This operational advisory note in relation to the COVID-19 outlines a number of priority actions to be undertaken by National Protection Clusters including the Areas of Responsibility. It is intended as a quick reference tool to support colleagues in the field who are working on preparedness and response to the outbreak. This advisory note is a living document. This advisory note is complemented by two annexes: 1- Overall protection programming considerations (V1 attached) 2-Considerations for specific protection programmes

This book is designed for women, men and children with a view to raise awareness and protect them from the dangers of exploitation or trafficking in persons. Any person may be exposed to these risks as a result of the numerous challenges he/she is facing because of displacement or seeking refuge in another countries.Displacement often affects individuals and puts them under psychological, economic and social pressure, due to changes the displaced person endures and the implications of this displacement from material, human and social losses. Sometimes, these changes expose us, dear reader, to many challenges that induce a sense of vulnerability.At times, this sense of vulnerability emanates from the difficult economic situation and the pressing need to improve our economic situation, or from our social status and our attempts to integrate into a new or strange society. Some other times, we may feel very afraid when our life details change from what we were used to in our home country. Dear reader, this booklet is based on true stories of people who were exposed to human trafficking or exploitation due to vulnerabilities mentioned above. You will also find in this booklet guidelines and recommendations to raise awareness and help you protect yourself from the pitfalls you may encounter on any day of your displacement journey.

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Since August 2017, an estimated 745,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar by crossing the border into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. While it was not the first time the Rohingya people were forced to seek refuge in Bangladesh, the recent influx is the largest. In the 2019 Joint Response Plan, it was recognized that the Rohingya humanitarian crisis had socio-economic implications for the Bangladeshi host communities, increasing living costs, demand over water, firewood and other scarce resources while decreasing the livelihood of local skilled and unskilled laborers. From the 1.2 million people considered in need of humanitarian assistance in the Response Plan, nearly one third (27%) were crisis affected populations in host communities. That is the equivalent of 335,900 people in the Bangladeshi host communities.

Violent conflict greatly increases the vulnerability of civilian populations to human trafficking and slavery. Refugees and other migrants displaced by conflict are particularly vulnerable to this extreme form of exploitation. As the international community struggles to respond to increasing levels of conflict and the consequent, unprecedented, scale of human flight, it is imperative that the United Nations, Member States and all stakeholders work together to ensure that the world’s most vulnerable are protected from trafficking in and beyond conflict. While the anti-slavery movement has begun to make significant progress in recent years, the response is yet nowhere near equal to the challenge. But the focus of UN and world leaders on modern slavery does provide a foundation to build upon. In July 2016, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said eliminating modern slavery is “the great human rights issue of our time.”Leaders from U.S. President Barack Obama to Pope Francis have stressed the moral imperative to combat human trafficking and end slavery. And in December 2015, the United Nations held its first thematic debate on human trafficking, with a call for the UN SecretaryGeneral to address and prevent trafficking in conflict. The inclusion of modern slavery and human trafficking at the highest levels of the international agenda is a welcome development, as is the surge of activity among UN agencies and Member States to tackle these crimes. However, despite growing awareness of modern slavery, the UN’s response has been fragmented and uncoordinated. There is a real danger that the anti-slavery momentum built over the past year will be squandered without high level UN-leadership, much greater Member State engagement, and focussed interagency cooperation. This report assesses the UN’s role in addressing trafficking in conflict and provides recommendations for strengthening its efforts.

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.

For some years now, one of the concerted efforts of GAATW has been to put together a document that will clearly spell out the human rights of trafficked persons. The idea for such a document arose out of a discussion during the International Workshop on Migration and Traffic in Women in October 1994, organised by the Foundation for Women (FFW) in Thailand. NGOs and activists from different parts of the world present at the workshop felt that if a comprehensive document can be prepared it will be easier for its inclusion into the legal procedure. Subsequently a number of people contributed their expertise and time for the production of Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Trafficked Persons (SMR). Last November we revised the document and called it the Human Rights Standards for the Treatment of Trafficked Persons (HRS). The HRS includes an all-encompassing definition of trafficking, and a set of state responsibilities which ensures that trafficked persons are protected and their rights are promoted under human rights law. These responsibilities contain measures to provide trafficked persons with access to justice, private actions and reparations, access to the right to seek asylum, access to health and other services, and help with repatriation and reintegration in their home countries. This comprehensive document aims to promote respect for the human rights of individuals who have been victims of trafficking, including those who have been subjected to involuntary labour and/or slavery-like practices. The Human Rights Standards for the Treatment of Trafficked Persons (HRS) can be used as a guide in providing assistance to women and taking legal action against traffickers.