General Women, Peace and Security

People of goodwill, whatever their religious beliefs, can never allow women, children and men to be treated merely as objects, or to be deceived, violated, often sold and resold for profit, leaving them devastated in mind and body only to be finally eliminated or abandoned.

The majority of trafficking victims are women and girls. Our response must include special attention to their rights. States must adopt gender-sensitive and rights-based migration policies.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.