A/HRC/32/41
(d)
Access to remedies. International law provides victims with the right to
adequate and appropriate remedies for the harm they have suffered. The form of remedy
should, as far as possible, expunge the consequences of the breach and re-establish the
situation that existed prior to its occurrence. In trafficking cases, compensation for harm as
well as for material losses, such as unpaid wages, is an important form of remedy. As the
mandate of the Special Rapporteur has amply demonstrated (A/HRC/17/35,
A/HRC/17/35/Add.6 and A/HRC/26/32), the right to a remedy is often not effectively
available to trafficked persons because laws, policies and mechanisms for such remedies
are weak or non-existent and even where the necessary infrastructure is in place, victims
frequently lack information on the possibilities and processes for obtaining remedies.
Conflict exacerbates the scale and impact of these obstacles. Where trafficking-related
exploitation occurs within a situation of conflict, the possibility for victims to secure
adequate and appropriate remedies is remote because the State most directly concerned
often lacks the capacity to deliver such remedies, and it is difficult or impossible to
determine who is legally responsible for providing access to remedies and how this
responsibility can be enforced;
(e)
Right to safe return/protection from retrafficking/protection from
persecution. All victims of trafficking who are not residents of the country in which they
find themselves are entitled to return to their country of origin. This right places an
obligation on the part of the country of origin to receive its returning nationals without
undue or unreasonable delay. The right to return also implies an obligation on the country
of destination to permit those victims who wish to return to do so, again without undue or
unreasonable delay. Detention of trafficked persons in shelters, prisons or immigration
detention facilities is one way in which the right to return can be interfered with.
International law supports a standard of safe and preferably voluntary return for trafficked
persons, which implies, at a minimum, that steps are taken to ensure that victims are not at
serious risk of retrafficking or persecution. The right to seek and claim asylum from
persecution requires States to avoid returning victims to situations of persecution or risks of
serious human rights violations. Issues around return are complicated by conflict.
IV. Conclusion
57.
All forms of trafficking in persons can be found in situations of conflict,
including trafficking for forced prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation;
trafficking for forced military recruitment, including of children; trafficking for other
forms of forced labour; trafficking for forced criminality; and trafficking for slavery,
for servitude and for removal of organs.
58.
However, conflict influences the form and nature of trafficking in different
ways. First, the severity of trafficking-related exploitation appears to be greater when
it occurs during or, indeed, after conflict, enhanced by conditions that are themselves
a cause or consequence of conflict, such as impunity and increased, generalized
violence. Second, certain forms of trafficking-related exploitation are either particular
to conflict or more prevalent in situations of conflict, such as forced military
recruitment of both children and adults. Sexual exploitation is another form of
trafficking that intersects with the dynamics of situations of conflict, including the use
of proceeds from trafficking, trading and ransoming individuals to purchase arms and
pay fighters, which perpetuates the cycle of violence against civilians.
59.
A range of conditions particular to, or commonly associated with, situations of
conflict fuel trafficking by amplifying vulnerabilities and increasing opportunities for
exploitation. These include, but are not limited to, a distorted economy that is heavily
reliant on criminality and the presence of organized criminal groups already involved
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