Statement by the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro at the Human Rights Council - 32nd session

Geneva, 14 June 2016

Mr. Chairperson, Distinguished Representatives, Delegates and Observers,

I would like to thank the Human Rights Council for this opportunity to present my report, which focuses this year on the issue of trafficking in persons in conflict and post-conflict situations: protecting victims of trafficking and people at risk of trafficking, especially women and children.

This report is the outcome of extensive research and consultation with practitioners and other experts on this issue since mid-2015. I would like to pay tribute to IOM, ICMPD, Caritas Internationalis and the MICIC Initiative for paving the way to highlight and address this issue. I have also had the opportunity to brief the Security Council a few days ago on some aspects of this report during its open debate session on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Responding to human trafficking in situations of conflict-related sexual violence in June 2016, under the presidency of France.

First of all, I would like to draw your attention on the main assumption of my report: trafficking in persons  in conflict and crisis situations is not a mere possibility, but a consequence of crisis and conflict on a regular basis, which means that trafficking is a systemic outcome of conflict. However, conflict-related trafficking is rarely detected, and even less addressed. 

My report highlights the current features of the most visible and atrocious forms of trafficking linked with conflicts.

First: 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.

Such exploitation, perpetrated by extremist groups such as ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), Boko Haram and other affiliates, is believed to be a strategy to generate revenue as well as to recruit, reward and retain fighters. My colleagues, the SRs on health, contemporary forms of slavery and the sale of children are reporting today to the Council about their visit to Nigeria, on reintegration of girls who escaped from Boko Haram. A few days ago, the press reported the last horrible crime perpetrated by ISIL against 19 Yazidi women refusing to be sexual slaves of foreign fighters; as a consequence, they were burnt to death on the public square in Mosul. It is the last episode of a systematic persecution of Yazidi women, trafficked and enslaved on a regular basis, exploited and sold in the market to be sexual slaves, which amounts to a crime against humanity.

Moreover, women are subject to sexual exploitation also as a result of so called negative coping mechanisms of their families. For example, 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 sometimes 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. Trafficking for forced prostitution through marriages with foreign men who then force their “brides” into prostitution in another country is also common.

 Another pattern of trafficking for sexual exploitation is the journey of female migrants and unaccompanied children travelling through the Horn of Africa and Libya towards Europe. Thousands have disappeared, presumably abducted for purposes of exploitation including sexual exploitation.

Second: the trafficking of children for forced military service. In this exploitation scheme, children perform a variety of combatant and supportive roles. Many children, typically boys, are forcibly recruited or kidnapped for use by armed militias in on-going 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.

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. However, young women and girls can also be involved in combatant o control roles, and in the recruitment by deceiving others girls and boys into joining armed conflict, using the Internet and social media.

Third: Trafficking in post-conflict situations.
In the post-conflict climate, it is common for societies to experience a rise in trafficking for sexual exploitation as well as other forms of gender-based violence, such as rape and domestic violence, after a conflict has formally come to an end. A rise in migration schemes resulting in trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation is also a common features of post-conflict situations.

Peacekeeping operations unfortunately continue to be the occasion for shameful incidents of sexual violence, abuse and exploitation (SG report A/70/729), which undermines their vital role in protecting communities, including women and children, from violence and exploitation that is common in post-conflict situations.

For instance, in Haiti, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, 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 is undeniable. Also, the recent cases of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic could, in some cases, fuel trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation. In this field, more effective and robust action is needed, as the SG has recently reiterated in his Report, to end impunity and protect victims.

I would like to underline, however, that these are not the only forms of trafficking and exploitation linked with conflict and crisis situations.

Persons in conflict situations and fleeing conflict zones could also be vulnerable to trafficking for purposes of organ removal. For example, there is evidence that migrants fleeing conflict in the Sudan were being targeted for organ harvesting in Egypt. 

Moreover, trafficking of migrant workers into conflict zones is so far a completely hidden issue. 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. In such situations women and girls are often subjected simultaneously to labour and sexual exploitation .

Mr. President,

Let me finally focus on the terrible situation of people fleeing conflict, constantly exposed to the risk of trafficking any time during their journey. For such migrants, internally displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers, the clandestine nature of their journey, the often unscrupulous and corrupt conduct of their facilitators, 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. Therefore, even if they were not trafficked from the very beginning of their journey, they can become trafficked during the process.

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.

The Syrian conflict is causing a massive exodus that should be seen as a global humanitarian crisis, requiring a shared responsibility approach at the European and international level. EU countries have mostly failed to identify trafficked persons and address protection needs of people fleeing the Syrian conflict. Some countries adopted restrictive approaches, which exacerbated vulnerabilities of migrants and asylum seekers.  Fences and walls, and laws criminalising irregular migration do not prevent trafficking; on the contrary, they increase the vulnerabilities of people fleeing the Syrian or other conflicts, persecution and extreme poverty, and push them into the hands of traffickers and exploiters. In the light of the 2030 Development Agenda, a completely different approach is needed, which must be based on the assumption that migrants are first and foremost rights holders, and they must be protected while at risk as a consequence of conflict, crisis, or natural disasters.

 Over the past years thousands of people including so many children have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.  According to IOM figures, 2.856 people died or are missing in the first 6 months of 2016 only; 3.770 died in 2015. Such tragedies have fostered enormous emotion and solidarity in the public opinion, but unfortunately have not changed the terms of the discussion at the government level. It is time to take action, and put in place policies based on shared responsibilities, aimed at ensuring survival, relocation and social inclusion of people fleeing conflict, and preventing trafficking and exploitation.

In the Syrian migration crisis as well as in any large influx of migrants and refugees, the first imperative is for sure to rescue human lives. The second imperative is to put in place adequate screening procedures to protect human rights of migrants, adjudicate asylum claims, and identify other viable protection patterns, on gender-based violence, child protection, trafficking or humanitarian grounds.

Unfortunately, despite some existing good practices we are very far from effective responses. In fact, many people fleeing conflict and persecution are not recognized by competent authorities as entitled to international protection or other forms of protection: therefore nobody knows what is the destiny of those surviving their perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea and many borders of the world. For sure there is a tangible risk of trafficking-related exploitation, as very often migrants have sold all their possession, or lost all their money during the journey, and therefore are forced to accept any working and living conditions, provided that this enables them to support their families.

In countries that have welcomed large number of Syrian refugees, cases of labour exploitation and child labour have been detected. It is well known that in the whole Europe trafficking and labour exploitation of migrant workers, sometimes in slavery-like conditions, is present for example in the tomato picking in the South, berry picking in the North, and in general terms in forestry, construction, and the touristic industry. This is also the possible destiny of people fleeing conflict, if their rights - be it on international protection grounds, child protection grounds, trafficking or humanitarian grounds - are not adequately and timely identified.

This is the reason why – and this is my last and conclusive point – a shift is needed in anti-trafficking policies, from an approach aimed at identifying trafficked persons, to an approach focused also on prevention. Not only indicators of trafficking but also indicators of risk of trafficking should be used by trained personnel in every entry point of large influx of migrants; existing anti-trafficking measures should be applied also in situations of large influx of migrants; such measures should not be made conditional to cooperation of trafficked persons with police authorities; moreover, measures aimed at preventing trafficking and exploitation should be put in place as soon as a risk of trafficking has been identified. 

Mr. President,

In my report I put forward a set of recommendations addressing different types of measures aimed at dealing with different types of trafficking and exploitation.

            Let me to reiterate here just a few essential points.

1. Anti-trafficking measures should be incorporated in all humanitarian interventions in conflict zones. In particular, UN agencies and programmes, international and humanitarian organizations should include prevention of trafficking in persons as part of life-saving protection activities, from the outset of a conflict-crisis, and even if trafficking incidents have not been detected before.
2. In reception centers for migrants, hotspots, centers for asylum seekers and refugees, and in administrative detention centers, appropriate procedures should be established, carried out by trained personnel preferably in cooperation with civil society organizations, aimed at assessing grounds for international protection, grounds for child protection, indications of trafficking and risks of trafficking and exploitation. When such indications have been found, tailored solutions should be identified in every individual case, be they on international protection grounds or on other protection grounds, including the granting of assistance, residence permit and compensation for trafficked persons, and job opportunities for trafficking victims and people at risk of trafficking and exploitation.
3. In this context, children’s rights must be protected at all times. Children must never be detained on immigration grounds, and a durable solution must be identified on a case by case basis in the best interests of the child.

Mr President,

I now turn to the country visit I conducted to Jordan from 28 January to 4 February 2016, at the invitation of the Government. I thank the Government for its cooperation prior, during and after the visit.

First of all, I commend Jordan for adopting generous policies and for welcoming hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees – among them many women and children - which is itself a way to prevent dangerous migration schemes, and related trafficking and exploitation.

In my report, I recognized the country’s commitment to combating trafficking in persons, as evidenced by its legislative and policy framework that protects migrant workers, its multidisciplinary approach in taking anti-trafficking measures and the establishment of a shelter for trafficked persons.

I made a number of recommendations to the Government, including with regard to the ratification of key international legal instruments, strengthening of national legislation and policies to combat trafficking, and increasing capacity-building activities for government officials. I also encourage the Government to address gaps in the assistance provided to victims of trafficking, especially in terms of providing them with effective remedies, and increasing the involvement of civil society organizations in the provision of assistance to victims. I further call on the Government to improve the justice delivery system and strengthen its cooperation with source countries to address root causes of trafficking and create more opportunities for safe migration.

I am pleased to learn that the Government has since my visit taken a number of steps to more robustly tackle the issue of trafficking in Jordan including  steps to revise its Anti –trafficking legal and policy framework that I hope will be effectively implemented.

I thank you all for your kind attention and I look forward to a fruitful interactive dialogue.