A/HRC/29/38
21.
Child victims of trafficking need specific assistance, protection and support that
often differ substantially from those given to adults and they require child-specific and
child-centred measures in relation to identification, protection and assistance that are based
on the principles and provisions of existing human rights law (A/HRC/26/37/Add.2,
paras. 39–42). In particular, appropriate procedures must be put in place to assess the best
interests of the child in every case, before any decision is made regarding the child
concerned, including assistance measures and eventually repatriation.
E.
A gendered perspective to trafficking
22.
Women are significantly involved in trafficking in persons, both as victims and
offenders. Data regarding women are among the most interesting findings in the UNODC
Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2014, which confirms that women and girls are
disproportionately exploited not only for the purposes of sexual but also labour
exploitation. In some regions, such as in South and East Asia, in Africa and the Middle
East, women are even the majority of people exploited as forced labour.
23.
Men and boys can also become victims of trafficking, particularly for forced labour
and to a lesser extent for sexual exploitation. However, lack of awareness about the
involvement of men as trafficked persons has resulted in identification failures, as well as
significant discrimination against male victims, particularly in terms of access to protection
and assistance (A/HRC/26/37/Add.2, para. 34).
24.
With regard to perpetrators, while the majority of traffickers are men, women
constitute 28 per cent of convicted trafficking offenders.14 It is not uncommon for women
victims of trafficking to be convicted for offences connected with, or arising out of, their
trafficking situation, as a result of coercion by their perpetrators to undertake criminal
activities. In those situations, they often come to the attention of the authorities primarily as
offenders, whilst they should rather be identified as victims of trafficking. On the other
hand, in some cases women start out as victims of trafficking and, as a means of escaping
their own victimization, turn into perpetrators, undertaking the most visible and dangerous
criminal tasks. In that regard, the mandate has noted the involvement of women traffickers
in areas such as the recruitment and controlling of children for forced labour and domestic
servitude, and of women and girls for sexual exploitation (A/HRC/23/48/Add.2 and
A/HRC/26/37/Add.4).
25.
Some forms of trafficking mostly involve women and girls, who comprise the vast
majority of people trafficked for sexual purposes and for labour exploitation in domestic
servitude. Moreover, women are also trafficked for the purpose of forced and servile
marriages (A/HRC/21/41).
26.
Assistance and support measures should take into account a gendered perspective,
building upon good practices in relation to the field of sexual exploitation, especially those
based on solidarity and the help that women can provide to each other, and that survivors
can provide to actual, potential and presumed victims of trafficking.
F.
Trafficking and social inclusion
27.
The notion of social inclusion of victims of trafficking is a well-established element
in the context of integration/reintegration of victims in the country of destination or in their
14
UNODC, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2014, p. 10.
9
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