Tag: Law and crime prevention

“Tragically, it is also a problem that is growing worse – especially for women and girls, who represent the majority of detected trafficked persons globally”. 

Separated and vulnerable

Conflicts, forced displacement, climate change, inequality and poverty, have left tens of millions of people around the world destitute, isolated and vulnerable.

And the COVID-19 pandemic has separated children and young people in general from their friends and peers, pushing them into spending more time alone and online.

“Human traffickers are taking advantage of these vulnerabilities, using sophisticated technology to identify, track, control and exploit victims,” explained the UN chief.

Cyber space trafficking

Often using the so-called “dark web”, online platforms allow criminals to recruit people with false promises.

And technology anonymously allows dangerous and degrading content that fuels human trafficking, including the sexual exploitation of children.

This year’s theme – Use and Abuse of Technology – reminds everyone that while it can enable human trafficking, technology can also be a critical tool in fighting it.

Join forces

The Secretary-General underscored the need for governments, businesses and civil society to invest in policies, laws and technology-based solutions that can identify and support victims, locate and punish perpetrators, and ensure a safe, open and secure internet.

“As part of 2023’s Summit of the Future, I have proposed a Global Digital Compact to rally the world around the need to bring good governance to the digital space,” he said, calling on the everyone to “give this issue the attention and action it deserves and work to end the scourge of human trafficking once and for all”.   

Tech dangers

In her message for the day, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Waly, spoke more about the theme.

Acknowledging that digital technology has been “a vital lifeline” during pandemic restrictions, she warned that they are “being increasingly exploited by criminals”.

The borderless nature of information and communications technologies (ICT) enable traffickers to expand their reach and profits with even greater impunity.

More than 60 per cent of known human trafficking victims over the last 15 years have been women and girls, most of them trafficked for sexual exploitation.

And as conflicts and crises increase misery, countless others are in danger of being targeted with false promises of opportunities, jobs, and a better life.

Safeguard online spaces

To protect people, digital spaces must be shielded from criminal abuse by harnessing technologies for good.

“Partnerships with tech companies and the private sector can keep traffickers from preying on the vulnerable and stop the circulation of online content that amplifies the suffering of trafficking victims,” said Ms. Waly.

With the right support, law enforcement can use artificial intelligence, data mining and other tools to detect and investigate trafficking networks.

“On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, let us commit to preventing online exploitation and promoting the power of tech to better protect children, women and men, and support victims”, she concluded.

Trafficking in conflict

A group of UN-appointed independent human rights experts underscored that the international community must “strengthen prevention and accountability for trafficking in persons in conflict situations”.

Women and girls, particularly those who are displaced, are disproportionately affected by trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced and child marriage, forced labour and domestic servitude.

“These risks of exploitation, occurring in times of crisis, are not new. They are linked to and stem from existing, structural inequalities, often based on intersectional identities, gender-based discrimination and violence, racism, poverty and weaknesses in child protection systems,” the experts said.

Structural inequalities

Refugees, migrants, internally displaced and Stateless persons are particularly at risk of attacks and abductions that lead to trafficking.

And the dangers are increased by continued restrictions on protection and assistance, limited resettlement and family reunification, inadequate labour safeguards and restrictive migration policies.

“Such structural inequalities are exacerbated in the periods before, during and after conflicts, and disproportionately affect children”, they added.

Targeting schools

Despite links between armed group activities and human trafficking – particularly targeting children – accountability “remains low and prevention is weak,” according to the UN experts.

Child trafficking – with schools often targeted – is “linked to the grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict, including recruitment and use, abductions and sexual violence,” they said.

“Sexual violence against children persists, and often leads to trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and forced marriage, as well as forced labour and domestic servitude”.

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Court on 1 July 2022, here are five ways that the ICC is helping build a more just world.

1) Trying the gravest crimes

The ICC was created with the “millions of children, women and men” in mind who “have been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity”. It is the world’s first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and the crime of aggression. 

During the first twenty years of its operations, the ICC has tried and resolved cases of significance for international justice, shedding light on the crimes of using child soldiers, the destruction of cultural heritage, sexual violence, or attacks of innocent civilians. Through its judgments in exemplary cases, it is gradually building authoritative case law. 31 cases were opened. Its judges have pronounced 10 convictions and 4 acquittals. 

The Court has 17 ongoing investigations into some of the world’s most violent conflicts, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Georgia, and Ukraine. 

2) Involving victims

The Court does not only try and punish those responsible for the most serious crimes, but also ensures that the voices of the victims are heard. Victims are those who have suffered harm as a result of the commission of any crime within the Court’s jurisdiction.

Victims participate in all stages of ICC judicial proceedings. More than 10,000 victims of atrocities have participated in proceedings, and the Court maintains direct contact with communities affected by crimes within its jurisdiction through outreach programs.

The Court also seeks to protect the safety and physical and psychological integrity of victims and witnesses. Although victims cannot bring cases, they can bring information to the Prosecutor, including to decide whether to open an investigation. 

The ICC Trust Fund for Victims is currently making the Court’s first orders on reparations a reality. Through its assistance programs, the Fund has also provided physical, psychological and socio-economic support to more than 450,000 victims.

3) Ensuring fair trials

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt before the ICC. Each defendant is entitled to public and impartial proceedings.

At the ICC, suspects and accused persons have critical rights, including: to be informed of the charges; to have adequate time and facilities to prepare their defence; to be tried without undue delay; to freely choose a lawyer; to receive exculpatory evidence from the Prosecutor.

Among these rights is the right to follow the proceedings in a language the accused fully understands; amongst others. This has led to the Court hiring specialised interpreters and translators in more than 40 languages, and sometimes using, simultaneously, four languages during the same hearing.

In its first 20 years, participants were faced with a diversity of new substantive and procedural challenges, miles away from the crime scenes. In addition, the crimes prosecuted by the ICC are of a specific nature and often mass crimes requiring important amount of evidence and a lot of efforts to ensure the safety of the witnesses. The proceedings are complex and there are many matters that need to be resolved behind the scenes over the course of a case.  

4) Complementing national courts

The Court does not replace national courts. It is a court of last resort. States have the primary responsibility to investigate, try and punish the perpetrators of the most serious crimes. The Court will only step in if the State in which serious crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction have been committed is unwilling or unable to genuinely address those. 

Serious violence is escalating rapidly around the world. The Court‘s resources remain limited and it can only deal with a small number of cases at the same time. The Court works hand in hand with national and international tribunals.

5)    Building more support for justice

With the support of 123 States Parties, from all continents, the ICC has established itself as a permanent and independent judicial institution. But unlike national judicial systems, the Court does not have its own police. It depends on the cooperation of states, including to implement its arrest warrants or summonses. Nor does it have territory to relocate witnesses who are at risk. The ICC thus depends, to a large extent, on the support and cooperation of States. 

As the Court marks its 20th birthday, it is calling on States worldwide to renew their support by providing political and financial support, arresting suspects and freezing their assets, adopting implementing legislation that enacts key Rome Statute provisions in national legislation, and by signing voluntary cooperation agreements including relocation agreements for ICC witnesses.  

Only with the joint and renewed commitment of the international community can the ICC realize its promises of more justice and reconciliation for all.
 

Michelle Bachelet told the Human Rights Council that her Office, OHCHR, has been looking into the allegations that youngsters have been taken from orphanages in Donbas, where Russia has steadily gained ground amidst intense fighting in recent weeks.

“OHCHR cannot yet confirm these allegations or the number of children who could be in such a situation,” Ms. Bachelet said. “We are concerned about the alleged plans of the Russian authorities to allow the movement of children from Ukraine to families in the Russian Federation, which do not appear to include steps for family reunification or respect the best interests of the child.”

Institutional care

Before the Russian invasion on 24 February, there were more than 91,000 children in Ukraine’s orphanages, boarding schools and other institutions for youngsters, according to UN Children’s Fund UNICEF.

In a statement, the UN agency said that it was aware of reports that Russia “may be modifying existing legislation to facilitate the fast-tracking of adoption” of orphans from the Donbas.

“UNICEF is of the view that adoption should never occur during or immediately after emergencies. Children separated from their parents during a humanitarian emergency cannot be assumed to be orphans. Every opportunity should be provided for family reunification.”

Probe latest

At a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine – created at the request of Member States in March by the Human Rights Council – said that testimonies it had received indicated that “there is a significant number of children disappeared in temporarily occupied territories, particularly children from institutions”.

For the moment, however, there is “not clear evidence” on the number of missing youngsters from State-run centres, and it is very difficult to confirm reports that they have been taken to Russia and given citizenship, said Jasminka Dzumhur, one of three investigators making up the panel.

At a scheduled press conference in the Ukrainian capital to mark the investigators’ first visit to the country, Commission of Inquiry chairman Erik Mose said that the panel had travelled to Bucha, Irpin, Kharkiv and Sumy, sites of suspected war crimes.

Painful testimony

“In Bucha and Irpin, the Commission received information about arbitrary killing of civilians, destruction and looting of property, as well as attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools,” Mr. Mose said.

“In Kharkiv and Sumy region, the Commission observed the destruction of large urban areas, allegedly as a consequence of aerial bombings, shelling, or missile strikes against civilian targets.”

In accordance with its mandate, the Commission also heard accounts from internally displaced persons including those from eastern Ukraine which it intends to examine further.

These testimonies included “stories of destruction of civilian property, looting, the confinement, mistreatment and disappearance of civilians, as well as reports about rapes and other forms of sexual abuse,” said Commission member Ms. Dzumhur.

Describing the panel’s 10 days of work as “productive”, Mr. Mose noted that individuals had shared their “painful stories” which if confirmed, “may support claims that serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, perhaps reaching war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been committed in the areas”.

In coming weeks and months, the Commission will visit other areas of Ukraine before updating the Human Rights Council in September.