay the debts incurred from the
transport. Others are held captive and abused in Malaysia until ransom is paid by their
relatives (see A/HRC/29/38/Add.1, para. 19).
D. Trafficking during conflict
25. Individuals and communities caught up in conflict are vulnerable to a range of
human rights violations. Pre-existing conditions and vulnerabilities, such as structural
gender-based and other forms of discrimination affecting women, children and non-
citizens, are exacerbated during conflict as opportunities for exploitation increase and
protections break down. Conflicts are prolonged by actors who take advantage of situations
of lawlessness to reap personal gain through lucrative activities such as trafficking.17 In this
14 Secours catholique-Caritas France and Peyroux, “Trafficking in human beings”, pp. 25-29.
15 Ibid., p. 27.
16 All references to Kosovo in the present document should be understood to be in compliance with
Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
17 Wolte, “Armed conflict and trafficking in women”, p. 12.
section the Special Rapporteur will look into trafficking into military service and sexual and
labour exploitation during conflict involving all persons, including boys, girls and migrants.
Trafficking of children into military service
26. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that some 300,000 boys
and girls under the age of 18 are involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide.18 Children
can be trafficked into military service by government armed forces, paramilitary groups and
rebel groups. Hostilities and widespread displacement, as well as a general lack of security,
increases children’s vulnerability to being trafficked by armed groups.19
27. Children trafficked for forced military service perform a variety of combatant and
supportive roles. Many children, typically boys, are forcibly recruited or kidnapped for use
by armed militias in ongoing conflicts.20 Children are also used as suicide bombers and
human shields.21 Others are compelled to work as porters, cooks, guards and messengers or
are forced to commit crimes, such as looting and physical and sexual violence. Boys and
girls in these situations are often sexually abused and may also be forced to take drugs.22
28. While forcible recruitment of children often involves abduction or coercion,
recruiters also appeal to notions of martyrdom or social and economic factors or employ
trickery or indoctrination to enlist children. There are instances where the Internet,
particularly social media, has been used by extremist groups to exploit the vulnerability of
young educated children from middle class families in Western countries to recruit them
using deception.23 Moreover, children are especially vulnerable to being trafficked into
military service if they are separated from their families, are displaced from their homes,
live in combat areas or have limited access to education.24
29. It is estimated that 10-30 per cent of children in fighting forces are female.25 Girls
who are forcibly recruited or abducted into military service typically face forced domestic
labour and sexual violence and exploitation such as forced marriage and/or sexual slavery
(see paras. 31-34 below). It is important to acknowledge that while violence and
exploitation are often defining aspects of the female experience of conflict, this is not
always the case. Young women and girls have also been involved in trafficking by
deceiving other girls and boys into joining armed conflict, using the Internet and social
media.
30. Children who are forcibly recruited or otherwise compelled to join armed groups
face physical and psychological consequences. Whether in a combat or supporting role,
18 UNICEF Factsheet: Child soldiers. Available from http://internalvoices.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/04/childsoldiers.pdf.
19 Amnesty International Report 2014/15: The State of the World’s Human Rights (London, 2015);
Child Soldiers International, “A dangerous refuge: ongoing child recruitment by the Kachin
Independence Army”, July 2015; United States Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report:
July 2015.
20 Secours catholique-Caritas France and Peyroux, “Trafficking in human beings”, p. 19.
21 United States Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, pp. 64 and 190.
22 Wolte, “Armed conflict and trafficking in women”, p. 18.
23 Ashley Binetti, “A new frontier: human trafficking and ISIS’s recruitment of women from the West”,
Information2Action, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (n.d.); Brigette L. Nacos,
“Young Western women, fandom, and ISIS”, E-International Relations, 5 May 2015); Lisa Blaker,
“The Islamic State’s use of social media”, Military Cyber Affairs, vol. 1, No. 1 (2015); Scott Gates
and Sukanya Podder, “Social media, recruitment, allegiance and the Islamic State”, Perspectives on
Terrorism, vol. 9, No. 4 (2015), pp. 107-116.
24 UNICEF Factsheet: Child soldiers.
25 Child Soldiers International, “A dangerous refuge”.
they are at risk of grave physical injuries as well as health consequences, such as sickness
resulting from malnutrition or disease. Girls may be exposed to further health problems
related to sexual violence, pregnancy and childbirth. Also significant is the impact on
children’s mental health related to post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression or
other mental health issues.
Trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation
31. Conflict-related sexual violence takes many forms. Women and girls seeking to
survive in conflict zones are often compelled to exchange sexual services and even to
“marry” for food, shelter, protection or safe passage.26 UNHCR has affirmed that women in
conflict situations are vulnerable to a range of discriminatory practices that exacerbate their
dependence (for example, receiving smaller food rations or not having rations cards or
other identity documents in their own name) and are disproportionately exposed to sexual
violence.27 For women and girls abducted into military service, sexual assault is often a
feature of their experience. Rape has been used as a tactic of war to humiliate and weaken
the morale of the enemy, ethnically cleanse the population, destabilize communities and
force civilians to flee.28 Widespread or systematic sexual assault by government and/or
opposition or rebel forces has been documented in multiple modern conflicts, including
successive annual reports of the Secretary-General on conflict and related sexual violence
since 2009 in which he has identified incidents and patterns of sexual violence in conflict-
affected countries employed by parties to armed conflict, primarily against women and girls
but also against boys and men (see, for example, S/2015/203).
32. The trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation, including sexual slavery,
forced marriage, forced prostitution and forced pregnancy, features within the broader
picture of sexual violence perpetrated against the civilian population during and in the wake
of conflicts. The nexus between trafficking in persons and sexual violence is further
affirmed in a statement by the President of the Security Council (S/PRST/2015/25) in
which the President underscored the urgency of efforts to deter, detect and disrupt
trafficking in persons, including by terrorist and violent extremist groups. Recently, an
egregious pattern of abductions from their homes or schools of women and girls who are
subsequently forced to marry and/or serve as sex slaves has been reported in conflict-
affected settings, though some forms of this phenomenon have also been a feature of armed
conflicts in the past. Such exploitation, which in some cases involves trafficking for forced
marriage and sexual enslavement by extremist groups such as Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant, Boko Haram and their affiliates, is believed to be a strategy to generate revenue as
well as to recruit, reward and retain fighters.29 In order to prevent such abductions, families
26 See, generally, Wolte, “Armed conflict and trafficking in women”.
27 Elisabeth Rehn and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Women, War, Peace: The Independent Experts’
Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-Building (New
York, United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002), p. 6.
28 See Security Council resolutions1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013) and 2242
(2015). See also Women2000 – Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict: United Nations Response, April
1998.
29 Secours catholique-Caritas France and Peyroux, “Trafficking in human beings”, p. 19. See also the
joint statement of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child pornography and child
prostitution; the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and its
consequences; and the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health on their visit to Nigeria, available from
www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16983&LangID=E. See also
Security Council resolution 2242 (2015) in which the Council recognized that sexual violence was
both a tactic of war and a tactic of terrorism.
are reported to be confining women and girls and removing girls from school (see
S/2015/203, para. 61).
33. Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is perpetrated not only by
organized criminals. For instance, Syrian refugee women and girls are trafficked for sexual
exploitation through the practice of “temporary” or child and/or forced marriages. These
girls and women are often forcibly married by their parents, who view such arrangements
as a way of securing their daughters safety and ensuring the family’s livelihood through the
bride price. Once married, such wives are likely to end up in a situation of sexual and
domestic exploitation by a spouse whom they followed abroad (A/HRC/32/41/Add.1).
Trafficking for forced prostitution through marriages with foreign men who then force their
“brides” into prostitution in another country is also common.
34. Survivors of trafficking, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence
perpetrated during periods of armed conflict rarely receive the assistance they need to
reintegrate into society. Too often, survivors face discrimination and stigma from their
families and wider community, which may make them vulnerable to being retrafficked,
further stalling their rehabilitation and reintegration. Stigmatization as well as deficient
judicial and legal systems typically impede access to justice for survivors. Access to justice
is further impeded by discriminatory laws and regulations. Additionally, sexual and
reproductive health services, trauma counselling and reintegration support, such as
education and livelihood assistance, are severely limited in conflict and post-conflict areas,
leaving the physical and psychological health needs of victims unmet.
Trafficking of migrant workers into conflict zones
35. Over the past decade, private contractors have been employed by States and their
military to support large-scale military operations. While not all cases of contracting and
subcontracting involve trafficking for labour exploitation, there have been cases where
large firms that hold the prime contract with States and their militaries hire migrant workers
through smaller subcontractors or local employment agencies to perform tasks including
cleaning, construction, cooking and serving, and haircutting.
36. A pattern of deceptive recruitment, excessive recruitment fees, confiscation of
workers’ passports, dangerous working conditions and poor living conditions, debt
bondage, underpayment or non-payment of wages and other types of abuse and exploitation
are, in some cases, indicative of trafficking in persons for labour exploitation within the
scope of the international legal definition. Examples include the exploitative recruitment of
South Asian migrant workers to provide service at military worksites of conflict areas in the
Middle East. The subcontractor deceives the workers about the country of work, which is
more dangerous than the promised country, and the type of work to be done, and withholds
workers’ passports to prevent them from fleeing the conflict zone where they were
deceptively hired to work.30
E. Trafficking in post-conflict situations
37. Post-conflict situations are typically characterized by absent or dysfunctional justice
and law enforcement institutions; a consequent climate of impunity that fosters violent
criminal networks; high levels of poverty and lack of basic resources; significant inequality;
30 American Civil Liberties Union and Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale
Law School, Victims of Complacency: The Ongoing Trafficking and Abuse of Third Country
Nationals by U.S. Government Contractors (New York, 2012), p. 15.
large populations of highly vulnerable individuals (displaced persons, returnees, widows,
unaccompanied children); fractured communities and lack of trust; and militarized societies
tolerant of extreme levels of violence. These features render men, women and children in
post-conflict societies especially vulnerable to trafficking.
38. In the post-conflict climate, the vulnerability of women and girls to trafficking-
related exploitation is heightened by their relative lack of access to resources, education,
documentation in their own name and protection. While trafficking-related exploitation is
part of conflict, it is common for societies to experience a rise in trafficking for sexual
exploitation (e.g., for forced prostitution) as well as other forms of gender-based violence,
such as rape and domestic violence, after a conflict has formally come to an end.31
Trafficking involving peacekeepers
39. In 2015, more than 123,000 United Nations military, police and civilians were
deployed in 16 operations around the world to prevent or contain fighting; stabilize post-
conflict zones; help implement peace accords; and assist in democratic transitions
(A/70/95-S/2015/446). Other intergovernmental bodies, including the African Union and
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also have large numbers of personnel on
the ground supporting the maintenance of peace and security, including in post-conflict
situations.
40. Peacekeeping forces play a vital role in protecting communities, including women
and children, from the violence and exploitation that is a common feature of post-conflict
situations. But foreign forces can also exacerbate, and sometimes even contribute directly
to, such harm.
41. Involvement of military, peacekeeping, humanitarian and other international
personnel in trafficking is a complex issue and one that is not yet fully understood.
Certainly, a large, militarized and predominantly male international presence can fuel the
demand for goods and services produced through trafficking for labour and/or sexual
exploitation.
42. A 2010 study, using Haiti, Kosovo and Sierra Leone as case studies, demonstrates
the link between the introduction of peacekeeping forces into a conflict zone and the
subsequent increase in human trafficking as a direct result of an increase in demand for
sexual services.32 Involvement of peacekeepers in trafficking in persons, especially women
and children, can be both direct and indirect. Buying, selling or exchanging sexual services
provided by trafficked women and children is an example of indirect involvement by
peacekeepers. For instance, the demand for sexual services created by peacekeepers
deployed in the former Yugoslavia led to an expansion of the sex industry, with many of
the women trafficked and sexually exploited in brothels established expressly to serve
United Nations peacekeepers. The relationship between deployed troops and the demand
for trafficked women was unmistakable.33
31 See further Rehn and Johnson Sirleaf, Women, War, Peace; Rashida Manjoo and Caleigh McRaith,
“Gender-based violence and justice in conflict and post-conflict areas”, Cornell International Law
Journal, vol. 44, No. 1 (Winter 2011); and Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the
Peace: A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325
(United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), 2015).
32 Charles Smith and Brandon Miller-de la Cuesta, “Human trafficking in conflict zones: the role of
peacekeepers in the formation of networks”, Human Rights Review, vol. 12, No. 3 (September 2011).
33 See E/CN.4/2006/62/Add.2 and Human Rights Watch, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Hopes Betrayed:
Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution
43. International personnel are generally deployed to conflict or immediate post-conflict
situations in which populations are vulnerable and basic institutions, including law
enforcement, are fragile or non-existent (A/59/710). The presence of peacekeepers, through
an increased demand for sexual services, further exacerbates women’s social and economic
vulnerabilities in a fragile post-conflict society as well as an economy of exploitation,
which can support trafficking networks in the longer term. For instance, the recent cases of
sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic34 who prey
on the economic vulnerability of children and women as well as on their need for assistance
and protection could, in some cases, be linked to trafficking for purposes of sexual
exploitation.
F. International legal framework
44. The international legal framework around trafficking in conflict and post-conflict
situations is a composite one that draws on multiple branches of law, including
transnational criminal law, international humanitarian law, international criminal law,
refugee law and human rights law. In some cases, common and overlapping rules operate to
ensure that certain protections (e.g., against slavery and forced labour) are applicable in all
situations, including international and non-international armed conflict. In other cases,
particular rules and protections will apply depending on the nature of the situation under
consideration.
45. Instead of providing a comprehensive analysis, in this part of the report the Special
Rapporteur aims to provide an overview of the legal landscape by addressing the rules that
govern the core violations and issues identified above.
Sources of relevant law
46. Given the complexities surrounding trafficking in conflict and post-conflict
situations, which can be considered from a number of different perspectives, the range of
sources of relevant law is very wide. In the human rights area, for example, treaties dealing
with slavery and the slave trade, forced labour, child labour, the rights of women, the rights
of children, migrant workers and persons with disabilities, as well as more general treaties
dealing with civil and political rights or economic, social and cultural rights, are applicable
to trafficking in all situations, including situations of armed conflict. Major crime control
treaties, such as the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and the
United Nations Convention against Corruption are also relevant to trafficking in all
situations, as are the specialist treaties dealing with the issue of trafficking, most
particularly the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime and, at the European level, the Council of Europe Convention on Action
against Trafficking in Human Beings and its Explanatory Report, and the European Union
Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its
victims.
47. Within the specific context of armed conflict, additional legal instruments of
obligation and protection apply. The most relevant of these for the current purposes is the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which addresses, inter alia, war crimes
(New York, 2002); Keith Allred, “Combating human trafficking”, NATO Review (2006); and Rehn
and Johnson Sirleaf, Women, War, Peace.
34 See A/70/729 and www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=
18548&LangID=E.
and crimes against humanity and specifically addresses grave forms of sexual violence,
including rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy or enforced
sterilization. Also of relevance are the instruments of international humanitarian law that
prohibit certain conduct in the context of international and non-international armed conflict,
including slavery, sexual slavery, sexual violence and forced labour. It is important to note,
however, that trafficking itself, and the gender-based harm with which it is associated, has
never been explicitly prohibited, or even regulated, by international humanitarian law. This
despite the fact that, as shown previously, many of the worst practices associated with
armed conflict, such as the forced recruitment of child soldiers, the organized sexual
enslavement of women and the enlistment of civilians into forced or highly exploitative
labour, could also fall within the international legal definition of trafficking. However,
international instruments have been interpreted in accordance with evolving human rights
norms and standards through the jurisprudence of the international tribunals.
48. Other accepted sources of international law, such as State practice, custom and the
decisions of international tribunals, can also be relevant when determining exactly what is
required of States with respect to their response to trafficking in situations of conflict. In
relation to custom, for example, the prohibition on slavery is recognized to be a part of
customary international law, binding on all States irrespective of whether they have actually
become party to one or more treaties that specifically prohibit slavery in all situations,
including in conflict. The prohibition on forced labour of civilians has also been identified
as a rule of customary international humanitarian law (see para. 53 below). Examples of
judgments of international tribunals that have helped to shape the international legal
framework include Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, decided by the European Court of
Human Rights in 2010, which is relevant to State responsibility to investigate and prevent
trafficking, and the decision by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in
Prosecutor v. Kunarac et al. (2001) convicting the defendants of enslavement as a crime
against humanity.
49. Finally, several soft law instruments reflect and contribute to the relevant
international legal framework. These include the principles and guidelines on human rights
and human trafficking recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights; UNHCR guidelines on trafficking and asylum; resolutions of the General Assembly
and the Human Rights Council; findings and reports of international human rights
mechanisms such as treaty bodies and special procedures; and non-treaty agreements
between countries regarding issues such as the repatriation and reintegration of trafficked
persons as well as between the United Nations and Member States on matters relating to
peacekeeping.
Laws and instruments that address specific violations related to trafficking in conflict
and post-conflict situations
50. Prohibition on trafficking and migration-related exploitation. International law
requires States to criminalize and penalize a range of conduct related to trafficking. The
obligation to criminalize trafficking when committed intentionally is set out in article 5 of
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women
and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime. Most States (168, as at October 2015) are party to the Protocol and
thereby bound by this obligation. Many States are also bound by one or more of the
regional trafficking treaties, such as the Council of Europe Convention and the European
Union Directive cited above, which impose identical obligations.
51. Prohibition on enslavement, including slavery. International law prohibits
slavery, servitude and practices similar to slavery, including debt bondage and serfdom, and
servile forms of marriage and exploitation of children. The prohibition on slavery (defined
as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the
rights of ownership are exercised”)35 is one of the oldest of all international legal norms,
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, and several of the specialist and regional human rights treaties.
Slavery and its associated practices are identified in the international legal definition of
trafficking as a “purpose” of trafficking.
52. Prohibition of sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation is one of the purposes of
trafficking stipulated in the international legal definition. However, it is not defined in any
of the specialist trafficking instruments and has no agreed definition in international law
except when it involves children.36 There have nevertheless been various attempts to attach
a particular understanding to the term in relation to specific settings. For example, in
connection with its policies around sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations
personnel, the Secretary-General has defined sexual exploitation as “any actual or
attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual
purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the
sexual exploitation of another”.37 State practice would appear to support an understanding
of sexual exploitation in the context of trafficking that includes a broad range of practices
such as forced prostitution, forced surrogacy, forced or fraudulent marriage and all forms of
commercial and other sexual exploitation of children.38
53. Prohibition on forced labour: ILO core instruments as well as the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and all regional human rights conventions expressly
prohibit “forced or compulsory labour”. The ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.
29) defines this as “all work or service, which is exacted from any person under the menace
of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”. The
international legal prohibition on forced labour has been reaffirmed through the adoption of
the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention 1930. The purpose of this new
instrument is to take a more comprehensive approach to forced labour by focusing
specifically on issues of prevention, protection and remedy, and also to work towards the
abolition of human trafficking that results in forced labour.39
54. Prohibition on recruitment and use of child soldiers. International law — both
human rights law and international humanitarian law in their treaty and customary forms —
prohibits, absolutely, the recruitment of children into armed conflict, whether by armed
forces or armed groups. This prohibition forms part of a broader rule that children must not
be allowed to take part in hostilities. While the definition of “child” in international law
encompasses persons up to 18 years of age, most treaty-based prohibitions on the use and
recruitment of child soldiers stipulate that the prohibition applies to children under the age
of 15.40
35 Article 1 of the Slavery Convention of 1926.
36 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 34 and Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of
Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, arts. 3 (b) and 18-23.
37 See ST/SGB/2003/13, sect.1. The Office of Internal Oversight Services, responsible for investigating
misconduct, has stated that “engaging in sex with prostitutes” is an example of sexual exploitation.
See https://oios.un.org/page?slug=frequently-asked-questions.
38 See United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, The Concept of “Exploitation” in the Trafficking in
Persons Protocol, Issue Paper (Vienna, 2015).
39 International Organisation of Employers (IOE)-ILO Guidance Note on the 2014 Protocol to the
Forced Labour Convention, 1930.
40 See Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 38 (3); Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, arts. 2 and 3; ILO Worst Forms
of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), arts. 1 and 3; Protocol Additional to the Geneva
55. Special legal situation of trafficking involving peacekeeping forces. With regard
to criminal accountability of peacekeepers, the core instrument is the status of forces
agreement (A/45/594) that the United Nations concludes with countries that contribute
troops to its peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations. Under these agreements,
contributing countries retain exclusive responsibility for disciplining and criminally
sanctioning their military contingents. In addition, recent reports to the Secretary-General,
as well as resolutions of the General Assembly and Security Council continually address
gaps in addressing human rights violations committed by peacekeeping forces.41 In relation
to other personnel (e.g., civilian advisers) over whom the contributing country does not
have exclusive jurisdiction, the United Nations will generally refer the case to the
contributing country.42
56. Rights of victims of trafficking in armed conflict. Victims of trafficking are
entitled to the same rights, due diligence protection and prevention against trafficking in
persons by States whether in times of conflict or otherwise. These rights include:
(a) Right to be identified. The recommended principles and guidelines on human
rights and human trafficking and the commentary to the Council of Europe Convention on
Action against Trafficking highlight that failure to correctly identify a trafficked person, or
to identify her or him at all, will directly affect the ability of that person to access the rights
to which she or he is entitled. States are therefore required to take positive steps to identify
victims of trafficking accurately and in a timely manner and to ensure that they are referred
to appropriate services. During situations of conflict, the risk of identification failures is
very high;
(b) Right to protection. International law requires States to ensure that victims of
trafficking under their jurisdiction or effective control are protected from further
exploitation and harm. To that end, States are required to take reasonable measures, within
the scope of their powers, to move the victim out of the place of exploitation to a place of
safety; attend to the victim’s immediate medical needs; assess and address the risk of the
victim being subject to intimidation or retaliation; and protect the victim’s privacy.
However, during conflict, even the most basic and urgent victim protection measures may
be difficult or impossible to secure;
(c) Right to assistance and support. The State in which a trafficked person is
located is required to provide that person with adequate physical and psychological care to
meet at least immediate needs. While the substantive content of this obligation is not yet
settled, there is general agreement that the right to assistance and support includes provision
of appropriate shelter; counselling and information; medical, psychological and material
assistance; and employment, educational and training opportunities. Special attention
should also be given to the needs of particular groups, including victims who are disabled
or otherwise especially vulnerable. In the case of child victims, international law requires
that the overarching rule of “the best interests of the child” guide decision-making about
support;
Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed
Conflicts (Protocol I), art. 77 (2); Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949,
and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II),
art. 4 (3) (c); and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, art. 8 (2) (b) (xxvi) and (e) (vii).
41 See A/70/95-S/2015/446, A/70/357-S/2015/682, S/2015/716, A/70/729 and “Taking action on sexual
exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers”, report of an independent review on sexual exploitation and
abuse by international peacekeeping forces in the Central African Republic, December 2015.
42 See ST/SGB/2003/13 and Carla Ferstman, “Criminalizing sexual exploitation and abuse by
peacekeepers”, United States Institute of Peace Special Report 335, September 2013.
(d) Access to remedies. International law provides victims with the right to
adequate and appropriate remedies for the harm they have suffered. The form of remedy
should, as far as possible, expunge the consequences of the breach and re-establish the
situation that existed prior to its occurrence. In trafficking cases, compensation for harm as
well as for material losses, such as unpaid wages, is an important form of remedy. As the
mandate of the Special Rapporteur has amply demonstrated (A/HRC/17/35,
A/HRC/17/35/Add.6 and A/HRC/26/32), the right to a remedy is often not effectively
available to trafficked persons because laws, policies and mechanisms for such remedies
are weak or non-existent and even where the necessary infrastructure is in place, victims
frequently lack information on the possibilities and processes for obtaining remedies.
Conflict exacerbates the scale and impact of these obstacles. Where trafficking-related
exploitation occurs within a situation of conflict, the possibility for victims to secure
adequate and appropriate remedies is remote because the State most directly concerned
often lacks the capacity to deliver such remedies, and it is difficult or impossible to
determine who is legally responsible for providing access to remedies and how this
responsibility can be enforced;
(e) Right to safe return/protection from retrafficking/protection from
persecution. All victims of trafficking who are not residents of the country in which they
find themselves are entitled to return to their country of origin. This right places an
obligation on the part of the country of origin to receive its returning nationals without
undue or unreasonable delay. The right to return also implies an obligation on the country
of destination to permit those victims who wish to return to do so, again without undue or
unreasonable delay. Detention of trafficked persons in shelters, prisons or immigration
detention facilities is one way in which the right to return can be interfered with.
International law supports a standard of safe and preferably voluntary return for trafficked
persons, which implies, at a minimum, that steps are taken to ensure that victims are not at
serious risk of retrafficking or persecution. The right to seek and claim asylum from
persecution requires States to avoid returning victims to situations of persecution or risks of
serious human rights violations. Issues around return are complicated by conflict.
IV. Conclusion
57. All forms of trafficking in persons can be found in situations of conflict,
including trafficking for forced prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation;
trafficking for forced military recruitment, including of children; trafficking for other
forms of forced labour; trafficking for forced criminality; and trafficking for slavery,
for servitude and for removal of organs.
58. However, conflict influences the form and nature of trafficking in different
ways. First, the severity of trafficking-related exploitation appears to be greater when
it occurs during or, indeed, after conflict, enhanced by conditions that are themselves
a cause or consequence of conflict, such as impunity and increased, generalized
violence. Second, certain forms of trafficking-related exploitation are either particular
to conflict or more prevalent in situations of conflict, such as forced military
recruitment of both children and adults. Sexual exploitation is another form of
trafficking that intersects with the dynamics of situations of conflict, including the use
of proceeds from trafficking, trading and ransoming individuals to purchase arms and
pay fighters, which perpetuates the cycle of violence against civilians.
59. A range of conditions particular to, or commonly associated with, situations of
conflict fuel trafficking by amplifying vulnerabilities and increasing opportunities for
exploitation. These include, but are not limited to, a distorted economy that is heavily
reliant on criminality and the presence of organized criminal groups already involved
in cross-border trafficking of arms, drugs and other illicit products that have the
capacity to expand into trafficking in persons and that are in a position to take
advantage of additional opportunities to generate profit. A weak or non-existent
justice and protection system that perpetuates impunity fails to protect the most
vulnerable groups and individuals of society from exploitation. Porous borders that
make border crossing easier further contribute to trafficking. Other factors include a
high prevalence and toleration of violence that extends beyond armed forces to
include communities and families, as well as pressure to move, leading to dangerous
migration decisions.
60. These and other factors do not just create the conditions under which
trafficking can occur; they also exacerbate the vulnerability of those who may already
be susceptible to being trafficked, including women, refugees and unaccompanied
children.
61. In addition, the nature and form of trafficking in persons associated with
conflict are highly gendered. For example, abduction into military forces affects males
and females differently. Men and boys are typically forced into soldiering while
women and girls are generally forced into support roles and typically face much
greater risk of sexual assault as either a primary purpose or an additional
manifestation of their exploitation. As previously noted, sexual enslavement, a
practice exacerbated by situations of conflict, is highly gendered in that it
disproportionately affects women and girls. Other forms of trafficking-related
exploitation particular to or especially prevalent in conflict, including forced and
temporary marriage, are highly gendered in their motivation and impact, which
underscores the importance of a gender analysis in all trafficking prevention efforts
and responses.
62. Finally, while the Special Rapporteur in the present report raises international
awareness of the forms and nature of trafficking in persons related to the complex
situation of conflict, she by no means deals exhaustively with all such forms and types
of trafficking. As new types of conflict arise and modern means of combat are used,
further research is required to identify new and emerging forms of trafficking related
to conflict.
V. Recommendations
63. In view of States’ legal responsibility to identify, protect and assist trafficked
persons in all circumstances, including in conflict and post-conflict situations, and to
work to ensure that those responsible for violations of human rights and the laws of
war are held accountable, the Special Rapporteur offers the following
recommendations.
Recommendations in relation to trafficking of persons in conflict areas or trafficking
of persons fleeing conflict
64. All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among
persons fleeing conflict, should:
(a) Protect people, particularly children, women and minority groups in
conflict-affected areas and people fleeing conflict, from all forms of trafficking in
persons;
(b) Identify measures to prevent exploitation of the labour of nationals and
non-nationals fleeing conflict, including by establishing safe and legal channels of
migration, respecting the principle of non-refoulement and ensuring that migrants
have regular access to the labour market in the host country, in cooperation with
United Nations agencies and programmes and international organizations;
(c) Ensure free-of-charge birth and marriage registration of nationals and
non-nationals fleeing conflict, including in internally displaced person and refugee
camps, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes and
international organizations, in order to prevent or address potential trafficking in
children for sexual and other forms of exploitation and the exploitation of the labour
of individuals, particularly underage children and women;
(d) Prevent and prosecute all forms of trafficking in persons for all
purposes, including for temporary, forced and/or servile marriages;
(e) Grant non-national victims of trafficking residence status and assistance,
not to be made conditional on the initiation of criminal proceedings or their
cooperation with law enforcement authorities;
(f) Adequately train all stakeholders, including peacekeepers and
humanitarian personnel working in conflict zones, in refugee camps and in areas of
arrival of large influxes of people fleeing conflict, to identify trafficking or risks of
trafficking, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes,
international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations;
(g) Establish and/or adapt national referral mechanisms for assistance and
protection services, including gender- and child-sensitive measures, for victims and
potential victims of trafficking in persons, involving national authorities and civil
society organizations in the decision-making, especially relating to the identification
and protection of victims and potential victims;
(h) Not detain, prosecute or punish victims of trafficking for violations of
immigration laws or for unlawful activities they were involved in as a direct
consequence of their situation as trafficked persons, including violations and offences
linked with prostitution, petty crime and irregular entry/stay in the host country.
65. United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and
humanitarian actors should:
(a) Share and apply measures, methodologies and indicators to identify as
early as possible and prevent trafficking in persons from the outset of a conflict/crisis,
even if incidents of trafficking have not been previously detected, and to identify at an
early stage trafficking or risks of trafficking, including for the purpose of sexual
exploitation and labour exploitation or other forms of exploitation in source, transit or
host countries;
(b) Establish or revise existing standard operating procedures and conduct
training for personnel, including personnel of contractors and implementing agencies
who are likely to enter into contact with victims and potential victims of trafficking as
well as with traffickers. These should include instructions concerning protective
measures, including appropriate and tailored assistance, to be applied when
indications of trafficking, exploitation or risk of trafficking are found, in collaboration
with authorities and civil society organizations;
(c) Include prevention of trafficking in persons as part of life-saving
protection activities, from the outset of a conflict/crisis;
(d) Include rights-based anti-trafficking response/action in existing cluster
systems for humanitarian action;
(e) Cooperate with Government and actors involved in the short- and long-
term response to conflict, including with respect to the social integration of victims of
trafficking in persons.
Recommendations in relation to protection of children from trafficking in persons
66. States hosting, among persons fleeing conflict, children who may have been or
are at risk of being victims of trafficking in persons should:
(a) Prevent trafficking in persons, especially targeting unaccompanied
children such as orphans, children left behind by parents fleeing conflict and children
moving alone to flee conflict areas, in cooperation with national civil society
organizations, United Nations agencies and programmes and international
organizations;
(b) Adopt proactive measures to protect children caught in conflict that are
based on the best interest of the child and in line with international humanitarian,
human rights and refugee law, when indications of child trafficking or risk of child
trafficking are identified;
(c) Recognize the specific vulnerability of trafficked girls or potential
victims of trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation in conflict and post-conflict
situations and take measure to reduce the vulnerabilities;
(d) Ban administrative detention of children, in particular but not only for
violations of immigration laws and regulations;
(e) Ensure that trafficked children and other trafficked persons are not
detained, prosecuted or punished for violations of immigration laws or for unlawful
activities they are involved in as a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked
persons.
67. The United Nations should ensure that child trafficking is linked to the six
grave violations and abuses against children.43 Such violations should be taken into
consideration as a ground on which to bar countries repeatedly listed in the annual
reports of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict as being involved in
those violations from contributing troops to United Nations operations.
Recommendations for strengthening responses to address trafficking of women and
girls for purposes of sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict situations
68. All States, whether a source, transit or destination country of women and girls
trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and-post conflict areas, should:
(a) Recognize and address the vulnerability of women and girls fleeing
conflict to trafficking for sexual exploitation, whether in refugee/internally displaced
persons camps or at the hands of the military, extremist groups or family members;
(b) Prevent early marriages, whether in refugee/internally displaced persons
camps or in the society of the host country;
(c) Prevent and prosecute all forms of trafficking of women and girls for
temporary, forced and/or servile marriages;
43 See Security Council resolution 1612(2005) and https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/effects-of-
conflict/six-grave-violations/.
(d) Identify, protect and assist victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation
and sexual slavery;
(e) Address the root causes of trafficking in persons on the basis of a
gender-sensitive approach, in cooperation with civil society organizations, United
Nations agencies and programmes and international organizations;
(f) Ensure that issues concerned with sexual and other forms of gender-
based violence, including human trafficking, are incorporated into peacebuilding and
post-conflict reconstruction processes and support women’s full and equal
participation in decision-making, especially when this relates to trafficking issues in
conflict situations, in line with the general guidelines and recommendations of the
Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution
1325.
Recommendations in relation to the prevention of trafficking in persons for labour
exploitation in conflict and post-conflict areas
69. State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict
areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:
(a) Exercise due diligence when employing workers, including migrant
workers, to provide goods and services and must help ensure that businesses
operating in conflict and post-conflict areas are not involved in human rights abuses,
including trafficking in persons for labour exploitation;
(b) Whenever possible, hire workers directly rather than by engaging
contractors or subcontractors or using intermediate agencies, to ensure that the
supply chain is free of trafficked persons;
(c) Ensure that business enterprises in conflict areas, whether private or
State-owned/supported, are not involved in trafficking in persons, including for the
purpose of labour exploitation; and ensure transparent and strict requirements for
the entire recruitment process and strict rules for placement and employment
agencies;
(d) Require and ensure that private individuals or companies they have
contracted or subcontracted protect the rights of workers, including migrant workers
and refugees, and provide decent working and living conditions to workers, including
safeguarding their right to return and their freedom of assembly and association;
(e) Exercise due diligence to prevent or mitigate trafficking committed by
subcontracted private individuals or companies that are directly linked to their
operations, even if the State agencies of armed forces have not themselves contributed
to the violations;
(f) Establish monitoring and control mechanisms at labour sites with an
effective complaint mechanism to enable workers to report instances of trafficking.
Recommendations in relation to anti-trafficking action in peacekeeping operations
70. States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:
(a) Waive the immunity of peacekeepers as soon as indications of their
involvement in trafficking situations or exploitation have been discovered and
prosecute perpetrators without delay;
(b) Ensure that mandatory trainings for peacekeeping personnel include the
prevention of trafficking, the identification of situations involving trafficking or risks
of trafficking, and assistance to and protection of victims and potential victims, in
cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes and international
organizations;
(c) Ensure adequate protection of whistleblowers and prevent any adverse
impact on their careers and working conditions;
(d) Disclose publicly information on disciplinary and administrative
procedures taken by contributing countries in relation to alleged perpetrators within
their troops;
(e) Implement the special measures for protection from sexual exploitation
and sexual abuse by United Nations peacekeeping personnel proposed by the
Secretary General (A/70/729) and the recommendations contained in the report of the
independent review on sexual exploitation and abuse by international peacekeeping
forces in the Central African Republic, “Taking action on sexual exploitation and
abuse by peacekeepers”.
71. The United Nations should:
(a) Continue its effort to implement and reinforce the United Nations zero-
tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers44 and ensure the
protection of victims, including by negotiating with the host country the possibility of
granting subsidiary jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate claims of sexual abuse and
exploitation, and provide compensation to victims of trafficking in persons;
(b) Address labour exploitation by making all necessary efforts to ensure
that, in conflict and post-conflict areas and including in the context of peacekeeping
operations, all workers, including migrant workers, employed by State and non-State
military actors, their contractors and subcontractors are employed in decent
conditions of work, and establish a zero-tolerance policy towards violations of those
workers’ fundamental rights.
Recommendations in relation to research and awareness-raising
72. Concerned governmental institutions, law enforcement authorities, civil society
organizations, academia, United Nations agencies and programmes and international
organizations should undertake further research on the different forms of trafficking
in persons in relation to conflict and post-conflict situations, including on:
(a) The linkage between trafficking in persons and xenophobia, including
the vulnerability of minority groups to trafficking;
(b) The linkage between gender and trafficking in persons in conflicts, not
only with regard to girls and women but also boys and men;
(c) Recruitment modalities employed by extremist groups, especially with
respect to children and their use as combatants, sexual slaves, human shields or
suicide bombers;
44 See A/70/95-S/2015/446, A/70/357-S/2015/682, S/2015/716, A/70/729, Security Council resolutions
2242 (2015) and 2272 (2016) and “Taking action on sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers”.
(d) The link between organized crime and all forms of trafficking in persons,
especially women and children, as a result of a weak rule of law during and following
conflicts;
(e) The role of individual, family, and/or community-based criminal
intermediation in fuelling human trafficking, especially for the purpose of temporary,
forced and/or servile marriages related to conflict;
(f) Trafficking in persons for the purpose of removal of organs in the
context of conflict;
(g) Early identification of cases of trafficking in persons, especially women
and children, in the context of massive influxes of migrants as a result of conflict.
73. The media should be adequately sensitized on the linkage between trafficking
in persons, especially women and children, and conflict and be aware of its gender
dimension, in order to be able to report correctly about incidents of trafficking
affecting girls, boys, women and men occurring in such circumstances.