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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