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Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons , Especially in Women and Children
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UN expert on trafficking in persons ends visit to Japan

On 12 March 2009 the United Nations Human Rights Council heard the first annual report report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo (A/HRC/10/16), which provides a global perspective of the trafficking phenomenon and its trends, forms and manifestations.

The report highlights the need for a victims-centered approach to address trafficking in persons. It states:

"Trafficking in persons results in cumulative breaches of human rights, and this correlation needs to be recognized in any intervention effort. As far as the mandate of the Special Rapporteur is concerned, the real challenge is not just in adopting strategies that will effectively lead to catching the perpetrators and punishing them. Rather, it is preferable to put in place strategies that will focus equally on the victim by recognizing and redressing the violations suffered, empowering the victim to speak out without being doubly victimized, jeopardized or stigmatized, while at the same time targeting the root causes of human trafficking. The strategies must be people-centred, bearing in mind that human trafficking is about persons whose basic right to live free particularly from fear and want is under constant threat. We must recognize the dignity of the victims and their right to survival and development. Thus, restorative justice is central to combating human trafficking."

Highlights

Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, a Nigerian national, assumed her functions as Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children on 1 August 2008. Ms. Ezeilo is a human rights lawyer and professor at the University of Nigeria. She has also served in various governmental capacities, including as Honourable Commissioner for Ministry of Women Affairs & Social Development in Enugu State and as a Delegate to the National Political Reform Conference. She has consulted for various international organizations and is also involved in several NGOs, particularly working on women’s rights. She has published extensively on a variety of topics, including human rights, women’s rights, and Sharia law.

Introduction

At its sixtieth session, the Commission on Human Rights adopted decision 2004/110, by which it decided to appoint, for a three-year period, a Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children to focus on the human rights aspects of the victims of trafficking in persons. In the same decision, the Commission invited the Special Rapporteur to submit annual reports to the Commission together with recommendations on measures required to uphold and protect the human rights of the victims. The Commission requested the Special Rapporteur to respond effectively to reliable information on possible human rights violations with a view to protecting the human rights of actual or potential victims of trafficking and to cooperate fully with other relevant special rapporteurs, in particular the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, and to take full account of their contributions to the issue. The Commission also requested the Special Rapporteur to cooperate with relevant United Nations bodies, regional organizations and victims and their representatives. The Economic and Social Council, in its decision 2004/228, endorsed Commission on Human Rights’ decision 2004/110.

In the discharge of his/her mandate, the Special Rapporteur:

a) Takes action on violations committed against trafficked persons and on situations in which there has been a failure to protect their human rights (See Individual complaints)

b) Undertakes country visits in order to study the situation in situ and formulate recommendations to prevent and or combat trafficking and protect the human rights of its victims in specific countries and/or regions

c) Submits annual reports on the activities of the mandate

Special Rapporteur:

 

 





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