Media advisories Special Procedures

Colombia: UN expert to assess trafficking in persons

19 May 2023

GENEVA (19 May 2023) – UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally, will conduct an official visit to Colombia from 22 to 30 May 2023.

Mullally will examine the main challenges to ensuring effective prevention of trafficking and the human rights of victims. She will assess the risks of trafficking in post-conflict and conflict situations, and the risks faced by refugees, stateless persons and migrants. She will also examine the gender dimension of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation and concerns related to child trafficking for all forms of exploitation, including recruitment and use by armed groups in the context of conflict.

During her visit, the expert will meet Government representatives, UN officials, law enforcement bodies, civil society organisations, human rights defenders, and survivors. She will visit Bogotá, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín, Apartadó, Necoclí, Pasto and Ipiales.

The Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference at 18:00 local time on Tuesday 30 May at the Hotel de la Opera. Access will be strictly limited to journalists.

Mullally will present her report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2024.

Ms. Siobhán Mullally (Ireland) was appointed as Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2020, to promote the prevention of trafficking in persons in all its forms, and to encourage measures to uphold and protect the human rights of victims. She is also the Established Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the School of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway. Prior to her appointment as Special Rapporteur, she was a member of the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), elected as President of GRETA from 2016-2018 and as 1st Vice-President from 2014-2018.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

For more information and media requests, please contact: Ms Clara Pascual de Vargas (cpascualdevargas@ohchr.org)

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter: @UN_SPExperts.

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