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Refugee men and boys can be subjected to sexual and gender‑based violence (SGBV). Survivors have specific health, psychosocial, legal, and safety needs, but often find it hard to discuss their experience and access the support they need. It is important that UNHCR and its partners take steps to address these difficulties. The objectives of this note are to emphasise that programmes on sexual and gender‑based violence need to include men and boys, and to provide guidance on how to access survivors, facilitate reporting, provide protection and deliver essential medical, legal and social services

This Guidance Note is an internal IOM tool that is intended to help Regional Thematic Specialists as well as Chiefs of Mission, Heads of Office and project developers to apply the appropriate standards of the Organization in performance of their functions. In case aforementioned IOM staff needs to deviate from this Guidance Note, DMM must be consulted. This Guidance Note focuses on Media Access to IOM Beneficiaries who have been Trafficked.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an international human rights treaty which aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and to promote equal rights between men and women worldwide. CEDAW is of great significance to trafficking in women and the exploitation of migrant women workers because it obliges states to uphold, promote, protect, respect and fulfil many rights which are critical in preventing and eliminating trafficking in women and the exploitation of migrant women workers and ensuring that adequate and rightsenhancing protections and remedies are afforded to those affected. The fulfillment of states’ obligations and duties under the Convention is monitored by the CEDAW Committee, a group of 23 independent human rights experts. One of the key ways in which state implementation is monitored is through the periodic review process, in which state parties are obliged to report to the Committee on measures undertaken to implement the Convention which subsequently assesses state progress and identifies areas for improvement. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also have the opportunity to provide information to the Committee on the situation of women’s rights in countries under review and to lobby them to address issues of particular importance with the state. Over the years, throughout the review process, trafficking and the exploitation of migrant women workers have been addressed with varying degrees of success. Limited understandings and experience of working on trafficking, as well as a strong prostitution abolitionist presence within the Committee has meant that more often than not trafficking has been dealt with in the context of sexual exploitation and in isolation from migration, labour and discrimination issues. Information provided to the Committee by NGOs on the situation of trafficking has typically been similarly narrow in scope and depth, and disconnected from the broader issues within which it exists. A more comprehensive and nuanced approach to trafficking and the exploitation of migrant women workers must be adopted if the review process is to be effective in advancing women’s rights in these particular areas of concern. Accordingly, this toolkit provides guidance to NGOs engaging in the CEDAW review process. It hopes to enable NGO reporting to provide more thorough information on the situation of trafficking in women and the exploitation of women migrant workers 7 and to link these areas of concern with migration, labour and discrimination issues. It also provides lobbying tools for NGOs to facilitate effective advocacy to the Committee on these issues, in order that the Committee is better equipped to address trafficking and the exploitation of migrant women workers with states under review.

Based on the principles of respect and equality, and lessons learned from evidence-based results on what works in preventing violence from occurring and recurring, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Women, in collaboration with ten other UN, bilateral, and multilateral agencies, have developed “RESPECT Women: Preventing violence against women”. This publication provides a comprehensive framework to inform policy makers and implementers about designing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating interventions and programmes on preventing and responding to violence against women.

The present report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, was prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 35/5. In the report, the Special Rapporteur takes stock of her previous research and reports, and analyses protection gaps in the legal and policy framework to prevent and combat trafficking. Profound changes are needed in the current approach to antitrafficking action, which predominantly tends to prioritize investigation and prosecution of traffickers over victims’ support, empowerment and long-term social inclusion. Moreover, restrictive migration policies contribute to exacerbate vulnerabilities to trafficking and severe exploitation, and hamper the protection of trafficked persons’ rights. The Special Rapporteur urges States to adopt a genuinely human rights-based approach, and offers updated recommendations, based on the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking.

“Leveraging innovation to fight trafficking in human beings: A comprehensive analysis of technology tools” is a ground-breaking effort to take stock of the current landscape of technology tools used to combat THB, within and outside the OSCE region, including their source, purpose and audience. We believe this will aid anti-THB stakeholders by helping OSCE participating States to engage with technology strategically and by raising awareness about tools to help their work and inspiring them to pursue future innovation.This publication represents the first time the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR-CTHB) has partnered with a private sector initiative to conduct research on a topic related to combating THB. The partnership has benefited both the OSCE and Tech Against Trafficking, which have mutually enjoyed and leveraged their knowledge and expertise in order to multiply their efforts to tackle THB. This collaborative approach should be encouraged and adopted by other organizations, especially in the field of technology to combat human trafficking, where knowledge and expertise is spread across sectors. Trafficking in human beings is a crime with implications that affect all of society, including the public and private sectors, and civil society. In recognition of the expansive impact of trafficking, this publication is intended for use by a wide range of stakeholders including law enforcement, policymakers, public service providers, NGOs, private sector companies, survivors’ communities and the general public. It provides information about different technical solutions which can be used by stakeholders in a variety of situations to combat human trafficking. For example, law enforcement can learn about tech tools that can assist in identifying victims and traffickers. Policymakers can learn about what data aggregation and analysis technologies are used to analyse human trafficking marketplaces and the impact of legislation. Survivors can acquire information about tools to seek support and gain access to services.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continues to host groups highly vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. Migrant workers, particularly domestic workers, are known to be among those who are most at risk. While the region is confronted by many pressing challenges – the rise of Islamic extremism, sectarian conflict and unrelenting hardships – the massive numbers of displaced people and refugees on the move throughout MENA contribute to the extended profile of those vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. All of these conditions together, coupled with already exceedingly precarious working conditions for millions of migrant workers described in this report, create the conditions that are described as the “perfect storm” for human trafficking. This combination of factors is precisely the reason why it is so necessary to address human trafficking and migrant protection now.