This report, Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict: Global Overview and Implications for the Security Sector, demonstrates the horrifying scope and magnitude of sexual violence in armed conflict. The first part of the report, the Global Overview, profiles documented conflict-related sexual violence in 51 countries – in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East- that have experienced armed conflict over the past twenty years. The second part of the report, entitled Implications for the Security Sector, explores strategies for security and justice actors to prevent and respond to sexual violence in armed conflict and post-conflict situations. The Global Overview highlights both similarities and differences in the forms and settings of sexual violence in conflict, in the profiles of the perpetrators and their victims, and in the motives for and the consequences of such violence, between and within conflict-affected countries and regions. Conflict-related sexual violence occurs in homes, fields, places of detention, military sites, and camps for refugees and displaced persons. It occurs at the height of armed conflict, during population displacement, and continues after conflict. Although the majority of victims of sexual violence are women and girls, men and boys are also targeted in armed conflict. In many conflicts, indigenous people or people from specific population groups are targeted for sexual violence based upon their ethnicity. Perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflict include members of official armed and security forces, paramilitary groups, non-state armed groups, humanitarian and peacekeeping personnel, and civilians. Sexual violence during conflict is an act of domination, grounded in a complex web of cultural preconceptions, in particular as regards gender roles. It is used to torture and humiliate people, and to punish or humiliate an enemy group or community. Sexual violence may be encouraged or tolerated within armed groups. In some conflicts, it has been used strategically to advance military objectives, such as the clearing of a civilian population from an area.

This Aide-Memoire serves to generate adequate awareness on sexual exploitation and abuse and the many UN measures against the scourge. Therefore, the objective of this Aide-Memoire is to provide you, the commander, with a quick reference to the UN measures against sexual exploitation and abuse, including clearly defined command responsibilities. The Aide-Memoire complements relevant training guidance prior to and during deployment to UN peacekeeping operations. It is intended for all UN military commanders. Moreover, the document may also be a useful resource to UN military observers as well as other entities committed to service under the UN.

Human trafficking is a form of serious exploitation and abuse that is increasingly present in the UN peacekeeping environments. Trafficking exploits human beings for revenue through sex, forced labour and human organs. For peacekeeping (UN and other) there is a crisis of perception in relation to trafficking and the linked issue of sexual exploitation and abuse, which sees peacekeepers branded as more part of the problem than the solution, along with criticisms that the issue is not taken seriously by peacekeeping institutions. Allegations and incidences of peacekeeper involvement with trafficking run counter to UN principles. Such incidents can be extremely damaging to missions by undermining implementation of police reform and rule of law mandates, perpetuating linkages to organized crime and providing material for anti-UN elements, obstructionists and negative media campaigns.

Trafficking in human beings (THB), as a transnational crime, involves movement of people across borders. In this regard, border control authorities are expected to play an important role in preventing and curbing this phenomenon. Border guards are identified as key actors in fight against trafficking in human beings both in the new Directive 2011/36/EU and the associated EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings. The role of border guards in combating trafficking, is largely seen as in the role of “first responder” as part of the National Referral Mechanisms in identification of victims of trafficking, as well as for the identification and apprehension of traffickers within border control procedures. The growing commitment on the EU policy level for prevention of, and fighting against, trafficking of human beings, has also led to recognition of the issue as an important priority to border control authorities of all Member States as well. The European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) has already recognised THB as one of its priorities and has developed a training manual for border guards related to THB and a handbook for Border Control Authorities on good practices to counter THB. This paper Human Trafficking, Border Security and Related Corruption in the EU, by Atanas Rusev of the Center for Study of Democracy in Bulgaria, investigates the much under-researched aspect of corruption and human trafficking. Rusev explores this topic vis-à -vis border authorities and connected corruption to facilitate, inter alia, THB and how this corruption can be related to the corporate sector and enter into the highest political spheres

While United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations (PKOs) are generally considered to reduce the likelihood of civil war recurrence, attention in recent years has shifted to understanding the dynamics unique to post-Cold War peacekeeping, including the changing makeup and mandate of PKOs, and associated patterns of peacekeeper misconduct. While several studies of misconduct emphasize peacekeepers’ implication in sexual exploitation and abuse of host country citizens, this study goes the next step by assessing peacekeeping’s relationship to human trafficking more broadly—a perennial concern in post-conflict states. Though UN PKOs are not always directly responsible for increases in human trafficking in mission host countries, this paper considers how the attributes of UN peacekeeping missions may create the conditions where trafficking is likely to flourish or flounder.

Both conflicts and natural disasters produce life-threatening situations for citizens and migrants. While violence is at the core of the threat in conflicts, natural hazards represent the threat in natural disasters. During conflict, citizens and non-citizens alike may be the targets of armed attacks and sexual and gender-based violence, and both groups risk forced recruitment into armed forces. In some cases, migrants may be the specific target of violence, as occurred in Libya in 2011. In natural disasters, both populations may be harmed if there is widespread destruction of habitat and livelihoods. Migrants may be more likely to live in neighbourhoods with poor housing and infrastructure, leaving them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters. In both cases, individuals, families, and affected communities have limited capacity to overcome the threats without the help of national governments, civil society, and private sector actors and, where added capacity is needed, the international community. This issue brief examines the differential impacts of conflicts and natural disasters on migrants. It goes on to discuss existing legal and policy frameworks that guide actions on conflicts and natural disasters and explores practical constraints in responding to the needs of migrants in each type of situation. These include failures in governance at the national and local levels, particularly during conflict, which make protection of noncitizens by host countries difficult; weaknesses in early warning and emergency preparedness systems; difficulties in mounting large-scale evacuations when non-citizens are unable to remain in the affected countries; barriers to effective collaboration between the military and humanitarian actors, particularly in conflict situations; and challenges to reintegrate migrants who must return to their home countries because of conflicts or natural disasters.

Under the framework of the technical working group on Engaging the Security Sector on Gender-based Violence (GBV), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is implementing a project on strengthening response mechanisms and accountability to GBV and trafficking in persons (TIP) in North-East Nigeria, with focus on the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Borno and Adamawa states. IOM carried out an in-depth assessment in October–November 2018 to map and assess training needs and existing internal mechanisms in addressing GBV, TIP and sexual exploitation and abuse. Recommendations made in the assessment report were tailored to the development of the training of trainers manual for law enforcement agencies.

Migrant smuggling is seen as antithetical to safe, orderly and regular migration. In fact, the fight against migrant smuggling stands out as a point of agreement in an otherwise fractured policy field. This apparent unity obscures disparate motivations for counter-smuggling measures. Traditionally, concerns about illegal work and residence have been prominent. More recently, the fight against migrant smuggling is also driven by states’ desire to minimize the obligations that follow from the 1951 refugee convention. These are just two out of eight motivations identified in the paper.The eight motivations for counter-smuggling efforts differ with respect to explicitness and legitimacy.Insufficient clarity of purpose makes it more challenging to develop a sound response.Counter-smuggling strategies can be divided between those that seek to suppress the supply of smuggling services and those that seek to suppress demand. The conventional law-enforcement approach concentrates on curbing supply. Sustainable solutions are only possible with a reduced demand for migrant smuggling services. But demand-oriented policy approaches go to the heart of migration management and raise political, legal, economic, and ethical dilemmas.

The study aims to illustrate what are the patterns of human trafficking in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine

The study aims to illustrate what are the patterns of human trafficking in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine