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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. 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
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. 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. 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. 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
Agenda setting of the work of the Special Rapporteur 2015, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Moreover, international law mandates States to exercise due diligence to prevent trafficking, to investigate and prosecute traffickers, to assist and protect victims of trafficking and to provide access to remedy. As trafficking in persons is most often perpetrated by non-State actors, compliance with the due diligence principle is critical to ensure State accountability for the protection of the rights of victims and potential victims. However, the standard of due diligence as it relates to trafficking in persons has not been comprehensively articulated, either by the mandate of the Special Rapporteur or elsewhere. Therefore, the Special Rapporteur is of the view that additional guidance would be necessary to better equip States for the actions required to comply with their due diligence obligations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Agenda setting of the work of the Special Rapporteur 2015, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- In the course of her work the Special Rapporteur intends to strengthen the mandate's engagement with relevant treaty bodies in order to create synergy to ensure States' accountability with regard to the issue of trafficking in persons. She will benefit from their expertise and their concluding observations, general comments/recommendations and case law on issues relating to trafficking, to which she also expects to contribute when relevant. She also believes that the universal periodic review contributes to strengthening efforts aimed at combating trafficking in persons as part of a holistic review of a country's human rights situation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Due diligence and trafficking in persons 2015, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Additional good practices in this regard that have been previously identified by the present mandate holder include the use of mobile units in Italy "that ensure the presence of social services among populations at risk of exploitation, especially sex workers" and in the Bahamas, the opening of "channels of communication" between the Inter-Ministry Committee (the coordinating body for policy matters on trafficking in persons) and the Trafficking in Persons Task Force (the operational body for addressing trafficking in persons) "with the diplomatic and consular corps in the Bahamas, which have been encouraged to report any suspicion of trafficking cases."
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Due diligence and trafficking in persons 2015, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Victim identification under the rubric of prevention - as well as in the context of investigation, prosecution, protection and assistance - also requires greater training and understanding of the "continuum of exploitation" that exists between decent work and forced labour, such that workers experience different forms of exploitation that require different types of interventions when workers find themselves in any situation other than decent work. In addition, training should address the relationship between different forms of transborder movement. For example, trafficking and smuggling are often treated distinctly when in practice they are often very linked, such that what was once an act of smuggling can be turned into an act of trafficking if the circumstances become more exploitative and involuntary.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Due diligence and trafficking in persons 2015, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- In addition to the obligation to conduct a domestic investigation into events occurring on their own territories, due diligence also means that States have a "duty in cross-border trafficking cases to cooperate effectively with the relevant authorities of other States concerned in the investigation of events which occurred outside their territories." In order to comply with the exterritorial implementation of due diligence obligations, States should also, for example, incorporate extraterritorial jurisdiction into national legislation criminalizing trafficking and strengthen protections against trafficking in contracting or procurement practices for activities abroad. For example, Belize's Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act 2013 gives extraterritorial jurisdiction if trafficking is committed by a Belizean national or a person who is resident in Belize. The present mandate holder has also previously emphasized the need to "extend the national legislative prohibition on trafficking in persons for the removal of organs and related offences extraterritorially, irrespective of the legal status of the relevant acts in the country in which they occur."
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Agenda setting of the work of the Special Rapporteur 2015, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- With a view to preventing all forms of trafficking, the Special Rapporteur also intends to develop, through research, thematic studies and other means, an understanding of new and emerging trends in trafficking, such as the consequences and impacts that conflicts and humanitarian crises may have on trafficking, on which there is a dearth of information.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Stocktaking exercise on the work of the mandate on its tenth Anniversary 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- In order to achieve this, a swift and accurate identification of victims is fundamental to the realization of the rights to which they are legally entitled (see A/64/290, para. 91). Mandate holders have drawn attention to the failure of criminal justice systems to identify trafficking victims, who are often simply treated as criminals, arrested and deported with no opportunity to be identified and provided with the necessary assistance as trafficked victims" (ibid.). The Special Rapporteur has consistently advocated for more thorough and collaborative approaches to victim identification, including between victim support agencies and front-line officers (see A/HRC/20/18, paras. 45-53).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Stocktaking exercise on the work of the mandate on its tenth Anniversary 2014, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The basic principles on the right to an effective remedy for trafficked persons are firmly based on established rules of international law. While States are not usually the direct source of trafficking-related harm, they may not absolve themselves of legal responsibility on this basis (see A/66/283, para. 12). Rather, the obligation to provide remedies, or at least access to remedies, to victims of trafficking is set out in a number of relevant instruments and has been widely recognized by United Nations bodies and regional courts.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The first decade of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children 2014, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- As UNODC has noted, these questions are important because to characterize certain conduct as "trafficking" has significant and wide-ranging consequences for States, for the alleged perpetrators of that conduct and for the alleged victims. It is also highly significant for organizations and agencies that are engaged in fighting "trafficking". UNODC identifies "a tension between those who support a conservative or even restrictive interpretation of the concept of trafficking and those who advocate for its expansion. The complex and fluid definition in the Protocol provides justification for both perspectives and has contributed to ensuring that such tensions remain unresolved".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Stocktaking exercise on the work of the mandate on its tenth Anniversary 2014, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Regional and subregional bodies addressing the issue of trafficking in persons also considered the mandate holder as a strategic partner and complemented the initiatives taken, with a view to promoting and harmonizing anti-trafficking approaches. For example, the co-chairs of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes, have played an important role in supporting the right to an effective remedy for trafficked persons within the framework of the process. That has included the development of a policy guide on trafficking in persons, aimed at assisting countries to implement international obligations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The first decade of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Communication with victims of trafficking. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur is focused on the rights and needs of victims of trafficking and it is appropriate that victims are consulted and involved in the work of the mandate. The Special Rapporteur has paid particular attention to developing this aspect of her working methods. She has participated in panel discussions involving survivors of trafficking in New York and Geneva and has included the voices of victims in her studies and reports. She is convinced that the involvement of victims is critical to ensuring that the measures taken to address trafficking benefit those in need; that unintended harmful consequences are anticipated and avoided; and that opportunities for change and improvement are identified in a timely way.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Stocktaking exercise on the work of the mandate on its tenth Anniversary 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- With regard to national rapporteurs and equivalent mechanisms, the Special Rapporteur wishes to mention specifically the outcomes of the two consultative meetings she convened in 2013 and 2014 in order to foster partnerships and enhance collaboration, in fulfilment of General Assembly resolutions 59/166, 61/144, 63/156, 64/293, 68/186 and 68/192 and in follow-up to reports to the Human Rights Council by the Special Rapporteur and to the Economic and Social Council by the High Commissioner for Human Rights (see, for example, E/2002/68/Add.1, A/HRC/10/16 and Corr. 1 and A/HRC/26/37/Add.1) and directives of the European Union, including directive 12011/36EU. According to statements made by participants at the twenty-sixth session of the Human Rights Council and the responses to a questionnaire sent out by the Special Rapporteur, those outcomes were highly appreciated. The establishment of an informal network of such mechanisms from all over the world in order to address trafficking in persons consistently, exchange information and best practices and build on different national experiences was one of the main outcomes of those meetings. Other recommendations included the need for a global baseline study in order to better understand the roles of national rapporteurs and equivalent mechanisms and provide guidance for their work.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Stocktaking exercise on the work of the mandate on its tenth Anniversary 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- At the national level, the thematic reports of the Special Rapporteur have been used by some States (including some that have not so far been visited by the Special Rapporteur) and civil society organizations to elaborate or strengthen institutions and policies; as reference documents for further research; and to raise awareness of the topic covered. Some stakeholders have noted that the thematic issues covered in the annual reports of the Special Rapporteur have been reinforced by a number of resolutions on combating trafficking adopted by the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, which have contributed to wider sensitization and implementation. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur also welcomes with appreciation the decision of the General Assembly in resolution 68/192 to designate 30 July as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, in the context of the need for raising awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights. She also recognizes the two new international legal instruments on forced labour that the International Labour Organization adopted in June 2014: the Protocol of 2014 to Convention No. 29 (1930) concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour and Recommendation No. 203 (2014) on supplementary measures for the effective suppression of forced labour. Many of their key provisions, including those addressing remedies, the protection of victims from punishment for crimes they were compelled to commit and protection from abusive recruitment practices, echo the themes and substantive areas of focus of the work of the Special Rapporteur.
- 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
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The first decade of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children 2014, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The parameters of the international legal definition need to be clarified, as it would be a mistake to assume that the adoption of the definition has ended discussion around the parameters of trafficking. In fact, there is a continuing vigorous debate within and among States and other actors over what conduct is or is not defined as "trafficking". For example, to what extent does the act of "harbouring" enable the definition to encompass the maintenance of an individual in a situation of exploitation and not just movement into that situation? Would a single, minor deception at the recruitment stage be sufficient to turn an exploitative situation into one of trafficking? Is the consent of the victim ever relevant in establishing whether trafficking has occurred? How broadly should the phrase "abuse of a position of vulnerability" be read? For example, should it include vulnerability related to economic necessity or to immigration status? How broadly should "exploitation" (including "sexual exploitation") be understood? What criteria, if any, should be used to determine whether other exploitative practices are to be included within the open-ended list set out in the international definition? What are the relationships between trafficking and related practices also prohibited under international law, including slavery, servitude and forced labour? When would an instance of forced labour or slavery not be trafficking? How should exploitation through debt bondage be understood in the context of modern recruitment and employment practices? And critically, at what point does a bad employment situation metamorphose into trafficking?
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Integration of a human rights-based approach in measures to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, and which leads to human trafficking 2013, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Some States have preferred to encourage self-regulation among employment agencies. This was the approach in some European countries which later adopted tighter control and a system of licensing of agencies, for instance due to tragic incidents caused by trafficking in persons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Discharging the obligation of identification will also require States to review existing victim identification procedures, protocols and practices and revise them as necessary to reflect the particular situation of victims of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs, including challenges of identification that are unique to this form of exploitation. Further steps would include ensuring that those in a position to identify victims (such as medical professionals and front-line law enforcement officials) have the technical capacity to do so effectively and that structures and procedures are in place to support such identification.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- There is also a risk that the development of a parallel legal regime for trafficking in organs will undermine the effectiveness of the extremely comprehensive legal regime that has been developed around trafficking in persons. Certainly, research conducted for the present report confirmed that the very robust and comprehensive set of rules and standards that apply to trafficking in persons for the removal of organs are not fully appreciated and are not being fully utilized. For example, as victims of trafficking in persons, those who have been subject to trafficking in persons for the removal of organs are entitled to a wide range of identification, assistance and protection rights that would not otherwise be available to them. The identification of transplantation-related exploitation as trafficking in persons for the removal of organs also imposes substantial and wide-ranging obligations on States with regard to criminalization and international legal and operational cooperation.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations has also been active in debates and setting standards regarding trafficking in persons for the removal of organs, most particularly through the World Health Organization (WHO), which has issued a series of resolutions and guidelines on the subject, the most recent being the WHO guiding principles on human cell, tissue and organ transplantation, endorsed in 2010 by the sixty-third World Health Assembly in its resolution 63.22. Among other things, they stipulate that the human body and its parts are not to be the subject of commercial transactions and, in guiding principle 5, that "purchasing, or offering to purchase, cells, tissues or organs for transplantation, or their sale by living persons or by the next of kin for deceased persons, should be banned".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- One key feature of the response to trafficking in persons for the removal of organs is its separation from the broader international movement against trafficking in persons. Initial leadership in debate and action around trafficking in persons for the removal of organs was largely provided by the medical and transplant communities, which have been central to identifying the existence of a problem and developing standards and protocols for practitioners. For example, since 1985, the General Assembly of the World Medical Association has issued a series of resolutions and guidelines in which it has condemned the human organ trade and urged Governments to take action to prevent commercial markets. It has also addressed the use of organs from executed prisoners. At the sixty-third General Assembly of the World Medical Association, held in Bangkok in October 2012, a statement on organ and tissue donation was adopted, in which the Assembly affirmed its rejection of the practice in all cases because of the impossibility of instituting adequate safeguards against coercion.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- National legal frameworks governing organ transplantation can be extremely complex, addressing a wide range of matters, many of which affect, directly or indirectly, trafficking in persons for the removal of organs. The main issues are briefly described below.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- All States should take steps to ensure that trafficking in persons for the removal of organs is fully and appropriately incorporated into national policies on trafficking in persons, including national action plans and national coordination and response mechanisms.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- While persons travelling abroad to receive purchased organs come from many countries and from all regions of the world, "a heavier reliance on overseas transplantation and transplant tourism is believed to exist in Asia and the Middle East than in other regions". Recently, some countries have been identified as organ-importing, or "demand", countries in which criminal prosecutions for trafficking in persons for the removal of organs have been initiated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Some 100 illegal kidney transplants were allegedly performed at a hospital in an African country from 2001 to 2003; most of the recipients came from the Middle East. The organs were sourced from persons from Eastern Europe and South America. Investigations revealed the existence of an international organ trafficking syndicate and brought into public view a long-standing and flourishing transplant tourism business.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In 2000, the flow of organs was believed to follow the modern route of capital: from the South to the North, from the Third World to the First World, from poor to rich, from black and brown to white, and from female to male. Data reviewed by the Special Rapporteur generally confirmed the key points of this assertion, except in relation to the gender aspect. The trade in organs sharply reflects economic and social divisions within and, most particularly, between countries. Recipients are generally independently wealthy or supported by their Governments or private insurance companies. Victims are inevitably poor, often unemployed and with low levels of education, rendering them vulnerable to deception about the nature of the transaction and its potential impacts. Available information indicates that, while trafficking in persons for the removal of organs can occur within a single country, it may involve legitimate regional cooperation or, most commonly, potential recipients travelling to another country for a transplantation that would be unlawful or otherwise unavailable at home (known as "transplant tourism"). Intermediaries, including brokers and health-care providers, arrange the recipients' travel and recruit "donors".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The issue of trafficking in persons for the removal of organs 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Available information on trafficking in persons for the removal of organs is incomplete and often unverified. Scholarly research in this area is not yet well developed and anecdotal reports from civil society organizations and the media remain the primary source of information. Part of the problem lies in the clandestine nature of the trafficking. Even more so than other forms of trafficking in persons, those involved in trafficking in persons for the removal of organs (including victims) have very little incentive to come forward to researchers and criminal justice authorities with information and evidence. Victims are also unlikely to be identified through the multitude of channels that are now used to identify other victims of trafficking such as those subject to forced labour or sexual exploitation. Health-care providers who end up treating persons who have obtained organs abroad may be inhibited from sharing information with the authorities owing to concerns over patient privacy, their own obligations of confidentiality, uncertainty as to whether any laws have been breached or, indeed, their own complicity in the arrangement. Furthermore, definitional problems and confusion contribute to poor reporting and analysis and render comparisons between countries and between transplantation practices extremely difficult.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Movement
- Violence
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph