Security Council Open Debate on Trafficking of Persons in Conflict Situations, December 2016

Argentina would like to point out that, while the threat of trafficking in persons may in fact increase in conflict situations, it is important to bear in mind that the United Nations has already developed a sophisticated system to fight trafficking, which has been designed through resolutions of the General Assembly, in particular under the agenda items entitled “Crime prevention and criminal justice” and “Advancement of women”.

We know that armed conflict and instability — and the resulting economic desperation — amplifies the risk of human trafficking for vulnerable people, especially women and children, people with disabilities, migrants and displaced people. Sadly, refugee and internal displacement camps are particularly fertile ground for human traffickers.

Today they bear witness to the fate of too many civilians — men, women and children — in Syria and Iraq, but also in Nigeria, Somalia and Central Africa. Let us hear their call.

In connection to this, the nexus between conflict-related sexual violence and human trafficking needs to be better understood.

We welcome the strong condemnation in today’s resolution of the activities of Da’esh related to human trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence.

We also thank the Secretary-General and the briefers for their important contributions and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, for her thematic report (A/71/303), aimed at raising the international community’s awareness of the forms and nature of trafficking in persons in situations of conflict and particularly its effects on women and children.

It is unfortunate that women and children account for the vast majority of trafficking victims, which also include boys and men, as human traffickers target the most fragile, exhausted, desperate and vulnerable societal groups.

Regrettably, the majority of its victims are women, girls and children.

The victims, especially children and women are targeted by criminals, many of whom belong to transnational organized crime networks, for sexual exploitation, slavery and other forms of exploitation.

This complex and diverse transnational phenomenon should be addressed from a holistic, coordinated perspective through the system, including in the Council and its subsidiary bodies, as it is linked to the central themes of its agenda, such as the protection of civilians in armed conflict; women and peace and security; children and armed conflict; and the financing of terrorism.

Secondly, we must address human trafficking linked to the exploitation of mineral resources and promote effective measures relative to the supply chain, such as the commercial due-diligence guidelines on minerals from conflict zones, where many women, boys and girls are forcibly employed.

As obvious as it may sound, human trafficking is a crime, tragic and brutal in its disproportionate effects on the most vulnerable: women and girls, migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons.

With a long internal conflict like ours, we in Colombia have understood that women and girls play a fundamental and proactive role in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, as well as in building stable and lasting peace. That is why we must ensure their rights in a safe and supportive environment. In the peace agreement that is starting to be implemented, with the support of the Security Council, guaranteeing the rights of women and girls has become a common purpose in the work of all the institutions that have been collaborating and incorporating a gender perspective into their various programmes.

Conflict-related sexual violence and sex as payment for passage for women and girls on the move, as well as the sexual enslavement of and trading in women and girls by terrorist groups, are a shockingly common reality. Austria hosted an international conference in June this year, entitled “Fighting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence — Grassroots Women as Agents of Change”, which focused specifically on the contribution and the role of women in civil society in Syria and Iraq. We reiterate our support for the important work on that topic by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict.

It will mean a focus not only on target 8.7, which addresses modern slavery and human trafficking directly, but also on Goal 5, to ensure women’s empowerment, and Goal 16 to prioritize the building of strong and inclusive institutions.

Through our support to Justice Rapid Response and UN-Women, we heard last year harrowing accounts of investigations into sexual violence and human trafficking by Boko Haram.

 This applies in particular to women, but also to young people, including former child combatants.

The comprehensive protection of vulnerable persons, including women, girls and unaccompanied children, figures high in our priorities.

 In different parts of the world affected by conflict, sexual violence is used as a destructive tactic of war or terrorism, as well as one of the key elements of the ideology and activities of extremist groups, such as Boko Haram and Da’esh. The terrorist groups that I just mentioned are openly promoting human trafficking as part of their military strategy or as a source of funding. That is why the connection between phenomena like human trafficking, sexual violence in conflict situations and the activities of terrorist organizations requires special attention from the Security Council. The adoption of resolution 2331 (2016) is a timely measure that demonstrates the ability of the Security Council to respond to the new challenges and threats that arise in the area of peace and security.

We cannot close our eyes in the face of the situation on the ground. We cannot wait for the number of victims of sexual exploitation and sexual violence related to trafficking to reach the terrible numbers of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina or the genocide in Rwanda. A constant problem is the underestimation of data on sexual violence in conflicts.

We especially wish to thank Ms. Ameena Saeed Hasan and Ms. Nadia Murad Basee Taha for their courage and for reminding us once again today of the consequences and trauma experienced by victims of war and terrorism, in this case in one of its most perverse forms: trafficking in persons and sexual violence.

We are witnessing a tragedy that is being experienced by thousands of people, especially women and children. In addition to the horrors of armed conflict, they are victims of trafficking and sexual violence: crimes that attack human dignity in the most perverse of ways and, depending on the circumstances, constitute flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and international conventions on human rights and on transnational organized crime.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to highlight that the reasons for and causes that promote this type of crime — and the fact that extremist and terrorist groups use trafficking in persons and sexual violence as part of their strategic goals and to finance their criminal activities — have been exacerbated in recent years due to situations of armed conflict in various regions of the world, such as the Middle East and North Africa, and in particular in Iraq, Syria, Libya and the Sahel.

The report of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in armed conflicts (S/2016/361) highlighted the fact that in the past two years sexual violence has been increasingly linked to the strategic, ideological and financial objectives of extremist and terrorist groups. Venezuela recognizes that trafficking in persons and sexual violence are being used by some extremist and terrorist groups as a terror tactic and also to finance this scourge. Moreover, the enslavement and trafficking of women and children demonstrates their absolute disregard towards women and their intolerance and hatred of other races, cultures and religions. It is the clearest sign of the brutal and despicable nature of those extremist groups, which will have to be brought to justice.

That way we can effectively decrease their operational capacity and, consequently, reduce the number of various crimes related to trafficking in persons and sexual violence. Ending trafficking in persons and sexual violence in armed conflicts means being fully committed to resolving armed conflicts wherever such crimes occur.

Also, it clearly points to the need to have better strategic coordination of efforts in order to prevent trafficking in persons and sexual violence and also to confront it, in line with efforts to combat violent extremism, which could lead to terrorism.

Da’esh and its ilk have shown that they are capable of immense cruelty through the prevalant use of sexual violence and the enslavement and trade of women and girls for recruitment and financial purposes. In that regard, the practices of groups such as Da’esh and Boko Haram in perpetuating sexual violence, including through the trafficking of women and children, demands heightened and greater attention and responses from the Council.

Women and children subjected to any violations and abuses, including trafficking and sexual violence at the hands of Da’esh and similar groups, should be considered as victims and given access to funding and assistance.

The callous barbarity of the treatment meted out to innocent people, most often women, girls and young men, is mind-numbing: being kidnapped, forced into marriage, raped, sexually molested and abused; sold into slavery, forced into prostitution; forced to be a suicide bomber, a combatant, a labourer; and even sent into battle with your baby strapped to your back.

That means ensuring that the effects of trafficking and sexual violence against women, men, and children are appropriately reflected in our consideration of specific mandates and country situations.

Finally, we must not lose sight of the needs of those most affected by conflict-related trafficking and sexual violence — the victims and the survivors. In that regard, Nadia Murad laid down a very specific challenge to the Council today. To establish an effective mechanism to gather and protect evidence of the crimes that have been committed in Iraq and Syria.

Trafficking in women and girls has become a tactic of terrorism, with terrorist groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and Boko Haram openly and systematically promoting the trafficking and sexual enslavement of women and girls. To address the nexus between human trafficking, conflict, sexual violence and violent extremism requires a holistic approach. Trafficking as a financial resource for terrorism must not be underestimated.

We have also heard from someone who risked her life to rescue many of those victims, Ms. Ameena Saeed Hasan. Both of them, along with Special Representative of the Secretary- General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Zainab Hawa Bangura, have explained how Da’esh is openly promoting the trafficking and enslavement of women and children, thereby defying the most elemental norms of international law.

Like many other countries, at the end of 2015, Spain adopted a new comprehensive plan to fight human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

I would like to thank the Secretary-General for his efforts in combating sexual exploitation and abuse and his zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual violence, which in some cases is perpetrated by Blue Helmets.

Trafficking in human beings in conflict situations leads to sexual slavery, to the trade in women and girls, to forced marriage and to the most appalling human rights violations.

We must emphatically condemn the fact that, in armed conflict, refugees, displaced persons and immigrants — particularly women and girls — are consistently extremely vulnerable to human trafficking, in addition to frequently being victims of abduction, sexual violence and abuse.

Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, enables international legal cooperation and bolsters common efforts to prevent, punish and investigate this offence.

We can no longer allow the trafficking of women and girls to finance criminal activity.

Human trafficking can constitute a war crime and is often connected to sexual violence as a method of warfare against civilians. Displaced persons are particularly vulnerable and prone to becoming the prey of criminals specializing in human trafficking for labour or sexual exploitation.

To that end, demand for trafficking victims should be addressed and suppressed, and protection for victims should be ensured, particularly for women and children, who are mostly subject to forced labour, exploitation, violence and sexual abuse.

The abhorrent reports of sexual enslavement of innocent women and girls and other atrocities committed by those criminals are the tragedies of our age and of the twenty-first century. Those Governments and individuals that are supporting those criminals financially, logistically or ideologically should be held accountable and brought to justice.

In that regard, takfiri ideologies that justify such abhorrent acts are to be blamed first, as they provide the necessary mental grounds. The sad trafficking of women and girls in the Middle East and Africa by terrorist groups could only have happened within such horrendous mindsets.

Brazil is particularly appalled by the incidents of human trafficking committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations, which are frequently associated with sexual enslavement.

Trafficked persons are treated as objects, not as human beings. They are often subject to organ harvesting, sexual exploitation, domestic service and forced marriages.

Sexual and gender-based violence are exacerbated in armed conflict. Trafficking in situations of armed conflict has a particular impact on women and girls. Reports from refugees and migrants arriving in Europe suggest that a vast majority of women and girls have been sexually exploited during their flight from conflict.

We wish to highlight that men and boys should be guaranteed the same access to reparations and services. Recent studies on sexual violence against men and boys suggest that they also suffer from a non-recognition of sexual violence committed against them as sexual violence. That wrong needs to be corrected.

Situations of armed conflict provide fertile ground for trafficking in persons, in particular those belonging to vulnerable groups such as women, children and refugees. They are victims of sexual slavery and forced labour, including in the mining sector or as fighters. In recent times, the heinous actions of terrorist groups, such as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and Boko Haram, specifically target vulnerable groups, such as women and children, in situations of armed conflict as a deliberate tactic of war, adding another even more serious dimension to such crimes. Such terrorist groups continue to act with impunity.

In recent years and in too many parts of the world, widespread conf lict-related sexual violence, enslavement and other acts of human trafficking have been reported.

We welcome the reports of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence (S/2016/361) and on the implementation of measures to counter trafficking in persons (S/2016/949).

In this brief intervention, we wish to give some elements of an answer to two of the main questions asked in the concept note (S/2016/1031, annex), including what Members States can do to better prevent and combat trafficking in persons, particularly as that relates to conflict-related sexual violence, and how we can ensure the accountability of those who engage in trafficking in persons in conflict situations.

Enslavement and conf lict-related sexual violence are forbidden by a number of treaties and by customary international law. Moreover, in addition to the statutes and decisions of various international criminal courts and tribunals, most States Members of the United Nations, in their national legal frameworks, consider enslavement, conf lict-related sexual violence and other acts that derive from human trafficking in conflict situations to amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Conflict-related sexual violence and sex as payment for passage for women and girls on the move, as well as the sexual enslavement of and trading in women and girls by terrorist groups, are a shockingly common reality. Austria hosted an international conference in June this year, entitled “Fighting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence — Grassroots Women as Agents of Change”, which focused specifically on the contribution and the role of women in civil society in Syria and Iraq. We reiterate our support for the important work on that topic by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Civilian populations, notably women and often children, often war refugees and migrants, are subjected to a wide range of forms of exploitation, including sexual violence, forced and compulsory labour, enslavement, as well as forcible recruitment into armed services.

Particularly disturbing is the nexus between conflict-related sexual violence and human trafficking, acknowledged earlier in the Secretary-General’s report on conflict-related sexual violence (S/2016/361/Rev.1). Abductions of women and children, systematic and widespread exploitation and abuse, including rape, sexual violence, forced marriages and sex slavery, perpetrated by Da’esh, Boko Haram and other terrorist and armed groups, are horrifying and deeply deplorable, and demand our immediate response.

Fighting sexual and gender- based violence must be better reflected in counter- terrorist efforts.

We share wth previous speakers the concern regarding the nexus between conflict-related sexual violence and human trafficking, particularly the cases that involve United Nations personnel and peacekeepers. As a troop-contributing country, the Kingdom of Thailand welcomes the efforts of the Security Council and the United Nations system to address and respond to reports of trafficking in persons, as well as sexual exploitation and abuse, in the context of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

The trafficking of vulnerable people, especially women and children, who should be protected in conflict situations, is an even more heinous crime; they are deceived or abducted into exploitation, torture and servitude.

In situations of conflict, civilians, particularly women and girls, are extremely vulnerable to being trafficked and to sexual violence.

Canada has been working to keep the issue of violence against women and girls, including the appalling atrocities committed by Da’esh, at the top of the global agenda.

Our Parliament unanimously adopted a motion to provide asylum to the most vulnerable Yazidi women and girls.

It is well known that internally displaced and refugee women and girls in areas controlled by Da’esh have been sold or forcibly married to fighters in armed groups. The horrendous crimes committed against Yazidi women and girls in particular have generated deep sympathy worldwide.

We must condemn those acts and demand that the Syrian Government uphold its international obligations by refraining from using child soldiers, protecting women who have been sold as sex slaves and prosecuting traffickers, whether they are Government officials or terrorists. We must be the voice of women such as Marwa and Nadia and so many others.

The executive committee develops and implements awareness-raising campaigns and is in charge of training civil servants to address the problem of trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation and related crimes in order to understand the complexity of the crime and its direct links to drug trafficking and organized crime.

 Asustained, coordinated and coherent response by the international, regional and national entities concerned is required to effectively pre-empt and disrupt that nexus, especially when it involves women and children.

Any possible linkage with trafficking in case of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers must be based on credible information and evidence.

During conflict, traffickers take advantage of the lack of normalcy and the rule of law to exploit the existing vulnerabilities of people and act with impunity to finance war, provide sexual services and reduce, if not eliminate, ethnic or religious minorities.

While it is true that non-State armed groups have long exploited vulnerable people for sexual purposes, military service and forced labour, those groups, particularly Da’esh and Boko Haram, encourage and run a slave trade of unprecedented dimensions.

Members heard, for the first time, the poignant testimony of Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a Yezidi survivor of sexual slavery at the hands of Da’esh.

We must continue to work on identifying individuals and groups that fund terrorist groups through their sexual trafficking and violence.

That system must also take into account mechanisms for dealing with and combating the trafficking in persons and sexual violence in its broadest sense, as well as violent extremism in relation to situations of armed conflict.

Trafficking for forced labour or sexual exploitation or for harvesting tissue, cells and organs represents the cruellest type of international organized crime and is well fuelled by poverty or conflict.

First, at the United Nations level, we must strengthen the link between combating human trafficking and the implementation of efforts to end sexual violence and grave violations of children’s rights in conflict situations.

In connection to this, the nexus between conflict-related sexual violence and human trafficking needs to be better understood.

We welcome the strong condemnation in today’s resolution of the activities of Da’esh related to human trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence.

As the Secretary-General has made clear, the trafficking of women and girls and their sexual enslavement are a source of financing for the Islamic State and a recruitment tool.

Every year, millions of men, women and children are victims of human trafficking for exploitation, which includes prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor and services, slavery and similar practices, involuntary servitude, and removal of organs and other forms of exploitation.

We note with concern that trafficking in persons in situations of conflict-related sexual violence has become a war tactic by violent extremist groups. It turns individuals into commodities, dehumanizes them and exacerbates the multiple and protracted harmful effects of conflict-related violence on victims. And it must be stressed that a consistent mark of this crime is that most victims are women and girls.

We have seen it in horrific cases involving the trafficking and sexual abuse of women by the so-called Islamic State and Boko Haram.

The conflicts in the Central African Republic, the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and, more recently, South Sudan continue to expose the most vulnerable sections of our population to the criminal networks that traffic in them for mainly cheap labour, sexual exploitation and, in other cases, slavery.

A number of reports have recently revealed some of the most horrific experiences that the children and women who have been trafficked go through in some of the countries where they end up being sold as objects. Uganda itself has been a victim of this scourge, whereby some our children, particularly girls and young women, who have been trafficked have endured torture and sexual abuse at the hands of their tormentors.

It must be underscored that human trafficking has recently become more acute along migration routes, where vulnerable communities and individuals continue to be subjected to sexual violence, degrading treatment, organ harvesting, murder and kidnapping for ransom.

The use of victims of trafficking in combat, sexual exploitation and forced labour has very much become a hallmark of armed conflict and humanitarian crises. The link between sexual violence and trafficking is plain to see. We have watched with horror how armed groups use sexual violence, the commercialization and the enslavement of girls and women as a tool of terrorism and a source of financing. Our repudiation of these acts must be unequivocal and compelling and must be backed up by measures to prevent them and to provide rehabilitation and reintegration to the victims.

We share wth previous speakers the concern regarding the nexus between conflict-related sexual violence and human trafficking, particularly the cases that involve United Nations personnel and peacekeepers. As a troop-contributing country, the Kingdom of Thailand welcomes the efforts of the Security Council and the United Nations system to address and respond to reports of trafficking in persons, as well as sexual exploitation and abuse, in the context of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

 Asustained, coordinated and coherent response by the international, regional and national entities concerned is required to effectively pre-empt and disrupt that nexus, especially when it involves women and children.

Any possible linkage with trafficking in case of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers must be based on credible information and evidence.

Human trafficking is among the most despicable crimes known to humankind, as it affects the most vulnerable, such as migrants and internally displaced persons, especially women and girls.

Sexual and gender-based violence are exacerbated in armed conflict. Trafficking in situations of armed conflict has a particular impact on women and girls. Reports from refugees and migrants arriving in Europe suggest that a vast majority of women and girls have been sexually exploited during their flight from conflict.

We wish to highlight that men and boys should be guaranteed the same access to reparations and services. Recent studies on sexual violence against men and boys suggest that they also suffer from a non-recognition of sexual violence committed against them as sexual violence. That wrong needs to be corrected.

Those displaced by conflict, especially women and girls and minorities, are particularly vulnerable to that form of crude exploitation.

Civilian populations, notably women and often children, often war refugees and migrants, are subjected to a wide range of forms of exploitation, including sexual violence, forced and compulsory labour, enslavement, as well as forcible recruitment into armed services.

Particularly disturbing is the nexus between conflict-related sexual violence and human trafficking, acknowledged earlier in the Secretary-General’s report on conflict-related sexual violence (S/2016/361/Rev.1). Abductions of women and children, systematic and widespread exploitation and abuse, including rape, sexual violence, forced marriages and sex slavery, perpetrated by Da’esh, Boko Haram and other terrorist and armed groups, are horrifying and deeply deplorable, and demand our immediate response.

Fighting sexual and gender- based violence must be better reflected in counter- terrorist efforts.

We know that armed conflict and instability — and the resulting economic desperation — amplifies the risk of human trafficking for vulnerable people, especially women and children, people with disabilities, migrants and displaced people. Sadly, refugee and internal displacement camps are particularly fertile ground for human traffickers.

The rising trends in forced displacement is heightening the risks for the human trafficking of those displaced. Women and children are particularly more affected by these developments.

Trafficking in human beings in conflict situations leads to sexual slavery, to the trade in women and girls, to forced marriage and to the most appalling human rights violations.

We cannot accept impunity for this kind of crime. Venezuela is in favour of effective accountability for all forms of sexual violence

To that end, demand for trafficking victims should be addressed and suppressed, and protection for victims should be ensured, particularly for women and children, who are mostly subject to forced labour, exploitation, violence and sexual abuse.

The abhorrent reports of sexual enslavement of innocent women and girls and other atrocities committed by those criminals are the tragedies of our age and of the twenty-first century. Those Governments and individuals that are supporting those criminals financially, logistically or ideologically should be held accountable and brought to justice.

In that regard, takfiri ideologies that justify such abhorrent acts are to be blamed first, as they provide the necessary mental grounds. The sad trafficking of women and girls in the Middle East and Africa by terrorist groups could only have happened within such horrendous mindsets.

Canada commends the comprehensive approach taken by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Zainab Bangura, as well as the work of t the Team of Experts on Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict, and UN Action. We also commend the partnership between UN-Women and Justice Rapid Response and their work in deploying experts to investigate and document such crimes with a view to supporting prosecutions by national or international tribunals.

Finally, at the national level, we are in the process of completing our legislative arsenal. A bill is currently before Parliament that proposes in particular to punish any client soliciting the services of a sexually exploited victim of human trafficking.

In addition, the Council can serve to bolster other accountability measures, for example, by supporting Special Representative Bangura, by active deployment of women-protection advisers in peacekeeping missions, by referring cases to the International Criminal Court, and by supporting regional and national systems of accountability.

Resolution 2242 (2015), the Informal Expert Group on Women and Peace and Security, which was established by the delegations of Spain and Great Britain, and the launch of the Network of National Coordinators for Women and Peace and Security are just a few of the examples of real achievements made by Spain to improve the efficiency of the Organization, particularly of the Security Council I would also like to emphasize the importance of the topic proposed for discussion in today’s open debate.

Thirdly, we must incorporate the issue of the trafficking of women and girls in conflict in the agenda of the Informal Expert Group on Women and Peace and Security, known as the 2242 Group, created by Spain, since this is considered to be a challenge in the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000).