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Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- States have an obligation under international human rights law to protect against human rights abuses perpetrated by third parties, including business enterprises, within their territory and/or jurisdiction. States’ obligations to prevent and combat trafficking in persons are clearly established in international human rights instruments. For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits slavery and forced or compulsory labour (art. 8) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child imposes on States parties an obligation to take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form (art. 35).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Speaking to the criticism that voluntary initiatives have received on their lack of impact in terms of transforming current business models, representatives of multi-stakeholder initiatives shared promising examples of efforts carried out by some initiatives in sector transformation that illustrate the positive impact that voluntary standards can have in enhancing higher standards in national-level policies and legislation. As voluntary standards alone are not sufficient to achieve sector transformation into a new sustainable business model, innovative approaches seek to combine the efforts of the public sector and those of voluntary initiatives. Collaboration across stakeholder groups, from businesses to civil society and regulators, was acknowledged as a precondition for such transformation, as were partnerships with governments, international organizations and the broader United Nations system.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 62a
- Paragraph text
- [Given the potential that multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions may have to cascade corporate policies on eliminating trafficking in persons across sectors, and the role the Special Rapporteur can play in providing a powerful and neutral platform, the mandate holder will continue to explore further engagement with such initiatives, specifically to:] Reinforce voluntary standards on trafficking in persons and identify good practices in that area, by providing feedback and expert advice in standard revision processes and by co-developing capacity-building activities for the initiatives and their stakeholders;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 62b
- Paragraph text
- [Given the potential that multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions may have to cascade corporate policies on eliminating trafficking in persons across sectors, and the role the Special Rapporteur can play in providing a powerful and neutral platform, the mandate holder will continue to explore further engagement with such initiatives, specifically to:] Enhance workers’ voices within the standard-setting process, and in monitoring mechanisms, through the identification of good practices in workers’ participation in monitoring schemes and the development of capacity-building programmes;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66m
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers are not compelled to make use of stores or services operated in connection with an undertaking. Where access to other stores or services is not possible, employers ensure that goods and services are sold or provided at fair and reasonable prices, without the aim of indebting or otherwise coercing the workers concerned;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66o
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Withholding or confiscating passports, other identity documents or work permits is prohibited; in cases where such documents are withheld by employers or labour recruiters as per legal requirement, simple procedures are in place to allow the workers direct and immediate access to the documents at any time;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The two consultations revealed that multi-stakeholder initiatives, industry coalitions and the auditing community were greatly interested in collaborating with the Special Rapporteur, recognizing the instrumental role that the Special Rapporteur can play in creating a space for open and ongoing dialogue and exchanges on lessons learned and good practices. As no other platform having the same level of credibility and independence as that of the Special Rapporteur exists, representatives of multi-stakeholder initiatives and auditing companies welcomed and encouraged the continuation of the initiatives led by the mandate holder with a view to identifying good practices that can be replicated in other contexts and exploring innovative responses to common challenges.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The assurance programme must require that, during auditing exercises or alternative monitoring mechanisms to assess indicators of labour exploitation, sufficient time be allocated for auditors to interview workers, that any necessary interpretation services be provided, that any arrangements necessary to address gender concerns be made, that interviews be held outside the workplace if possible, and that sufficient time be allocated for document review, management interviews, interviews of other relevant stakeholders, such as local trade unions and communities, and report writing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should define indicators to assess the risk level of clients and determine the intensity and frequency of audits. Such indicators should take into account elements such as State ratification and enforcement of relevant international conventions on human rights and labour standards; the existence of regulatory regimes that regulate recruitment activities in accordance with international standards and guidelines; the level of informality within the economic sector in which the client operates; the percentage of vulnerable groups in the client’s workforce, including the number of migrant, temporary, seasonal, contractual or home-based workers; the level of complexity of the client’s labour supply chains; and client’s previous record on these issues.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61j
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Dialogue with governments should be facilitated to incorporate good practices from voluntary standards into national legislation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61a
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Corporate codes and policies must be strengthened to address risks of trafficking and forced labour in recruitment and labour supply chains, and must set out specific protections for migrant and other vulnerable workers;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should develop and implement capacity-building activities to ensure that all stakeholders, including buyers, suppliers, labour recruiters, workers, civil society organizations and trade unions, especially at the local level, and their relevant partners understand the risks of trafficking in persons and labour exploitation in their activities and in those of their business partners, and should develop measures to be implemented to comply with the standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- In establishing an assurance programme or certification system, multi-stakeholder initiatives should engage with workers and trade unions to ensure that their concerns and feedback are taken into consideration and that they are informed of the procedures through which they can provide input. Engagement should take place not only during the assessments, but also during pre-audit consultation, the assessment of assurance providers, the review of policies and procedures, and dispute resolution.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66a
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] All workers have the freedom to terminate employment at any time, without penalty, by means of reasonable notice, in accordance with national law or collective agreement;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66c
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] No fees or costs for recruitment are charged, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, to the worker, including costs associated with the processing of official documents and work visas;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66i
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Wage payments are made at regular intervals directly to the worker and/or their bank account, and not delayed, deferred or withheld;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- States should protect workers against human rights abuses perpetrated in the recruitment process by employers, labour recruiters and other enterprises. This requires that States take appropriate steps, through effective policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication, to prevent and investigate such abuses, to punish those responsible and to provide redress, and that they exercise and mandate due diligence to ensure that human rights are respected.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- States should ratify all relevant international instruments prohibiting trafficking in persons, forced labour, slavery and slavery-like practices, including the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, align their domestic legislation with international standards, criminalize all forms of trafficking in persons and impose adequate penalties for violations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Voluntary standards alone are not sufficient to transform business models. Innovative approaches in sector transformation call for enhanced collaboration with governments. States must guarantee normative frameworks that, on the basis of international standards, protect workers from labour exploitation and set out clear expectations for businesses in this regard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Strategies to promote transparency in supply chains at the legislative level are enhanced by efforts to go beyond auditing in supply chain due diligence, to integrate workers’ voices and empowerment through new policy, communications and grievance mechanisms, and to increase company focus on remedy and the strengthening of corrective action. These trends and others formed the basis of the consultations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Corporate codes of conduct and the voluntary standards set by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions typically include a reference to trafficking in persons or forced labour. The trafficking in persons, or forced labour, standard is normally based on international human rights instruments and labour standards. However, the reference is often limited to a mere prohibition of the use of forced labour or trafficking in persons and is not further developed into specific indicators to help identify risk practices and define what forced labour or trafficking in persons may look like in practice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Budget constraints imposed by client companies and limitations in audit protocols with respect to worker interviews, including the practical challenges of interviewing migrant workers from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, are also key concerns. Given the low levels of awareness among clients about trafficking and forced labour risks and a lack of systems for assessing recruitment and migration practices, the level of detection of trafficking in persons and forced labour cases remains low. An underlying problem identified through the dialogue with the auditing industry is the absence of representatives of that industry at standard-setting negotiations within multi-stakeholder initiatives. As a result, such negotiations can produce auditing protocols that are not effective or practical.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- At the same time, representatives from the auditing community raised concerns about their limited role in addressing audit findings and the implementation of their recommendations. Moreover, many of the issues that constitute the root causes of common labour abuses identified at the supply chain level, such as those related to unethical recruitment practices and compulsory overtime, are strongly connected to the behaviour and business decisions of client companies. Some representatives of the auditing community also noted the difficulties faced in bringing such concerns to the attention of client companies, given the race-to-the-bottom practice encouraged by some in the audit industry who agree to perform audits under unrealistic conditions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 98e
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Enhance legislation on transparency, which should require companies to disclose actual measures adopted to tackle trafficking in persons in their operations and supply chains. Such measures should address at the minimum certain areas of concern, such as recruitment practices, methodology used in monitoring compliance with the company policy, use of alternative sources of information to supplement audit information, the quality of the grievance mechanism, and coordination with relevant stakeholders, including trade unions and civil society representatives;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 112
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure that bilateral and multilateral agreements on labour migration include mechanisms for oversight of recruitment of migrant workers, are concluded between countries of origin, transit and destination, as relevant, and are implemented effectively. States should also ensure that such agreements are consistent with internationally recognized human rights, including fundamental principles and rights at work, and other relevant international human rights instruments and labour standards. Agreements should also contain specific mechanisms to ensure international coordination and cooperation, including on consular protection, and to close regulatory and enforcement gaps related to recruitment across common labour migration corridors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should ensure that an evaluation of labour recruiters, when such recruiters are used by the supplier to recruit workers or as employment agents, is included in the assurance process and that the above-mentioned criteria and indicators that are under the control of those intermediaries, as recruitment or employment agents, are applied. The results of the evaluation of the labour recruiters’ compliance should be made an integral part of the evaluation of the company’s compliance and have an effect on the determination of certification status.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should ensure that assurance providers and auditors have demonstrated knowledge and experience in assessing compliance with labour-related standards and in interviewing workers on an ongoing basis. When risk indicators are identified, the initiatives should consider requiring the collaboration of assurance providers and auditors with civil society organizations that are specialized in victim identification and that provide specialized services for trafficked persons. Multi-stakeholder initiatives should ensure that specialized services address gender concerns and that services are offered to both men and women. They should also consider including forced labour and human trafficking experts in oversight bodies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In the past few years, at the State level, the above-mentioned due diligence principle and the need to ensure businesses accountability have been at the core of national legislation developed to respond to consumer demands for more transparency in the activities of businesses and their impact on trafficking in persons and forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The first of the two consultations targeted participants in multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions; the second was aimed at representatives from companies that perform social audits and other types of supply chain assessments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Voluntary standards and certification schemes are the object of criticism by some in the labour rights movement, particularly trade unions, which have claimed that such schemes and their use of audits as a verification method have failed to protect the rights of workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The above issues, along with the absence of good practices related to remedy for aggrieved workers, were raised throughout the consultation with multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions as areas for further engagement across supply chain initiatives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Regarding lessons learned and challenges in detecting cases of forced labour and trafficking in persons, representatives of the auditing community were asked to consider the strengths and weaknesses of current audit strategies, including how auditors addressed recruitment and migration practices, how they gathered information from workers, and challenges and constraints related to client expectations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The second consultation also highlighted several data-sharing initiatives aimed at helping businesses to prioritize efforts, as well as the need to record data on labour recruiters. Partnerships and the role of advocacy in the social audit industry were also discussed, as was the need for an oversight mechanism, for example an accreditation system, to ensure quality and standards across the industry.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Against this backdrop, the Special Rapporteur wishes to make the recommendations listed below.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- In 2012, an executive order aimed at strengthening protections against trafficking in persons in federal contracts was signed in the United States. The new amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation include further due diligence measures in respect of contractors and address key risk indicators, such as the use of unethical recruitment practices, in particular by prohibiting contractors from charging recruitment fees to workers and from denying employees access to their personal documents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Responding to a lack of State regulation and poor enforcement of international standards, as well as to consumer demand for greater levels of transparency and compliance with those standards, businesses have also tried to address these issues through a commitment to voluntary standards and assurance programmes, by establishing their own programmes or by engaging with a multi-stakeholder initiative. How trafficking in persons is addressed by such initiatives is the focus of the present report.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In 2016, the mandate holder conducted a mapping of multi-stakeholder and industry-based initiatives active in different industries, including fishing, aluminium, electronics, coffee and tea. The mapping was a first step towards engagement with these initiatives through bilateral dialogue and two consultations. The objective was to identify and understand challenges, lessons learned and good practices in detecting and addressing trafficking in persons and labour exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Companies have also addressed sustainability concerns through industry-led initiatives. These are industry associations or coalitions that bring together companies around a voluntary code of conduct or standard and a compliance programme on sustainability issues, including human rights and labour standards. While the modus operandi is similar to that of multi-stakeholder initiatives, there may be differences in the organization of the governance structures, with businesses, including suppliers, playing a stronger role.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- During the consultation, private sector stakeholders expressed concern about the difficulty of designing a system that could efficiently support the efforts of companies moving at different speeds in achieving sustainability targets. It is difficult for multi-stakeholder organizations to address the capacity-building needs of those starting to implement measures to achieve baseline targets, while responding to others who are seeking a platform to launch new tools to move beyond baseline targets towards higher levels of corporate due diligence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Auditing, as a way to evaluate the compliance of companies with labour standards, has also been criticized for its lack of capacity to assess the performance of companies in the long term. An audit, even the most comprehensive, i.e., when it includes worker interviews and is supplemented with information from alternative sources, such as local actors, including representatives of civil society and local trade unions, is still a snapshot offering only a partial view of day-to-day working conditions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- With regard to sector transformation, industry, multi-stakeholder and certification initiatives hold internal discussions on how to move beyond the engagement of a single company or the “silo” of a single supply chain towards sector-wide or market transformation to ensure that sustainability standards, including respect for human rights, are the norm in business. However, the role of such initiatives in sector transformation and their impact on national legal frameworks to promote labour and human rights has been challenged.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66d
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Employers that engage private employment and/or recruitment agencies use only agencies that are licensed or certified by the competent public authority;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66e
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers are provided with a written employment contract that is straightforward and understandable by the workers. Contracts for migrant workers are shared with the workers sufficiently in advance of their deployment;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66q
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers, irrespective of their nationality and residence status, have the right to join trade unions and bargain collectively.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should provide specific training to auditors and assurance providers on trafficking in persons to improve their skills in risk detection and evaluation of risk indicators; the training should also cover how to interview workers and should raise awareness of worker vulnerabilities, including those related to gender or migration status.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Non-conformity with human trafficking and forced labour standards should entail suspension of certification or any other envisioned sanction of a similar nature and level of severity. A stepwise plan should be established together with the companies to ensure that issues of non-conformity are corrected and workers are not negatively affected by the sanction applied.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61i
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Research on the impact of non-financial reporting legislation should be collected;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Regarding the obligation of States to eliminate trafficking in persons under the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, States parties are required to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish trafficking in persons as a criminal offence (art. 5). Under the Protocol, States parties also are required to establish comprehensive policies, programmes and other measures to prevent and combat trafficking in persons (art. 9 (1) (a)). Under the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, States are requested to effectively investigate, prosecute and adjudicate trafficking, as well as to punish individuals and legal persons found guilty of trafficking by imposing effective and proportionate sanctions (principles 13 and 15).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Notable examples of this are the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 in the United States, which came into effect in January 2012, and the Modern Slavery Act of 2015 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Under the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, retail sellers and manufacturers with over $100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts who do business in the state, regardless of whether or not they are headquartered in California, are required to disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains for tangible goods offered for sale. In accordance with the Act, companies concerned must report on their efforts in five different areas: verification, auditing, certification, internal accountability and training.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Both Acts, while considered legislative breakthroughs in developing business accountability for non-financial obligations, are nonetheless not exempt from criticism. The Modern Slavery Act has been criticized for allowing United Kingdom-based companies to hide their supply chains as long as the goods they produce do not enter the United Kingdom, and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act is considered insufficient, as it requires companies only to report their efforts with no regard for the quality of the effectiveness of the measures taken to eliminate trafficking in persons from their supply chains. In 2015, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences presented a report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/30/35) in which those two domestic efforts were further analysed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should map all relevant stakeholders for each specific standard, taking trade unions into special account, and ensure they are actively involved in the determination of criteria and indicators in the standard-setting process and subsequent revisions. They should also ensure that gender considerations are embedded in the standard when specific vulnerabilities based on gender are identified within the industry or workplace affected by the standard. Multi-stakeholder initiatives should consider establishing a capacity-building programme adapted to each audience to equip stakeholders to participate in the standard-setting and standard-revision processes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- It was noted that, while social audits had contributed positively to establishing a baseline understanding of human rights and labour conditions in the workplace, other forms of engagement, including training and capacity-building for compliance staff and the development and dissemination of targeted guidance on human trafficking, were equally important. Other types of assessments were also highlighted, including self-assessments carried out by suppliers to evaluate their own compliance with standards and assessments of labour supply chains to review conditions of recruitment and migration, where those conditions pose risks of, inter alia, debt bondage and forced labour for migrant workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 108
- Paragraph text
- States should promote policies aimed at identifying and eliminating barriers to effective access to grievance and other dispute resolution mechanisms, such as complex administrative procedures, unreasonable costs, fear of discrimination or retaliation and dismissal and, in the case of migrant workers, fear of detention or deportation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Representatives from the auditing community agreed to propose a red-flag approach, which would enable auditors to investigate beyond the audit scope when predefined key indicators of labour exploitation were identified. Along those lines, a mapping of the supply chain could be instrumental in identifying risk practices beyond first-tier suppliers. Such an exercise would help client companies prioritize audits on the basis of the presence of risk indicators in subcontracting practices or high-risk geographical areas and economic sectors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 62c
- Paragraph text
- [Given the potential that multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions may have to cascade corporate policies on eliminating trafficking in persons across sectors, and the role the Special Rapporteur can play in providing a powerful and neutral platform, the mandate holder will continue to explore further engagement with such initiatives, specifically to:] Identify good practices, and draft guidance and recommendations, for the establishment of corporate grievance mechanisms and remediation that address the needs of workers effectively;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- In cooperation with other businesses and suppliers, and after an evaluation of risk indicators and a mapping of suppliers’ supply chains, companies should invest in the assessment and monitoring of second-tier suppliers. Also in cooperation with other businesses and suppliers, companies should establish a capacity-building programme to improve the compliance of second-tier suppliers with standards on trafficking and forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66g
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers are paid in legal tender and provided written, itemized pay slips or receipts in a language they understand, indicating wage rates, hours worked, total pay and any legally authorized deductions made by the employer;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66l
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers retain full and complete control over their earnings and are free to spend such earnings at their discretion;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should coordinate with other standards systems owners to ensure that all standards on trafficking and labour exploitation are consistent with international human rights instruments and labour conventions, and avoid duplication of members’ efforts in demonstrating compliance with the standards by sharing and coordinating assessment processes and results.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Voices have been raised against the lack of worker and civil society representation in the governance structures of voluntary standards initiatives. The control that businesses may have over the participation of such actors has also been denounced as a strategy to exclude dissenting voices and bring down the level of the standards to that of the lowest common denominator practices among the businesses concerned.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Under the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, ILO member States have an obligation to respect, promote and realize the principles concerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of the relevant conventions, including the elimination of forced labour, regardless of whether they have ratified those conventions. In this regard, under the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) States parties are to take effective measures to prohibit the worst forms of child labour, including child trafficking. Under the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), States parties have the obligation to take measures to abolish forced or compulsory labour. ILO Convention No. 29 was strengthened with the approval of the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930. The Protocol outlines measures for preventing forced labour and emphasizes the need for victim protection and access to appropriate and effective remedies, such as compensation. The measures States are required to take under the Protocol include supporting due diligence by both the public and private sectors to prevent and respond to risks of forced or compulsory labour (art. 2 (e)). This obligation is further underscored in the ILO Forced Labour (Supplementary Measures) Recommendation, 2014 (No. 203), in which States are called on to provide guidance and support to employers and businesses to take effective measures to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address the risks of forced or compulsory labour in their operations or in products, services or operations to which they may be directly linked (sect. 4 (j)).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- Companies should establish and implement a company policy on the elimination of trafficking in persons from the company’s supply chains or adhere to a multi-stakeholder initiative or industry coalition that addresses trafficking in persons and forced labour in accordance with the recommendations set out in the present report. The policy must be part of the company’s larger human rights policy commitment and the continuous human rights due diligence the company conducts in accordance with the framework established in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Adherence to the policy must be recognized by the highest level of management in the company. A company establishing its own policy should seek the collaboration of workers, trade unions and civil society to formulate the policy and implementation measures that effectively address issues related to trafficking in persons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Companies should integrate their policies on trafficking in persons, forced labour and any other form of labour exploitation as a binding part of contracts with suppliers. Communication should be clear regarding the application of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by the supplier itself or issues of non-compliance found further down in the supplier’s supply chain, including in their labour supply chain. Sanctions may include the immediate termination of a contract where grave violations of workers’ rights are found. A stepwise plan should be established together with the supplier to ensure that issues of non-compliance are corrected and that workers are not negatively affected by the sanction applied. The plan should include specific timelines and deliverables in order to make it possible to measure improvement in the implementation of the company’s policy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- Companies should establish a remediation plan in cooperation with the supplier and local and national authorities when a case of trafficking in persons is detected, in order to ensure that workers have effective access to remedies, including compensation, and to appropriate assistance. Any measure adopted should have a human rights-centred approach and be based on the rights of the trafficked person, whose participation in the determination of a solution for their case should be ensured throughout the process. Companies should ensure that, with regard to access to the grievance mechanism and the remediation plan, they consider the specific barriers faced by, and the vulnerabilities of, migrant workers, contract workers, young people and women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, given the impact that the results of an audit evaluation may have on the business relationships with suppliers, the practices of presenting model factories prepared specifically for audits and model workers coached to respond to auditors have proliferated in the past few years. These practices aggravate yet another challenge of current audit-based monitoring systems, which is the concentration of company resources in monitoring the first tier of their supply chains. It is widely acknowledged that most of the human rights violations and the worst labour abuses occur beyond the first tier of suppliers. However, few companies have extended their due diligence efforts throughout the entire value chain or to include their labour supply chains.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In 2016, together with Verité, an international non-governmental organization, the Special Rapporteur, thanks to earmarked contributions received for this purpose, launched a new project building on the previous work carried out under the mandate on addressing the risks of trafficking in persons in global supply chains. The goal of the project is to reduce the vulnerability that workers face in supply chains and tackle the risks of trafficking in persons by strengthening multi-stakeholder and industry-based strategies, and to promote the catalysing effect of multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to enhance efforts made by businesses to improve their policies and measures to address trafficking in persons and other types of labour violations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 106
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure workers have access to free, comprehensive and accurate information regarding their rights and the conditions of their recruitment and employment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Other proposed strategies to strengthen audits, improve measures to detect and provide remedy in trafficking cases, and better implement complementary efforts alongside assessments included increasing community and stakeholder engagement, improving auditor training, strengthening initiatives to share data and information, and using new technologies to enhance information gathering, for example through information technology platforms, hotlines or other such mechanisms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66p
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers are not physically confined to the workplace and do not face restrictions, including psychological intimidation and/or verbal threats, on their freedom of movement outside working hours and in related premises, such as dormitories or residences;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 62d
- Paragraph text
- [Given the potential that multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions may have to cascade corporate policies on eliminating trafficking in persons across sectors, and the role the Special Rapporteur can play in providing a powerful and neutral platform, the mandate holder will continue to explore further engagement with such initiatives, specifically to:] Analyse the impact that non-financial disclosure regulations have on company policies on trafficking in persons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The assurance programme must not only be based on third-party audit mechanisms but also use monitoring schemes that include workers and trade unions as an alternative source of information to allow an ongoing assessment of compliance with the labour-related standards. If necessary, multi-stakeholder initiatives should develop specific guidance to ensure that potentially vulnerable workers, such as migrants, young people and women, are not excluded from monitoring mechanisms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61g
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] New and better data on the risks of forced labour and trafficking in supply chains, disaggregated by region, sector and industry, is needed. Companies and auditors should be encouraged to share anonymized data from audit results;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61h
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Current trends in corporate behaviour should be mapped through the analysis of audit data to gain understanding of the situation and help target stakeholder commitment;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- Companies should establish or participate in an operational-level grievance mechanism, in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and cooperate with State-based judicial and non-judicial grievance mechanisms. In designing and establishing the mechanisms, companies should engage with workers, with worker representatives and with civil society organizations that have expertise in issues of trafficking in persons and labour exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66k
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Wage advances or loans provided to workers, including interest rates and repayment terms, are compliant with the law, explained to workers in their own language and agreed in advance by both parties;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Each consultation began with a framing of current trends in supply chains and strategies to tackle risks of human trafficking. This included a focus on the inherent complexity of supply chain production and the challenges related to enhancing visibility and accountability beyond first-tier manufacturers and producers. The subcontracting and outsourcing of diverse stages of production makes it increasingly difficult for companies to monitor and address working conditions and human rights in a systematic and comprehensive way. Industry and multi-stakeholder initiatives face the same challenges, with important consequences for the validity of their sustainability and rights-based claims. Moreover, supply chains are not only increasingly complex along product chains, but also highly stratified in terms of labour supply. Third-party recruitment and employment agencies are a growing feature of supply chain production, which has important consequences for voluntary initiatives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The consultations also fostered robust dialogue on strategies and engagement aimed at promoting workers’ voices and empowerment within sustainability initiatives, especially within compliance monitoring schemes, including complaints hotlines, the use of worker surveys, good practices in engaging workers during audits, training and capacity-building for workers on their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, and training on worker-management dialogue in the workplace. However, ensuring that potentially vulnerable workers, such as migrants, young people and women, were not inadvertently excluded from these new strategies was identified as a challenge.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Diverse means of raising grievances and having them addressed were also debated, including examples of worker hotlines and innovations in the use of smartphone technology. However, it was noted that such efforts alone, not unlike social audits, cannot solve the complex problem of human trafficking, and must be reinforced through other means of awareness-raising, capacity-building, problem identification and access to remedy. Questions were raised about the role played by local authorities in the referral and follow-up of grievances, and about how best to coordinate with such authorities, when necessary. Good practices related to the rehabilitation of trafficking victims and their reintegration into communities and labour markets was also mentioned as a topic in need of urgent attention from all relevant stakeholders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61b
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Standard-setting, multi-stakeholder and certification initiatives should be encouraged to engage a broad cross section of stakeholders, including auditors, in the design and establishment of new standards systems;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61c
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Existing initiatives should be coordinated and collaboration with governments and civil society should be facilitated, especially regarding grievance mechanisms and provisions for remedies;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61d
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Efforts to improve the quality of audit assessments and build the capacity of auditors to detect trafficking in persons and forced labour should be supported;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61e
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Efforts to share audit information should be encouraged to allow companies to optimize resources and focus on addressing critical issues and performing audits beyond first-tier suppliers;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 61f
- Paragraph text
- [Participants identified several other actions and interventions, listed below, which have also helped the Special Rapporteur define areas for further engagement and work under the mandate in strengthening the strategies implemented by multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions to detect and tackle trafficking in persons:] Companies that use audits to measure supply-chain compliance are encouraged to review assessment protocols to support improvements in audit quality and create conditions to enable auditors to better identify risks of trafficking;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- In selecting new suppliers, companies should develop an evaluation mechanism that takes into account a supplier’s compliance with the policy the company has adopted or to which it adheres, by establishing risk indicators such as those mentioned in the recommendations set out above for multi-stakeholder initiatives on strengthening criteria and indicators. Companies should widely communicate among potential bidders the conditions for selection.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66f
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Contract substitution and changes that diminish originally agreed wages, benefits or other conditions of work are prohibited;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66h
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers that earn wages calculated on a performance-related basis do not earn less than the legally mandated minimum wage;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66n
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Mandatory residence in employer-operated residences is not a condition of employment;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Regarding recruitment regulation, the ILO launched in September 2016 the non-binding ILO general principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment, in which it is reiterated that recruitment should take place in a way that respects, protects and fulfils internationally recognized human rights, including those expressed in international labour standards, such as prevention and elimination of forced labour. The guidelines enshrine principles related to the prohibition of recruitment fees, transparency in the terms and conditions of employment, the prohibition against confiscating workers’ identity documents, and contracts, among others. Another initiative, the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS) was launched by IOM in 2014. IRIS is a multi-stakeholder initiative for labour recruiters that offers a certification system to recognize ethical recruiters on the basis of an evaluation of their compliance with the IRIS Code of Conduct. Based on the ILO labour standards, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and good practices in the industry, the Code of Conduct also includes principles on the prohibition of charging recruitment fees to jobseekers, respect for freedom of movement, respect for transparency of terms and conditions of employment, respect for confidentiality and data protection and respect for access to remedy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should consider establishing a platform with all relevant stakeholders at the local level to discuss and coordinate measures to implement the standards, challenges in the implementation and solutions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Assurance providers and auditing companies should ensure that auditors performing workplace assessments are trained in identifying and evaluating risk indicators of trafficking in persons, forced labour and labour exploitation, including risks related to unethical recruitment practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- When performing an audit, assurance providers and auditing companies should ensure that sufficient time is allocated to interviews with workers and worker representatives, that gender concerns are appropriately addressed and that sufficient resources are allocated to engaging interpreters to support auditors when necessary.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- In the event that the audited company uses labour recruiters, a specialized audit protocol should be in place to assess the risks in their recruitment practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 110
- Paragraph text
- States should develop and increase the number of alternative options for regular and safe migration and for legal employment of migrant workers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Companies should consider publicly disclosing the names of their suppliers, as well as policies and measures implemented to ensure the compliance of suppliers to the company policy, with reference to, inter alia, cases of non-compliance and corrective action taken.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The present report offers an overview of the main challenges that multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions face in helping their member companies and suppliers to eliminate trafficking in persons in their operations and supply chains. Improving awareness of trafficking in persons and risk practices among the stakeholder base is a prerequisite to establishing a standard that can effectively evaluate company performance in preventing and addressing trafficking in persons. The embedding of workers’ voices as an alternative source of information on company performance must be guaranteed. Audit methodologies must be reviewed to ensure that third-party audits are performed under optimal circumstances, that the resources necessary to collect the voices of workers are allocated and that auditors have the skills necessary to evaluate trafficking in persons risk practices. Multi-stakeholder initiatives and businesses must identify solutions in order to ensure a voluntary standards strategy in which workers, trade unions and civil society play a central role at the standard-setting level and in monitoring schemes and corporate grievance mechanisms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66j
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Deductions made from workers’ wages are lawful;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should ensure that the criteria and indicators used to determine compliance with each standard are adapted effectively to the specific sector and activity the initiative covers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 98d
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Develop and release guidance materials prior to the entry into force of the legislation to support companies in understanding the requirements;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 107
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure that workers have rapid and affordable access to grievance and other dispute resolution mechanisms that enable them to address alleged abuses and fraudulent practices in recruitment and employment without fear of retaliatory measures, including blacklisting, detention or deportation, irrespective of their presence or legal status in the State, and to appropriate and effective remedies where abuses have occurred. States should also ensure, through judicial, administrative, legislative or other means, that when abuses related to recruitment and employment occur within their territory and/or jurisdiction, those affected have access to effective remedies, which may include, but should not necessarily be limited to, compensation. Pending the investigation or resolution of a grievance or dispute, whistle-blowers or complainants should be protected and migrant workers should have timely and effective access to procedures. States should ensure that these mechanisms can be accessed across borders after a worker has returned to his or her country of origin.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 100
- Paragraph text
- States should adopt, review and, where necessary, strengthen national laws and regulations and consider establishing, regularly reviewing and evaluating national fair recruitment commitments and policies, with the participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 101
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure that relevant legislation and regulations cover all aspects and stages of the recruitment process, and that they apply to all workers, especially those in a vulnerable situation, and for all types of jobs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 103
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure that there is an effective and sufficiently resourced labour inspectorate, and that its staff is empowered and trained to investigate and intervene at all stages of the recruitment process and employment for all workers and all enterprises, and to monitor and evaluate the operations of all labour recruiters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 104
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure that legislation covering recruitment activities clearly prohibits the charging of recruitment fees and related costs to workers and jobseekers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Some examples of industry coalitions are the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and the Business Social Compliance Initiative of the Foreign Trade Association. The Coalition brings together companies such as Apple, HP and Intel and has developed a code of conduct and audit scope that includes extensive references to issues such as unethical recruitment practices. The Business Social Compliance Initiative is a cross-sectoral initiative that has also developed a code of conduct and an implementation plan, including auditing, a capacity-building programme for businesses, including for suppliers, and alternative stakeholder engagement activities. As mentioned above, standards and an assurance programme alone are not sufficient to embed the standards into a company’s business model. Thus, many multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions develop, in parallel, capacity-building programmes and other awareness-raising activities for their stakeholders to help promote the standards and their implementation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Under the Modern Slavery Act, companies with a total turnover of over £36 million conducting business, or part of a business, in any part of the United Kingdom are required to publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement to disclose the steps the organization has taken during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any of its supply chains and in any part of its own business. Companies may also provide a statement that the organization has taken no such steps. The statement may include information on the company’s structure and its supply chains, its policies and due diligence processes to combat human trafficking and slavery, specific parts of its business and supply chains that may be exposed to higher risks and steps taken to mitigate such risks, the effectiveness of such efforts, and training made available for its staff. In addition, the statement must be signed by the highest level of management. The duties imposed under the Modern Slavery Act can be enforced in civil proceedings undertaken by the authorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The governance structure of multi-stakeholder initiatives is usually composed of a wide variety of stakeholders, including businesses, their suppliers and civil society representatives. The multi-stakeholder nature plays an important role, particularly in the standard-setting process, through which stakeholders define the criteria and indicators that the initiative will use to evaluate company compliance with the agreed standard. In this regard, the quality of the criteria and indicators relating to trafficking in persons depends largely on the level of stakeholder awareness of the issue, as well as on the initiative’s success in raising awareness about the standard-setting process among relevant stakeholders, in particular among those that can provide significant feedback. Ultimately, the degree to which this feedback can be integrated into the process will be contingent on the capacity to transmit to other stakeholders the importance and impact that risk indicators relating to trafficking in persons would have in their activities and on their overall performance as measured against labour-related standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In order to evaluate the compliance of companies and grant certification, if applicable, multi-stakeholder initiatives establish an assurance programme. The ISEAL Alliance defines assurance as the demonstrable evidence that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled. Some voluntary standards organizations use the term certification system instead. Models of assurance vary in their approach and level of rigour, which range from self-assessments to third-party auditing. Models of audit methodology may differ in terms of frequency and intensity, and with regard to the requirements auditors need to meet to perform the audit. Assurance programmes also use different scoring systems to rate applicant companies on their level of compliance with the standard. Today, many multi-stakeholder initiatives have opted for a stepwise or continuous improvement approach, rather than a pass-fail approach, and assign a prominent role to capacity-building activities that help companies to understand and tackle challenges in the implementation of the standard and in fulfilling compliance requirements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The evaluation of the competence of the auditors is also a key concern. The level of understanding of the complexities of detecting trafficking in persons, forced labour and other types of labour exploitation varies among those in the industry. The skills required to, among other things, interview workers, and an auditor’s comprehensive understanding of the specific vulnerabilities of categories of workers, such as migrant or contract workers, are indispensable to ensuring adequate evaluations of a company’s performance on indicators related to trafficking in persons. Unfortunately, one single team of auditors is often charged with the evaluation of the complete set of indicators, including those on other issues, such as deforestation or corruption. It is unlikely that auditors with expertise in environmental concerns would have also the same level of experience in evaluating corporate practices that represent risk indicators of trafficking in persons or forced labour, especially considering the subtle ways in which such practices may be concealed and the fact that workers themselves may be unaware of the wrongfulness of corporate practices that are perceived as common businesses practices, such as compulsory overtime or the payment of recruitment fees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- This lack of accountability at lower levels of the supply chain inhibits the multiplier effect that efforts to implement the standards should have in bringing the larger group within the industry under the same standard. Companies’ leverage over their suppliers in today’s complex supply chains, in which individual companies may represent a small percentage of a supplier’s business share, can prove very limited if it is not accompanied by a collective action from the industry as a whole. While efforts by industry coalitions and multi-stakeholder initiatives are aimed at breaking through such barriers, current individual corporate limits on supply chain transparency hinder the use of powerful tools such as the consumer thirst for greater accountability, as lower levels in the supply chain hidden by a lack of transparency would be immune to such demands for accountability. Also, suppliers whose business relationships are predominantly with companies based in countries where there is a higher level of consumer awareness and where national legislation requires a higher degree of due diligence and transparency will respond differently to their buyers’ requirements regarding compliance with human rights and labour standards than will suppliers whose main business relationships are with companies based in countries with less robust national frameworks and lower consumer demand for ethically produced goods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 111
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure full recognition of the rights of all workers, including migrant workers, to join and form trade unions and to bargain collectively.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 113
- Paragraph text
- States should equip embassies abroad to provide services to migrant workers, especially channels for consultations and complaints.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should cooperate with State authorities by sharing lessons learned and experiences in standards implementation, to analyse gaps in regulations and State policy regarding the elimination of trafficking in persons and promote the adoption of a relevant legal framework and effective law enforcement measures.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should consider engaging with auditors and other monitoring mechanisms when designing and establishing auditing protocols and monitoring modalities to ensure that they are effective for identifying risk indicators in practice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives should develop specific deep dive audit protocol modules on trafficking in persons indicators and guidance to be used when predefined red flags of trafficking and forced labour are first detected, allowing auditors to enlarge the audit scope and uncover the full extent and depth of the problem.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 115
- Paragraph text
- Donors should contribute to support the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to enable the mandate holder to continue to pursue the work described in the present report, particularly in the areas identified for further engagement with multi-stakeholder initiatives and industry coalitions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- As mentioned above, unethical recruitment practices and how they represent a risk of forced labour and trafficking in persons are not widely acknowledged within the private sector or among the stakeholders that participate in the standard-setting process. While some initiatives, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative or Social Accountability International, were created to uphold a strong labour rights component, others, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, were established primarily with an environmental focus. As a result, the level of sophistication in developing indicators that can effectively account for companies’ risk practices in this area varies from one initiative to another. The differences among initiatives regarding their original motivation may not only have an impact in the standard-setting and revision process but may also affect a multi-stakeholder initiative’s success in establishing an assurance programme that effectively monitors businesses compliance with a trafficking standard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Feedback generated from consultations held with multi-stakeholder initiatives and private sector representatives indicated that while this type of legislation represents a good starting point for most companies and facilitates the mainstreaming of transparency efforts in smaller companies, more transparency is needed. In addition, private sector stakeholders consulted agreed on the need for stronger normative frameworks at the State level that would establish, based on international standards, clear expectations for businesses regarding their obligations to respect workers’ rights and to protect workers from labour abuses. Stronger normative frameworks would not only help businesses to ensure that their suppliers are bound to the same level of commitment regarding the elimination of trafficking in persons and respect for workers’ rights, but would also help to guarantee an even playing field for those who conduct their operations in accordance with those standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In addition to national legislative frameworks on the accountability of businesses and the effective transposition of international standards to national labour codes, the existence of national policy and legislative frameworks in other areas also plays an important role in tackling and reducing trafficking in persons and forced labour. While not directly addressing the issue of trafficking in persons, measures such as those to regulate recruitment are crucial in reducing risk factors. Indeed, in 2014 the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants dedicated part of his report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/26/35) to the issue of recruitment in the context of labour exploitation of migrants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Unfortunately, the regulation of labour recruiters and elimination of unethical recruitment practices are far from homogenous at a global scale and the level of ratification of the ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) is low. Some national jurisdictions do not regulate the activities of labour recruiters, allowing a flourishing “informalization” of the industry and permitting practices such as the payment of recruitment fees by jobseekers. Furthermore, in some jurisdictions, workers contracted through employment agencies are not offered the same level of social protection as direct employees, creating a second class of workers and exacerbating the potential negative impact of the lack of regularization of this sector.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur deemed it essential to engage with multi-stakeholder initiatives, industry coalitions and representatives of the auditing industry in order to discuss how they address challenges and criticisms, and, through constructive dialogue, to identify areas on which further efforts should be focused. In particular, the consultations and subsequent follow-up activities provided opportunities to enhance learning about the risks of human trafficking in supply chains, consider the strengths and weaknesses of strategies to detect and remedy trafficking in persons, identify challenges and share good practices in auditing and assessments, explore current trends in the professionalization of the auditing industry, and explore synergies between participating organizations, the Special Rapporteur, governments and civil society.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Participants in the consultations also discussed the professionalization of social auditing, current trends and developments in the industry and industry efforts to enhance auditor capacity and performance. They examined good practices in the area of assessment, partnerships with civil society and lessons learned in complementing audits with other strategies to enhance supply chain accountability. Members of the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors, recently established to enhance the professionalism of individual auditors and organizations performing independent social compliance audits, have been discussing the scope of social compliance audits, the competencies required of an auditor and the requirement for an audit firm to ensure their auditors are able to perform audits and act with integrity and independence at all times.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- Companies should map the labour supply chains of their suppliers to identify risks, especially regarding recruitment practices; request full disclosure of the names of suppliers’ contractors; and develop and implement a capacity-building programme for suppliers to improve their awareness of risk indicators and to assist them in implementing measures to demonstrate their compliance with the company’s standards and policies on trafficking in persons and forced labour, including measures for monitoring the practices of their labour recruiters.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 66b
- Paragraph text
- [Criteria and indicators should be strengthened in accordance with the benchmarks and indicators for ensuring trafficking-free supply chains proposed by the Special Rapporteur (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and should include at a minimum the following indicators:] Workers are not held in debt bondage or forced to work to pay off a debt of any kind, including non-monetary debt;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 102
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure compliance across the recruitment industry with the relevant laws and regulations. Such measures should include public registration, licensing or other regulatory systems. The systems should be effective and transparent and should allow workers and other interested parties to verify the legitimacy of recruitment agencies and placement offers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 114
- Paragraph text
- States should invest in research and the collection and analysis of data on the scope and prevalence of trafficking in persons for labour exploitation in supply chains, specific commodities, sectors, the informal economy and domestic production as the foundation for effective policy and strategy formulation by both public and private sector actors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- Companies should review and modify purchasing practices that could have a negative impact on the workplace conditions of their suppliers, including the setting of delivery deadlines that will expose workers to non-voluntary overtime or force suppliers to hire workers for peak periods under worse working conditions or through employment agencies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Regarding the obligations of States to protect against and redress the human rights impacts of business, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework were endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011. In the Guiding Principles, States are requested to set out clearly the expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdiction will respect human rights throughout their operations (principle 2). While the issue of trafficking in supply chains is not specifically addressed in the Guiding Principles, in accordance with principle 17 businesses should carry out due diligence in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their adverse human rights impacts. Pursuant to that same principle, the due diligence should include assessing actual and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking responses, and communicating how impacts are addressed, and should cover not only impacts related to an enterprise’s own activities, but also those to which it may be linked through its business relationships.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 98a
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Adopt effective legislation requiring transparency in supply chains, human rights due diligence throughout supply chains, public reporting and disclosure by businesses, as well as measures relating to procurement practices, and guarantee the implementation of such legislation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 98b
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Establish sanction mechanisms for companies that fail to fulfil their obligations, and equip law enforcement agencies with the resources necessary to follow up on reports of lack of compliance;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 98c
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Make publicly available the lists of companies that are subject to legislation on transparency;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 98f
- Paragraph text
- [States should:] Encourage knowledge-sharing activities with multi-stakeholder initiatives through, inter alia, the establishment of platforms for the exchange of experiences, lessons learned and good practices on voluntary standards that can help in strengthening national and local strategies to enforce and monitor labour standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 109
- Paragraph text
- States should abolish and replace employer sponsorship systems that bind every worker to an employer as a sponsor and that create a situation of vulnerability that favours abusive and exploitative work relationships leading to trafficking in persons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 105
- Paragraph text
- States should ensure that employment contracts are clear and transparent and are respected, and should require and ensure that written contracts of employment are provided to workers specifying the job to be performed and the terms and conditions of employment, including those derived from collective agreements. The contract, or an authoritative copy, should be in the language of the worker or in a language the worker can understand, and the necessary information should be provided in a clear and comprehensive way in order to allow the worker to express his or her free and informed consent. Contracts for migrant workers should be provided sufficiently in advance of their departure from their country of origin. The contracts should not be substituted and should be enforceable in the destination country. While respecting confidentiality and the protection of personal data, Governments may consider the use of information technology to achieve the above-mentioned objectives. In the absence of a written contract, States should ensure that all rights of recruited workers are respected in accordance with existing legislation and regulations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Assurance providers and auditing companies should supplement information obtained through worker interviews and document reviews with alternative sources of information, including from trade unions and civil society stakeholders who are active in the sector and region.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Assurance providers and auditing companies should consider sharing aggregated data on audit results with governments and other relevant stakeholders to support government-level strategies in combating trafficking in persons for labour exploitation that are based on empirical evidence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Strengthening voluntary standards for businesses on preventing and combating trafficking in persons and labour exploitation, especially in supply chains 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives are organizations that have established voluntary sustainability standards, often for a specific commodity or industry sector. They offer a common label for companies that commit to align to the principles set by the standard and that agree to be monitored under the relevant assurance programme under which their commitment to and compliance with the standards are verified. The voluntary set of standards developed under the initiative often covers a wide spectrum of sustainability concerns, ranging from environmental risks and corruption to working conditions and labour rights. Examples of the initiatives identified under the project include the Forest Stewardship Council, Fairtrade, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, UTZ and the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, which are also part of an umbrella organization, the ISEAL Alliance, created to strengthen these standards systems by improving their impacts, defining and advancing credibility, increasing their adoption and proliferation and improving effectiveness.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- 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. The relationship between deployed troops and the demand for trafficked women was also unmistakable in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, where demands for sexual services created by peacekeepers led to an expansion of the sex industry, with many of the women trafficked and sexually exploited forced to work in brothels established expressly to serve United Nations peacekeepers. The past involvement of military, peacekeeping, humanitarian and other international personnel in trafficking and related exploitation during post-conflict periods has been documented in multiple countries, including Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Kosovo, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Somalia.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Children trafficked into 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. Children are also used as suicide bombers and human shields. For instance in Iraq, ISIL and other extremist groups traffic boys and young men, including members of the Yazidi minority, into armed conflict, radicalize them to commit terrorist acts using deception, death threats or the offer of money and women as rewards. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The private sector is another actor that could play a positive role in preventing trafficking in persons for labour exploitation and other labour abuses of persons fleeing conflict. In this regard, private sector initiatives have developed guidance to help companies that operate in areas with presence of refugees to understand and identify indicators of risk with regard to labour exploitation and to assist them in implementing due diligence measures to prevent and mitigate labour abuses within their supply chains. One such initiative is the recently published guidance on "Syrian refugees working in Turkey" issued by the Business Social Compliance Initiative and the Foreign Trade Association.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- However, during conflict even the most basic and urgent victim protection measures may be difficult to secure. For example, effective protection to the victims of forced marriage and sexual enslavement at the hands of ISIS and Boko Haram is proving challenging. Post-conflict societies may also lack the capacity to undertake necessary risk assessments and provide required protections to victims and potential victims of trafficking due to inadequate or non-existent referral mechanisms. Moreover, trafficking in persons is currently not taken into consideration within existing humanitarian and peacekeeping operations in conflict and post-conflict situations. As a result, many victims and potential victims of trafficking, especially those fleeing conflict, remain undetected, primarily due to lack of trained officials likely to encounter and identify possible victims of trafficking in persons, such as law enforcement, peacekeepers and humanitarian personnel. Victims may also refrain from seeking protection due to the social stigmatization linked to certain forms of trafficking, including sexual exploitation, possible retaliation from traffickers, discrimination or mistrust of authorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- The majority of States have enacted anti-trafficking laws. Of those States that have adopted such laws, 41 per cent have reported no trafficking convictions, or fewer than 10, per year, a figure that reveals the extent of impunity for perpetrators involved in the crime of trafficking in persons, whether government employees, members of the military or peacekeeping, humanitarian and other international personnel during conflict and post-conflict situations. Impunity is a contributing factor to trafficking in persons. The accountability of those who engage in trafficking in persons in situations of armed conflict mitigates the risks of trafficking. In cases where national criminal justice systems fail or lack the jurisdiction to appropriately respond to trafficking, the possibility of international, hybrid or regional courts prosecuting cases of trafficking, within the scope of their jurisdiction, with the possibility of including crimes of human trafficking within the legal statutes of such courts so as to ensure accountability and fight impunity, is a matter under discussion.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Conflict influences the form and nature of trafficking in different ways. The severity of trafficking-related exploitation appears to be high when it occurs during conflict, and may be even greater in post-conflict situations, enhanced by conditions that are themselves a cause or consequence of conflict, such as impunity and an increase in generalized violence. Certain forms of trafficking-related exploitation, such as forced military recruitment of both children and adults, are either specific to conflict or more prevalent in situations of conflict. Sexual exploitation is another form of trafficking that intersects with the dynamics of situations of conflict, including the use of proceeds from the trafficking, trading and ransoming individuals to purchase arms and pay fighters, which perpetuates the cycle of violence against civilians.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the nature and forms 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 they 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- In view of the legal responsibility of States 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 are held accountable, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations. Given the timeliness and the importance of the thematic addressed in this report, and taking into account the central role of the General Assembly, other United Nations bodies and institutions, especially on conflict-related issues, the Special Rapporteur also wishes to reiterate the recommendations contained in her report to the thirty-second session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/32/41).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- 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 (see 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 65d
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] Include rights-based anti-trafficking response/action in existing cluster systems for humanitarian action;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69c
- Paragraph text
- All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should: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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69h
- Paragraph text
- All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:Involve national and local social authorities and civil society organizations in procedures to detect trafficking cases and indications of the risk of trafficking, as well as in the organization of assistance, protection and support for victims and potential victims in cases where a high number of people are identified; such measures must not be made conditional on the initiation of criminal proceedings, the legal qualification of the crime or the cooperation of victims with law enforcement authorities;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70c
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] 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; such procedures and training 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 national and local authorities and civil society organizations;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 73f
- Paragraph text
- [All States, whether source, transit or destination countries of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict areas, should:] 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- 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. Internally displaced women and girls are often disproportionately affected by the loss of livelihoods during displacement (see A/HRC/23/44, para. 46).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70a
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] Address trafficking in persons in conflict situations in a systematic manner, starting from the outset of the conflict, even if incidents of trafficking have not been previously detected, and identify trafficking cases or risks of trafficking at an early stage, including trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and labour exploitation or other forms of exploitation in source, transit or host countries;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 75e
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] Implement the special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse by United Nations peacekeeping personnel proposed by the Secretary-General (see 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".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Throughout their journey and at their destination, migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers forced to flee their country because of armed conflict, are highly vulnerable to physical violence, sexual assault, extortion and trafficking, as well as detention by national authorities. Incidence of trafficking and exploitation, primarily among Afghan, Syrian and Iraqi men and boys with low educational levels and travelling alone, is identified among irregular migrants arriving in Europe along the western Balkan routes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Migrant workers in conflict zones have a heightened risk of exposure to human trafficking. Recruitment agents and their intermediaries in countries of origin deceive workers about their country of final destination, the nature of the work and their working and living conditions and, unknowingly, such workers find themselves forced into employment in conflict-affected countries. For instance, a man from the Philippines was allegedly promised employment in Turkey, but was instead trafficked for labour exploitation to the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, migrant workers can also be trafficked into conflict zones by private contractors employed by States and their military forces to support large-scale military operations. While not all situations 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 certain tasks, including cleaning, construction, cooking and serving and haircutting.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 74d
- Paragraph text
- [State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 76b
- Paragraph text
- [The United Nations should:] Address labour exploitation by making all necessary efforts to ensure that, in conflict and post-conflict areas, 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 under decent conditions of work, and establish a zero-tolerance policy towards violations of their fundamental rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77a
- Paragraph text
- [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:] The linkage between trafficking in persons and xenophobia, including the vulnerability of minority groups to trafficking;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77b
- Paragraph text
- [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:] The linkage between gender and trafficking in persons in conflicts, not only with regard to girls and women but also boys and men;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 71b
- Paragraph text
- [The United Nations should:] 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- In follow-up to her report presented at the twenty-sixth session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/32/41), the Special Rapporteur wishes to draw the attention of the General Assembly to her assessment of the various ways in which trafficking in persons and conflict interact and intersect, as well as to present additional feedback from Member States and other stakeholders received after her interactive dialogue with the Council. The report to the twenty-sixth session of the Council was well received: 44 Member States and 15 non-State actors intervened and shared their experiences regarding prevention and protections of actual and potential victims. Some recommendations were also exchanged on efforts to address this phenomenon.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Human trafficking is an increasingly common feature of modern conflict, whether national or international. Existing forms of trafficking and vulnerabilities ranging from gender-based violence to discrimination to lack of economic opportunities are exacerbated before, during and after conflict. Furthermore, conflict tends to fuel impunity, the breakdown of law and order and the destruction of institutions and communities, which foster conditions within which trafficking will flourish, often beyond the point at which hostilities have ceased. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Conflict and post-conflict situations increase the vulnerability of those fleeing conflict to trafficking for purposes of organ removal, and enables impunity for exploiters. A system for collecting and selling human organs from fighters, captives and hostages is allegedly established by armed opposition groups, especially the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and affiliated armed groups, as a means of financing war. Moreover, there is evidence that migrants fleeing conflict in the Sudan have been trafficked for organ harvesting in Egypt. Palestinians from the Syrian Arab Republic, who use smugglers to travel to Europe through the Sudan and Libya, have also become victims of trafficking for organ removal when they found themselves unable to pay the ransom for their kidnapping. In addition, medical practitioners from post-conflict Kosovo 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 (A/68/256, para. 29).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- 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. Factors such as the sponsorship system (kafala), which is intended to regulate the employer and employee relations in some countries, give employers excessive power and control over migrant workers, increasing their risk of being trafficked. For instance the rescue of trafficked Kenyan female domestic workers in Libya during the conflict in that country posed challenges because their employers, who were responsible for authorizing the workers' exit permits, had fled the country with the their travel documents. Similarly, during the armed conflict in Lebanon in 2006, some of the 300,000 domestic workers from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and the Philippines who were left behind when their employers were evacuated became vulnerable to traffickers who offered alternative options to livelihood and resident status.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- International personnel are generally deployed to conflict or immediate post-conflict situations in which populations are vulnerable and where basic institutions, including law enforcement, are fragile or non-existent (see A/59/710). The increased demand for sexual services as a result of the presence of international personnel, including peacekeepers, further exacerbates women's social and economic vulnerabilities in a fragile post-conflict society and promotes 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 Republic, 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 the purpose of sexual exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- The following section highlights additional feedback from Member States and other stakeholders during the interactive dialogue held between the Special Rapporteur and the members of the Human Rights Council and the Security Council, convened in an open debate on the theme "Conflict-related sexual violence: responding to human trafficking in situations of conflict-related sexual violence". During the dialogue the Special Rapporteur made an intervention addressing the link between trafficking and conflict. The paragraphs below do not provide an exhaustive list of the topics discussed, but address some of the most frequently recurring issues pertaining to the thematic at hand.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- 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. To achieve this, anti-trafficking responses should be initiated at the very outset of a conflict and should be addressed systematically in all crisis situations. Failure to consider risk factors of human trafficking at the beginning of a conflict situation, or allowing evidence of exploitation to emerge before responding, as reactive response, is not effective. A response triggered by the presence of victims of exploitation or abuse is a response that comes too late as it has failed to address the crime of trafficking when it actually began.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- 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 Republic 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- It is estimated that 10-30 per cent of children in fighting forces are female. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- 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") 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Children who are forcibly recruited or otherwise compelled to join armed groups face physical and psychological consequences. Whether in a combat or supporting role, 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- 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. This forces migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees fleeing conflict, into the arms of those who can help them circumvent controls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77c
- Paragraph text
- [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:] Recruitment modalities employed by extremist groups, especially with respect to children and their use as combatants, sexual slaves, human shields or suicide bombers;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- 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. Children are also used as suicide bombers and human shields. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 66a
- Paragraph text
- [States hosting, among persons fleeing conflict, children who may have been or are at risk of being victims of trafficking in persons should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69a
- Paragraph text
- [State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In order to provide a description and to establish the nature and scope of the problem, in this report the Special Rapporteur presents the most common forms of trafficking in conflict from three perspectives: (a) trafficking of persons fleeing conflict; (b) trafficking during conflict; and (c) trafficking in post-conflict situations. While overlap between these three circumstances is common in practice, it is possible to identify particular features or issues related to trafficking in persons associated with each in order to understand how different situations and vulnerabilities arise and how they can be addressed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- 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 in conflict areas in the Middle East. Subcontractors deceive workers about the identity of the country where they will be working, which is more dangerous than the promised country of destination, as well as about the type of work they will be doing, and also withhold workers' passports to prevent them from fleeing the conflict zone where they were deceived into working.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Post-conflict situations are typically characterized by absent or dysfunctional justice and law enforcement institutions, and consequently by: a climate of impunity that fosters violent criminal networks; high levels of poverty and lack of basic resources; significant inequality; 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Criminal networks specifically target impoverished communities, including the internally displaced, in order to exploit their vulnerabilities. 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 and domestic servitude, or irregular adoption. Internally displaced women and girls are often disproportionately affected by loss of livelihoods during displacement (A/HRC/23/44, para. 46). In Jordan for example, Syrian refugees and asylum seekers, including children as young as 3 years old, are lured to work illegally for low wages to sustain families, which puts them at risk of trafficking (A/HRC/32/41/Add.1, para. 11).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 56a
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 56b
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 56c
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 64c
- Paragraph text
- [All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 72d
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- 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. One in three children in the Kurdistan region of Iraq has been approached for forced or compulsory recruitment in armed conflict. Moreover, children are especially vulnerable to being trafficked into military service by Government armed forces, paramilitary groups and rebel groups if they are separated from their families, are displaced from their homes, live in combat areas or have limited access to education.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- While the 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 in a deceptive manner to exploit the vulnerability of educated young children from middle class families in Western countries in order to recruit them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- 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. However, foreign forces can also exacerbate, and sometimes even contribute directly to, such harm. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- In the above-mentioned report, the Special Rapporteur also identified the entitlement of victims of trafficking to due diligence protection and prevention against trafficking in persons by States, whether in times of conflict or otherwise (A/HRC/32/41, para. 56). These rights include: the right to be identified; the right to protection; the right to assistance and support; access to remedies; and the right to safe return/protection from retrafficking/protection from persecution.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70c
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] Ensure adequate protection of whistleblowers and prevent any adverse impact on their careers and working conditions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 71a
- Paragraph text
- [States hosting, among persons fleeing conflict, children who may have been or are at risk of being victims of trafficking in persons should:] Prevent trafficking in persons, especially targeting isolated children such as orphans, children left behind by parents fleeing conflict, children moving alone to flee conflict areas or those in camps, in cooperation with civil society organizations, United Nations agencies and programmes and international organizations;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 74c
- Paragraph text
- [State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69c
- Paragraph text
- [State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69d
- Paragraph text
- [State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70e
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] 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".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 64h
- Paragraph text
- [All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:] 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 72a
- Paragraph text
- [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:] The linkage between trafficking in persons and xenophobia, including the vulnerability of minority groups to trafficking;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 72b
- Paragraph text
- [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:] The linkage between gender and trafficking in persons in conflicts, not only with regard to girls and women but also boys and men;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- It is estimated that 10 to 30 per cent of children in fighting forces are female. 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. 32-35 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is perpetrated not only by organized criminal groups. For instance, Syrian refugee women and girls may be trafficked for sexual exploitation through the practice of "temporary" or child and/or forced marriages. They may be 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- 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 in their families and in the 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- 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 an affected country to which the victims have been displaced. Increasingly, persons who have escaped conflict by fleeing to another country as part of a larger, mixed migration process have become victims of trafficking at some point in their journey or at their destination.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Internal displacement due to conflict and persecution affects almost 40 million people. 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 claiming to offer them a route to safety.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- 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, personal documentation and protection. In fact it is common for societies to experience a rise in trafficking for sexual exploitation (for example, 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. However, these crimes are underreported due, inter alia, to stigmatization of survivors and inadequate services for them. Moreover, the demand for cheap labour in the aftermath of crises, when countries and businesses start to rebuild, could also lead to trafficking. This was experienced by Ukrainian construction workers who were trafficked for labour exploitation in Iraq.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- 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 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. 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- 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 Kosovo 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- 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. In this 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Trafficking in persons violates human rights and continues to pose a serious challenge to humanity, including in conflict situations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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". 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 65b
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 68f
- Paragraph text
- [All States, whether a source, transit or destination country of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and-post conflict areas, should:] 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77d
- Paragraph text
- [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:] The link between organized crime and all forms of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, as a result of weak rule-of-law situations during and following conflicts;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77f
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77h
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 56d
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 64b
- Paragraph text
- [All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- 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).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 72e
- Paragraph text
- [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:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 65a
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In the section below, the Special Rapporteur will examine the issue of the trafficking of children into military service - one of the worst forms of child labour, as well as their trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation during conflict involving all persons, including boys, girls and adult migrants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 75c
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] Ensure adequate protection for whistle-blowers and prevent any adverse impact on their careers and working conditions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Human trafficking is a serious crime under international law, but in the present circumstances it is also a low risk, high profit organized crime. As such, States noted that monitoring the illicit financial flows it generates for criminal networks and terrorist groups engaged in cross-border transactions could be a means to address impunity, although most transactions appear to rely on non-formal financial systems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- 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. 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. 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. 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).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- 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. In order to prevent such abductions, families are reported to be confining women and girls and removing girls from school (see S/2015/203, para. 61).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 64a
- Paragraph text
- [All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:] Protect people, particularly children, women and minority groups in conflict-affected areas and people fleeing conflict, from all forms of trafficking in persons;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 64d
- Paragraph text
- [All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:] Prevent and prosecute all forms of trafficking in persons for all purposes, including for temporary, forced and/or servile marriages;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69j
- Paragraph text
- All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should: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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69k
- Paragraph text
- All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:Consider donating funds regularly for the protection and assistance of victims in conflict to the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the International Criminal Court Trust Fund for Victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70b
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] Share and apply measures, methodologies and indicators to address trafficking in persons as early as possible and prevent such trafficking from the outset of a conflict/crisis;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 74a
- Paragraph text
- [State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:] Exercise due diligence when employing workers, including migrant workers, to provide goods and services and help to ensure that businesses operating in conflict and post-conflict areas are not involved in human rights abuses, including trafficking in persons for labour exploitation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 74b
- Paragraph text
- [State contracting agencies of armed forces deployed in conflict and post-conflict areas, including in the context of peacekeeping operations, should:] 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 trafficking in persons;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 75d
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] Disclose information publicly on disciplinary and administrative procedures taken by contributing countries in relation to alleged perpetrators within their national troops;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 76a
- Paragraph text
- [The United Nations should:] Continue its efforts to implement and reinforce the United Nations zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77e
- Paragraph text
- [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:] Illicit financial flows generated from criminal networks engaged in trafficking in persons;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 77g
- Paragraph text
- [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:] Trafficking in persons for the purpose of removal of organs in the context of conflict;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- The media should be adequately sensitized about the linkage between trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and conflict, and should be aware of its gender dimension, in order to be able to report correctly about incidents of trafficking affecting girls, boys, women and men living in such circumstances.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70d
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] Include prevention of trafficking in persons as part of life-saving protection activities from the outset of a conflict/crisis;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70f
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] Cooperate with State and non-State actors involved in the short- and long-term response to conflict, including with respect to the social integration of victims of trafficking in persons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 71d
- Paragraph text
- [States hosting, among persons fleeing conflict, children who may have been or are at risk of being victims of trafficking in persons should:] Ban administrative detention of children, in particular, but not only, for violations of immigration laws and regulations;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 71e
- Paragraph text
- [States hosting, among persons fleeing conflict, children who may have been or are at risk of being victims of trafficking in persons should:] Ensure that trafficked children and any 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the United Nations should ensure that child trafficking is linked to the six grave violations and abuses against children. Such violations should be taken into consideration as grounds on which to bar countries that are repeatedly listed in the annual reports of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict as being involved in such violations from contributing troops to United Nations operations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 73a
- Paragraph text
- [All States, whether source, transit or destination countries of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict areas, should:] Recognize and address the vulnerability of women and girls fleeing conflict to the risk of trafficking for sexual exploitation, whether in refugee/internally displaced persons camps or at the hands of the military, extremist groups or family members;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 73b
- Paragraph text
- [All States, whether source, transit or destination countries of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict areas, should:] Prevent early marriages, whether in refugee/internally displaced persons camps or in the host country;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 73c
- Paragraph text
- [All States, whether source, transit or destination countries of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict areas, should:] Prevent and prosecute all forms of trafficking of women and girls for temporary, forced and/or servile marriages;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 73d
- Paragraph text
- [All States, whether source, transit or destination countries of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict areas, should:] Identify, protect and assist victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and sexual slavery;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 73e
- Paragraph text
- [All States, whether source, transit or destination countries of women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict areas, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 64e
- Paragraph text
- [All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 65c
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] Include prevention of trafficking in persons as part of life-saving protection activities, from the outset of a conflict/crisis;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 65e
- Paragraph text
- [United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations and humanitarian actors should:] 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 66b
- Paragraph text
- [States hosting, among persons fleeing conflict, children who may have been or are at risk of being victims of trafficking in persons should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 66c
- Paragraph text
- [States hosting, among persons fleeing conflict, children who may have been or are at risk of being victims of trafficking in persons should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70a
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70b
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 70d
- Paragraph text
- [States contributing personnel to peacekeeping operations should:] Disclose publicly information on disciplinary and administrative procedures taken by contributing countries in relation to alleged perpetrators within their troops;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 71a
- Paragraph text
- [The United Nations should:] Continue its effort to implement and reinforce the United Nations zero- tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers 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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 72f
- Paragraph text
- [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:] Trafficking in persons for the purpose of removal of organs in the context of conflict;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- 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 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The preparation of the report also benefited from the continued collaboration between the Special Rapporteur and other institutions on this topic, including Caritas International, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Migrants in Countries of Crisis Initiative, the United Nations Organization on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations University, all of whom have worked to pave the way on this issue. Since the identification of the linkage between human trafficking and conflict as a focus of concern under her mandate in her report to the twenty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/29/38), this issue has garnered increased interest, as evidenced by: (a) the statement by the President of the Security Council on 16 December 2015 (S/PRST/2015/25) requesting, inter alia, that the Secretary-General report back to the Council on progress made to improve the implementation of existing mechanisms countering trafficking in persons; (b) the interactive dialogue held by the Special Rapporteur with Member States during the thirty-second session of the Human Rights Council in June 2016; and the adoption by the Human Rights Council of resolution 32/3 on trafficking in persons, especially women and children: protecting victims of trafficking and people at risk of trafficking, especially women and children in conflict and post-conflict situations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- 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, in Colombia, 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. Additionally in Myanmar, worsening security situations and overcrowded camps with inadequate basic services cause some internally displaced persons along the border between Kachin State and China to risk crossing borders into China in an irregular manner in search of employment, putting themselves at high risk of exploitation because of their lack of legal status. Military attacks on camps further worsen displacement and cause undocumented internally displaced persons, including women and unaccompanied children, to flee their camps, exposing them to the risk of being exploited or trafficked. In contexts such as South Sudan, the Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic, parties to conflict took advantage of the vulnerability of displaced and refugee populations to recruit children and commit crimes, including sexual violence and abduction. Security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo have trafficked displaced persons as forced labourers in mines.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The journey of female migrants and unaccompanied children is particularly hazardous. Thousands of such women and children have disappeared, presumably abducted for purposes of trafficking related exploitation. Sudanese and Somalian refugees and asylum seekers fleeing conflict, including numerous unaccompanied children, have been kidnapped or lured from refugee camps or while travelling, sold and subsequently held captive in Libya or in the Sinai desert for purposes of exploitation through extortion. People of the Rohingya Muslim minority fleeing persecution in Myanmar take maritime and overland journeys, often through Thailand, to reach Malaysia as irregular migrants. Initially smuggled across borders, some are subsequently trafficked to fishing boats and palm oil plantations, ending up in bonded labour to repay the debts incurred for their transport. Others are held captive and abused in Malaysia until ransom is paid by their relatives. Since 2011, an increased number of Syrian refugees have been trafficked for purposes of labour exploitation in the agricultural, industry, manufacturing, catering and informal sectors in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Refugees living in such conditions are forced to accept exploitative practices such as longer working hours, lower salaries in exchange of meagre wages, inadequate shelter and other exploitative arrangements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- 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 to meet their basic needs. Iraqi and Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, for example, work in textile factories, construction, the food service industry, agricultural labour or as street vendors in conditions amounting to forced labour. Moreover, there appear to be organized systems within refugee camps for making these work arrangements. In Iraq and Lebanon, Syrian refugee children are trafficked for purposes of exploitation, including begging and selling items on the street. In May 2015, at least 1,500 children, 75 per cent of whom were Syrian, were reported as begging or working as street vendors in and around Beirut, working excessive hours to earn income for their families. These worst forms of child labour, which often mask other forms of exploitation, such as trafficking for forced labour and sexual exploitation, have negative consequences on children's health and education. Unaccompanied children from Afghanistan and the Sudan in refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk in France are trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced to commit crimes, including stealing or selling drugs, by traffickers who promise them passage to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- 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 the statement of the President of the Security Council of 16 December 2015 (S/PRST/2015/25), which underscores the urgency of efforts to deter, detect and disrupt trafficking in persons, including by terrorist and violent extremist groups. Although some form of abduction has been a feature of armed conflicts in the past, recently there has been an egregious pattern of abducting women and girls from their homes or schools in conflict-affected settings. These women and girls may subsequently be forced to marry and/or serve as sex slaves. Such exploitation, which in some cases also involves trafficking for forced marriage and sexual enslavement by extremist groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram and their affiliates, is believed to be a strategy to generate revenue as well as to recruit, reward and retain fighters. For instance, it is reported that Yazidi women and girls are being trafficked for sexual enslavement by ISIS between Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic (A/HRC/32/CRP.2, paras. 127 and 174). In order to prevent such abductions, families are reported to be confining women and girls and removing girls from school (S/2015/203, para. 61).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69d
- Paragraph text
- All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:Prevent and prosecute all forms of trafficking in persons for all purposes, including for temporary, forced and/or servile marriages;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69e
- Paragraph text
- All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should: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;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 69i
- Paragraph text
- All States, particularly those hosting potential victims of trafficking among persons fleeing conflict, should:Consider extending a number of protective measures, especially by providing assistance in securing employment, to people at risk of trafficking and exploitation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Internal displacement due to conflict and persecution affects almost 40 million people. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
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Trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations 2016, para. 26
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- 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. 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.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
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