Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to thank the Government of Belgium for hosting this important event. I thank all of you who have joined us. Indeed, we are gathered here in recognition of one of the darkest and most grievous chapters of human suffering: conflict-related trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The issue is pervasive. No country is immune. It occurs everywhere in both the Global North and Global South- from Ukraine to Iraq, Myanmar, the DRC, Libya, Sudan and Cox Bazaar. It persists as a silent crime – an invisible war, disproportionately affecting women and children, yet largely unrecognized with faceless casualties. Protracted armed conflicts, mass displacement of civilian populations and a proliferation of organised criminal networks are increasing the vulnerability of countless people to trafficking.
Despite a clear and categorical normative framework in place with UNSCRs 2331 and 2388 recognizing conflict-related trafficking for sexual exploitation as a tactic of war and terrorism and calling on Member States to take decisive and immediate action to prevent, criminalize, investigate, prosecute and ensure accountability, the costs of lawlessness are starkly evident across the world in terms of failures of justice and impunity for these crimes. To date, few perpetrators have been brought to justice. These crimes have the highest rates of impunity and recidivism with the sinister brokers of misery continuing to thrive in the chaos and brutality of conflict zones, exploiting the weaknesses of those already suffering, leading to cycle of abuse that are hard to break.
Since I took office in 2017, my strategic priority for the mandate has been prevention through justice and accountability. While the consistent, rigorous prosecution of these crimes can translate into prevention and deterrence, lack of political will to enforce applicable law sends the opposite signal, emboldening perpetrators and demoralizing survivors. Unpunished crime is repeated crime.
It is my honor to participate today in the launch of an important report commissioned by my Team of Experts on the Rule of Law, on the nexus between conflict-related sexual violence and trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation in conflict and post-conflict situations- a conceptualization of the crimes’ nexus and rule of law response. The study which seeks to enhance accountability for these intersecting crimes, presents a comparative review of national frameworks and judicial responses in 20 countries, with a focus on Ukraine.
I would like to acknowledge and commend the authors of the report, Dr. Anne-Marie de Brouwer and Dr. Eefje de Volder for this important work. I would also like to thank all those who have contributed to this very rich study including the 124 experts from the legal, institutional, and humanitarian sectors across the 20 countries reviewed, for their participation in the “Perception Survey”. The study which analyzes both legal frameworks and prosecution practices, provides a comparative insight across diverse legal, geographic, and institutional contexts. It identifies important challenges – legal, operational, and conceptual across contexts of active conflict, displacement, and post-conflict contexts, that hinder an effective rule of law response. These include the legal fragmentation that prevails in most of the countries examined in the study; the limited use of cumulative or alternative charging by prosecutors; a lack of protocols, training, or inter-agency cooperation mechanisms to guide the justice response for such cases; in addition to a lack of understanding and recognition of the intersection between the crimes and its elements. Other important challenges identified include: institutional silos that limit coordination between justice actors; as well as awareness and capacity gaps among legal, judicial, and frontline actors that undermine the identification and effective prosecution. More importantly, the report contains comprehensive strategic and actionable recommendations: from the need for a clarification and integration of legal definition to the importance of enhancing prosecutorial coordination; capacity-building of justice actors; international and cross-border cooperation and more importantly a survivor-centered justice and trauma informed approach that prioritizes the rights, needs, and agency of victims, ensures their access to medical, psychological and legal support as well as assistance for their physical, and social recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration. I commend the depth of those recommendations as I recall a 17-year-old victim of trafficking I had met in 2017, in an IDP camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria who shared her story with me. Rejected by her family after being abducted by Boko Haram, she fell prey to some traffickers and ended up in Libya where she was subjected to forced sex work, for several months until she was rescued by IOM. She described a sex trafficking hell in Libya. I still recall how traumatized and broken she was. She had not received any support services. What pains me till now is the realization that her plight represents thousands whose personal tragedies remain silent in the shadows of history.
Last month, in Port Sudan, I received disturbing reports of young women and girls, including internally displaced persons being reportedly trafficked for sexual slavery and other forms of sexual exploitation; reports of women and girls being sold at slave markets in areas controlled by RSF forces and other armed groups, including in North Darfur. I signed a Framework of Cooperation with the Government of Sudan on 15 April, and I am now looking forward to the support the Team of Experts will provide to the Government to enhance their justice response.
I am grateful for the manner in which the report has addressed the situation of Ukraine, showcasing it as a beacon of hope for change. We all recall how the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, had triggered a displacement of an unprecedented nature in scale and speed, generating a fertile environment for serious risks of trafficking both within Ukraine and in neighbouring countries. Concerned about the risks of an invisible human trafficking crisis besides the humanitarian crisis triggered by the war, the Government included combating trafficking in persons as one of the key aspects of the Framework of Cooperation which it signed with the United Nations on 3 May 2022 on prevention and response to CRSV. I commend the Government of Ukraine for a number of important steps it has since taken including: i) the extension of legal protection to victims of trafficking and exploitation in conflict including their eligibility for services and reparations; ii) a groundbreaking case in terms of the evidence adduced in the prosecution of a Russian soldier, in the Kherson Oblast, on charges of war crimes, including rape and sexual slavery; iii) the current elaboration of the national anti-trafficking programme for 2026–2030. In this regard, I wish to thank all our Ukrainian partners for their invaluable input to the study and I also warmly welcome the presence of the Ukrainian delegation with us today.
In closing, let this report be the catalyst for global action. Let us all commit to ensuring that no victim is ever invisible again and that justice is accessible. We owe it to every survivor to be their voice, to stand up and say “no more” with unwavering resolve. With each step we take, each barrier we dismantle, let us remember the faces and stories of those who suffer in silence. We have the power to define the future. Let it be a future abundant in justice and grounded in dignity and human rights for all.