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Human trafficking in
humanitarian crises

SHARE THIS Posted on 20 Jun 2018 English Español AUTHOR(S)

Sarah Elliott
There has been growing recognition of the heightened need to
respond to human trafficking in contexts of humanitarian crisis.
Although there have been some positive developments, actors need to
take into account pre-existing mechanisms and policies to develop
more robust humanitarian protection programmes and counter-
trafficking initiatives.

The grave risk posed by human trafficking in humanitarian crises has

recently gained serious attention by the international community.
Horrifying accounts of sexual and labour exploitation at the hands of
armed groups, such as ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and the Lord’s
Resistance Army, illustrate the most extreme manifestation of the
problem.

A growing body of evidence has shown that humanitarian crises can

exacerbate pre-existing human trafficking trends – and give rise to new
ones. However, as recent research from the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) argues, this is often overlooked and not
incorporated into humanitarian responses. The IOM research draws on
case studies from Syria, Haiti and Nepal, as well as mixed migration
situations, such as those seen in East Africa and the Horn. Earlier
reports, including that of the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in
Persons, especially Women and Children (focusing on Jordan) and the
Freedom Fund (focusing on Lebanon), came to similar conclusions.

‘Trafficking in persons’ is defined in international law, and criminalized in

most states. ‘Crisis’, however, is a descriptive term, often used to
describe any number of emergencies, such as armed conflicts, natural
disasters and large, protracted and/or mixed movements of refugees
and migrants. When searching for practical responses to this issue, I
argue that we first need to be clearer about the situations in which
these two phenomena come together and, secondly, that we need to
build on existing tools and applicable legal frameworks, to avoid
overburdening humanitarian actors already faced with competing
priorities. There have already been several positive developments in this
regard.

The link between humanitarian crises and human trafficking

Some forms of human trafficking are a direct result of crises, such as

forced armed recruitment of child soldiers, the demand for exploitative
sexual services by armed groups (and even peacekeepers) or the
enslavement of persecuted ethnic minorities. The links between other
forms of human trafficking and crisis situations are less direct, such as
the opportunistic trafficking of displaced people for the purposes of
forced labour in neighbouring countries or cases where children are
trafficked into the international adoption market.

It can sometimes be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain whether a

crisis situation has led to an increase in trafficking in persons, or
whether the arrival of aid workers has merely shed new light on
previously unreported trends. Regardless, it is essential that any
counter-trafficking response outlives the humanitarian imperative.

When tailoring a robust counter-trafficking response in a crisis context

that needs to be reconciled with the existing responsibilities of
humanitairan humanitarian actors, it is important to not only identify
the type and cause of trafficking taking place, but to identify the crisis at
hand, and to take into account the country, and its applicable legal,
policy and coordination frameworks.

Acts of human trafficking are often associated with other violations of

international law within the crisis-affected country or the region. These
include humanitarian law, international criminal law or the international
principles and guidelines concerning internally displaced people. For
this reason, in the absence of a functioning protection pathway for
victims of trafficking, other coordination structures and policies may
assist. These could be the UN cluster response in humanitarian crises,
the Refugee Coordination Model in situations with refugee populations,
or the work of the Platform on Disaster Displacement.

In addressing the needs of people displaced by natural disasters, actors

may already be engaged in responding to forms of exploitation not
labelled ‘human trafficking’ as such, including forced marriage (through
the Sexual and Gender Based Violence Area of Responsibility of the
Global Protection Cluster), or the recruitment of child soldiers through
UNICEF’s Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on grave violations of
children’s rights in situations of armed conflict.

One particularly underutilized protection response to trafficking in

crisis is refugee status. Armed conflict may be a cause of internal
displacement and refugee movements across borders. Targeting people
for exploitation – such as women for forced marriage or sexual
enslavement – could be part of the conflict itself as combatants aim to
displace or even eliminate opposing groups. Victims of such exploitation
should be granted refugee status in the countries they flee to, and
protected from non-refoulement. In turn, this form of legal protection
helps reduce their vulnerability to being trafficked in their new location.
Where that risk remains, they should be resettled. While some host
states provide permanent legal stay to victims of trafficking formally
identified as such, most do not. For these reasons, ensuring that victims
of trafficking also have access to asylum procedures, both in the region
of an armed conflict and further afield, should be considered an integral
part of the anti-trafficking response. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
recently published Issue Brief No 3 from ICAT (the Inter-Agency Co-
ordination Group Against Trafficking In Persons), which gives more
detail on the relationship between trafficking in persons and refugee
status.

Enabling victims of trafficking to safely seek international criminal

redress is also an important yet overlooked counter-trafficking in crisis
response, both in terms of ending impunity for trafficking committed as
a war crime or crime against humanity, and in tackling the root causes of
the crime itself.

Further, targeted, preventative action taken to help relieve the

economic scarcity that often ensues in protracted conflict or refugee
situations can help mitigate the risk of people falling into negative
coping mechanisms or risky behaviour in order to survive, particularly
the most vulnerable. These strategies include linking financial
assistance to education and social services, and considering of the cost
borne by families not sending their children to work within such
assistance efforts.

Calls for more robust counter-trafficking responses in crisis situations,

however, may not translate into specific actions in every case. The
safety of all parties and the potential for conflicting priorities must also
be considered in any such response programme. Given the chaos
inherent in crises, identifying trafficked people and managing individual
cases may be impossible or even unethical if the services victims need
do not exist. Where government actors are known to be involved in
perpetrating the crime, the safety of humanitarian actors may be
jeopardized by addressing this issue head-on. In such instances, where a
direct counter-trafficking response inside the crisis itself is not possible,
identifying those groups most at risk, and improving their protection in
general through monitoring and referral pathways, might be the only
feasible counter-trafficking in crisis strategy to pursue.

Some positive steps

Despite these challenges, providing humanitarian actors with

information about how human trafficking affects the groups they serve,
and how it can be identified, prevented or addressed in the specific
context at hand is a worthwhile investment. Much can be done through
local initiatives and targeted campaigns that raise awareness about
reported trafficking recruitment methods, or by linking up humanitarian
actors with existing national referral mechanisms for victims of
trafficking that may continue to function despite the crisis.

There have been several recent developments that suggest we are on a

positive trajectory. For example, there is now growing recognition
within UN bodies that responding to trafficking and exploitation can be
strengthened further as part of emergency humanitarian programming.

UN Security Council Resolution 2331 (2017) recognizes that the

response to trafficking in conflicts could be strengthened and calls upon
all relevant UN agencies, including the UNHCR, to develop their joint
capabilities and cooperate more effectively. Meanwhile, UN Security
Council Resolution 2388 (2018) focuses on people displaced by armed
conflict and recognizes the need to enhance the protection of any
displaced person who is either a victim of trafficking or at risk of
becoming one.

In terms of specific agencies’ progress on the issue, an Anti-Trafficking

Task Team has been formed as part of the Global Protection Cluster – an
established initiative that coordinates inter-agency approaches to
protection in humanitarian responses. This task team (of which I was
previously a part) will aim to develop a collective position on anti-
trafficking interventions in humanitarian responses and to provide
recommendations on how best to integrate them systematically into the
Global Protection Cluster.

This year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime will issue guidelines on
countering trafficking in persons in conflict zones. Work on developing
these has benefited from an expert round table of security,
humanitarian and protection actors. The recently published UNHCR
Guidelines on International Protection Number 12 also give more
clarity on conflict-induced refugee movements for asylum decision-
makers, while the ICAT Issue Brief No 2 provides recommendations to
states and the international community on what kinds of thinking and
action are needed to respond to trafficking in crisis situations.

It is heartening to see that human trafficking in contexts of crisis has

been placed at the forefront of the international agenda as a concern
that needs to be addressed through an evidence-based and cross-
sectoral approach. However, the recommendations for further action
have, in my view, often been shrouded in a certain lack of precision and
contextual confusion. It is essential to assess with greater clarity not
only the cause and type of human trafficking taking place, but the type
of crisis at hand, the applicable legal frameworks at the national and
international level and the link between the reported trafficking and the
crisis itself. Humanitarian actors should consider which existing
mechanisms could be applied and which practical interventions taken in
the quest for a streamlined humanitarian response to human trafficking.

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