A/HRC/32/41
are reported to be confining women and girls and removing girls from school (see
S/2015/203, para. 61).
33.
Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is perpetrated not only by
organized criminals. For instance, Syrian refugee women and girls are trafficked for sexual
exploitation through the practice of “temporary” or child and/or forced marriages. These
girls and women are often forcibly married by their parents, who view such arrangements
as a way of securing their daughters safety and ensuring the family’s livelihood through the
bride price. Once married, such wives are likely to end up in a situation of sexual and
domestic exploitation by a spouse whom they followed abroad (A/HRC/32/41/Add.1).
Trafficking for forced prostitution through marriages with foreign men who then force their
“brides” into prostitution in another country is also common.
34.
Survivors of trafficking, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence
perpetrated during periods of armed conflict rarely receive the assistance they need to
reintegrate into society. Too often, survivors face discrimination and stigma from their
families and wider community, which may make them vulnerable to being retrafficked,
further stalling their rehabilitation and reintegration. Stigmatization as well as deficient
judicial and legal systems typically impede access to justice for survivors. Access to justice
is further impeded by discriminatory laws and regulations. Additionally, sexual and
reproductive health services, trauma counselling and reintegration support, such as
education and livelihood assistance, are severely limited in conflict and post-conflict areas,
leaving the physical and psychological health needs of victims unmet.
Trafficking of migrant workers into conflict zones
35.
Over the past decade, private contractors have been employed by States and their
military to support large-scale military operations. While not all cases of contracting and
subcontracting involve trafficking for labour exploitation, there have been cases where
large firms that hold the prime contract with States and their militaries hire migrant workers
through smaller subcontractors or local employment agencies to perform tasks including
cleaning, construction, cooking and serving, and haircutting.
36.
A pattern of deceptive recruitment, excessive recruitment fees, confiscation of
workers’ passports, dangerous working conditions and poor living conditions, debt
bondage, underpayment or non-payment of wages and other types of abuse and exploitation
are, in some cases, indicative of trafficking in persons for labour exploitation within the
scope of the international legal definition. Examples include the exploitative recruitment of
South Asian migrant workers to provide service at military worksites of conflict areas in the
Middle East. The subcontractor deceives the workers about the country of work, which is
more dangerous than the promised country, and the type of work to be done, and withholds
workers’ passports to prevent them from fleeing the conflict zone where they were
deceptively hired to work.30
E.
Trafficking in post-conflict situations
37.
Post-conflict situations are typically characterized by absent or dysfunctional justice
and law enforcement institutions; a consequent climate of impunity that fosters violent
criminal networks; high levels of poverty and lack of basic resources; significant inequality;
30
10
American Civil Liberties Union and Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale
Law School, Victims of Complacency: The Ongoing Trafficking and Abuse of Third Country
Nationals by U.S. Government Contractors (New York, 2012), p. 15.
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