The Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) have become one of the key resources for humanitarian workers since its launch in 2012. The CPMS have been developed to support child protection work in humanitarian settings by: Establishing common principles between those working in child protection; strengthening coordination between humanitarian actors; improving the quality of child protection programming and its impact on children; improving the accountability of child protection programming; defining the professional field of child protection in humanitarian action; providing a synthesis of good practice and learning to date; and strengthening advocacy and communication on child protection risks, needs and responses. Years of implementing the CPMS in diverse settings revealed the need for a more user-friendly version of the Standards that would reflect recent sector learning and evidence; improve guidance on prevention, gender and age inclusion, and other cross-cutting themes; and promote applicability to a broader range of humanitarian contexts. This revision benefitted from the input of over 1,900 individuals in 85 countries.

This booklet presents the status of knowledge on trafficking in persons in the context of armed conflict. It is based on an extensive review of literature and reports from regional and international organizations combined with primary information collected from areas where armed conflicts have been discussed by the United Nations Security Council. It draws on cases investigated by the international criminal tribunals and interviews with United Nations peacekeeping personnel based in field missions located within or in the proximity of conflict zones. A detailed methodology, interview questions and list of respondents is annexed to this booklet. The first section presents an overview of the main forms of trafficking that have been identified within and in the surroundings of conflict areas. The subsequent section describes commonly identified victim profiles and outlines the main factors impacting their vulnerability to trafficking. The third section identifies main perpetrators and analyses the ways in which trafficking in persons is used as part of their modus operandi. The final section presents examples of trafficking in persons in conflict scenarios on the agenda of the Security Council (where enough information was available).

This report presents the joint research findings and conclusions on child labour, forced labour and human trafficking linked to global supply chains from the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), under the aegis of Alliance 8.7. It is the first attempt by international organizations to measure child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in global supply chains. The report responds to the Ministerial Declaration of the July 2017 meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) Labour and Employment Ministers, asking “the International Organisations in cooperation with the Alliance 8.7 for a joint report containing proposals on how to accelerate action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, forced labour and modern slavery in global supply chains including identifying high risk sectors, and how to support capacity building in the countries most affected”. It also responds to the Buenos Aires Declaration on Child Labour, Forced Labour and Youth Employment, November 2017, which called for “research on child labour and forced labour and their root causes … pay[ing] particular attention to supply chains”. The report seeks to inform public and business policies and practices in order to prevent child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in global supply chains, and to protect its victims. It also recognizes the multidimensional nature of these violations and the smart policy mix necessary to address them. It considers not only the risk factors and policy interventions related to addressing the vulnerability of people, but also the unique complexity of global supply chains that can hide abuse and the links with informality and migration.