A/HRC/26/37
by the Special Rapporteur in the course of her work,15 pointing to a need for all countries to
monitor and regularly evaluate the impact of their prevention efforts.
59.
Addressing demand. Trafficking feeds into a global market that seeks out cheap,
unregulated and exploitable labour and the goods and services that such labour can
produce. Both mandate holders have affirmed that international law requires States to
discourage the demand that fosters exploitation related to trafficking.16 The Special
Rapporteur has examined that demand in detail in the context of a review of prevention
(A/65/288, paras. 29–38) and in a dedicated report (A/HRC/23/48). In the latter report, the
Special Rapporteur recommended that States take steps to understand the nature of demand
and develop measures to discourage it, based on accurate information and experience. Basic
human rights, including the prohibition on discrimination, should further guide this process.
The Special Rapporteur also noted the importance of ensuring that measures to address
demand do not themselves negatively affect individual rights and freedoms.
60.
Supply chains and public-private partnerships. The mandate has maintained a strong
focus on non-State actors and the role they can or should play in preventing and responding
to trafficking. Information about trafficked labour in the supply chains of major industries,
including agriculture, information and communications technology, fishing, garmentmaking and textiles, has alerted the mandate to the importance of engaging directly with
business corporations. Over the past years, the Special Rapporteur has taken up this
difficult issue, undertaking research and holding wide-ranging consultations on trafficking
in global supply chains. In a dedicated report she outlined a series of clear and practical
recommendations for businesses and States to help them eliminate trafficking in the supply
chain (A/67/261). This provided the basis for further consultations with business experts
that resulted in a draft set of benchmarks and indicators for ensuring that supply chains are
free of trafficking. That draft was presented to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-third
session (A/HRC/23/48/Add.4, appendix I) and the second United Nations Forum on
Business and Human Rights in 2013.
E.
Trafficking in persons for the removal of organs
61.
While trafficking in persons for the removal of organs is specified as a form of
exploitation related to trafficking in the international legal definition, until very recently the
mandate did not deal substantively with this issue. This reflected the paucity of reliable
information on the practice and uncertainty around its true extent. However, in recent years,
there have been a series of reputable reports documenting systematic trafficking in persons
for the removal of organs in several different regions of the world and major prosecutions
in Africa and Europe. Anecdotal reports of this form of trafficking in persons were also
provided to the mandate in the context of recent country visits. Consistently with the
commitment of the mandate to tackling difficult, emerging and under-researched issues, the
Special Rapporteur focused her attention on trafficking in persons for the removal of
organs, with a view to contributing to the international conversation at a pivotal point. She
reported on trafficking in persons for the removal of organs on the basis of an expert
background paper, peer-reviewed by an informal group of transplant specialists, ethicists
and researchers. (A/68/256).
15
16
16
See, for example, A/65/288, para. 45.
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, art.
9 (5) and Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, art. 6.
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