A/HRC/32/41 large populations of highly vulnerable individuals (displaced persons, returnees, widows, unaccompanied children); fractured communities and lack of trust; and militarized societies tolerant of extreme levels of violence. These features render men, women and children in post-conflict societies especially vulnerable to trafficking. 38. In the post-conflict climate, the vulnerability of women and girls to traffickingrelated exploitation is heightened by their relative lack of access to resources, education, documentation in their own name and protection. While trafficking-related exploitation is part of conflict, it is common for societies to experience a rise in trafficking for sexual exploitation (e.g., for forced prostitution) as well as other forms of gender-based violence, such as rape and domestic violence, after a conflict has formally come to an end. 31 Trafficking involving peacekeepers 39. In 2015, more than 123,000 United Nations military, police and civilians were deployed in 16 operations around the world to prevent or contain fighting; stabilize postconflict zones; help implement peace accords; and assist in democratic transitions (A/70/95-S/2015/446). Other intergovernmental bodies, including the African Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also have large numbers of personnel on the ground supporting the maintenance of peace and security, including in post-conflict situations. 40. Peacekeeping forces play a vital role in protecting communities, including women and children, from the violence and exploitation that is a common feature of post-conflict situations. But foreign forces can also exacerbate, and sometimes even contribute directly to, such harm. 41. Involvement of military, peacekeeping, humanitarian and other international personnel in trafficking is a complex issue and one that is not yet fully understood. Certainly, a large, militarized and predominantly male international presence can fuel the demand for goods and services produced through trafficking for labour and/or sexual exploitation. 42. A 2010 study, using Haiti, Kosovo and Sierra Leone as case studies, demonstrates the link between the introduction of peacekeeping forces into a conflict zone and the subsequent increase in human trafficking as a direct result of an increase in demand for sexual services.32 Involvement of peacekeepers in trafficking in persons, especially women and children, can be both direct and indirect. Buying, selling or exchanging sexual services provided by trafficked women and children is an example of indirect involvement by peacekeepers. For instance, the demand for sexual services created by peacekeepers deployed in the former Yugoslavia led to an expansion of the sex industry, with many of the women trafficked and sexually exploited in brothels established expressly to serve United Nations peacekeepers. The relationship between deployed troops and the demand for trafficked women was unmistakable. 33 31 32 33 See further Rehn and Johnson Sirleaf, Women, War, Peace; Rashida Manjoo and Caleigh McRaith, “Gender-based violence and justice in conflict and post-conflict areas”, Cornell International Law Journal, vol. 44, No. 1 (Winter 2011); and Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace: A Global Study on the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), 2015). Charles Smith and Brandon Miller-de la Cuesta, “Human trafficking in conflict zones: the role of peacekeepers in the formation of networks”, Human Rights Review, vol. 12, No. 3 (September 2011). See E/CN.4/2006/62/Add.2 and Human Rights Watch, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution 11