RES/17/1 Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children

GE.11-14492

Human Rights Council Seventeenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council∗

17/1 Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children

The Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming all previous resolutions on the problem of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in particular General Assembly resolutions 64/293 of 30 July 2010 and 65/190 of 21 December 2010, and Human Rights Council resolutions 8/12 of 18 June 2008, 11/3 of 17 June 2009 and 14/2 of 17 June 2010,

Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

Reaffirming the principles set forth in relevant human rights instruments and declarations, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol thereto on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto,

Recalling the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto, and reaffirming in particular the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and recalling the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,

∗ The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of the Council on its seventeenth session (A/HRC/17/2), chap. I.

Recalling also the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice resolution 20/3 of 15 April 2011,

Affirming that trafficking in persons violates 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, regional and bilateral cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination for its eradication,

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 gender, age, disability, ethnicity, culture and religion, as well as national or social origin, or other status, and that these forms of discrimination may themselves fuel trafficking in persons,

Bearing in mind that all States have an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent trafficking in persons, to investigate instances of trafficking and punish perpetrators, to rescue victims and to provide for their protection and access to remedies, and that not doing so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of victims,

Taking note of the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Voluntary Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the establishment of the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,

Taking note with interest of the launch of the commentary on the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking developed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,1

Recalling its resolutions 5/1, on institution-building of the Human Rights Council, and 5/2, on a code of conduct for special procedures mandate holders of the Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his/her duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,

1. Welcomes the work of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children;

2. Decides to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for a period of three years in order to, inter alia:

(a) Promote the prevention of trafficking in persons in all its forms and the adoption of measures to uphold and protect the human rights of victims of trafficking in persons;

(b) Promote the effective application of relevant international norms and standards and to contribute to their further improvement;

(c) Integrate a gender and age perspective throughout the work of his or her mandate through, inter alia, the identification of gender- and age-specific vulnerabilities in relation to the issue of trafficking in persons;

(d) Identify and share best practices as well as challenges and obstacles in order to uphold and protect the human rights of victims of trafficking in persons, and to identify protection gaps in this regard;

(e) Examine the impact of anti-trafficking measures on the human rights of victims of trafficking in persons with a view to proposing adequate responses to challenges arising in this regard and to avoid re-victimization of victims of trafficking;

(f) Give particular emphasis to recommendations on practical solutions with regard to the implementation of the rights relevant to the mandate, including by the identification of concrete areas and means for international and regional cooperation and capacity-building to tackle the issue of trafficking in persons;

(g) Request, receive and exchange information on trafficking in persons from Governments, treaty bodies, special procedures, specialized agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other relevant sources, as appropriate, and, in accordance with current practice, respond effectively to reliable information on alleged human rights violations with a view to protecting the human rights of actual or potential victims of trafficking;

(h) Work in close cooperation, while avoiding unnecessary duplication, with other special procedures and subsidiary organs of the Human Rights Council, relevant United Nations bodies, agencies and mechanisms, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons, the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, including its Working Group on Trafficking in Persons and the Working Group on the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto, treaty bodies and regional human rights mechanisms, as well as national human rights institutions, civil society and the private sector;

(i) Report annually on the implementation of the present resolution to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, according to their respective programmes of work;

3. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure that the Special Rapporteur receives the resources necessary to enable him or her to discharge the mandate fully;

4. Calls upon all Governments to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur and to consider responding favourably to his or her requests to visit their countries, and to provide him or her with all necessary information relating to the mandate to enable him or her to fulfil the mandate effectively;

5. Encourages Governments to refer to the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking developed by the Office of the High Commissioner1 as a useful tool in integrating a human rights-based approach into their responses to combat trafficking in persons;

6. Decides to continue consideration of the issue of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in accordance with its annual programme of work.

33rd meeting 16 June 2011

[Adopted without a vote.]