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122. The effective suppression of trafficking in women and girls for the sex trade is a matter of pressing international concern. Implementation of the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others,/20 as well as other relevant instruments, needs to be reviewed and strengthened. The use of women in international prostitution and trafficking networks has become a major focus of international organized crime. The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, who has explored these acts as an additional cause of the violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls, is invited to address, within her mandate and as a matter of urgency, the issue of international trafficking for the purposes of the sex trade, as well as the issues of forced prostitution, rape, sexual abuse and sex tourism. Women and girls who are victims of this international trade are at an increased risk of further violence, as well as unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection, including infection with HIV/AIDS.
Beijing Declaration (1995)
The sexual trafficking of women and girls can be a serious issue needing dealing with a conscious set of identifications, analysis of the data, and implementation of counter-action plans.
Throughout the world, the continual criminal activity around sex trafficking has been disproportionately negative for women compared to other groups. There is a reference to a 1949 international rights document.
But this may not seem necessary, as we can consider simply the largest market of the pornographication of the imagination. It’s mostly men. This reflects a long-term historical trend of the sexualization and objectification of women.
The question before us: is it appropriate in civilized and modern society at large, as a norm? We can ask women; we can report the real experiences of women. The public can have a vote on this if they so choose. Then this sensibility can be extended into international human rights work to protect women from sexual violence via sexual trafficking.
The effective suppression mentioned can seem vague, but the statement does not necessarily have to be vague. The tackling of the networks that entrap young women into destitute lives caught in sex trafficking, permitting them to be vulnerable to all forms of violence typical of violence against women and bound to some of the standard contexts with financial entrapment.
Women without financial independence can be caught in the loop of sexual trafficking far more easily. This is an incredibly important factor in most other violence against women contexts with even intimate partners, i.e., husbands or male sexual partners.
Not only violations of the rights of women, but sexual violence committed against women can also come with STIs and STDs, potentially. As per some of the concerns from the previous documents, HIV/AIDS can leave women stuck with sexual diseases that will likely kill them, assist in early death, or leave them with lower quality of life compared if they did not have them – apart from the psychological trauma of those who have experienced sexual trafficking.
Similar with 1995, there should be continued diligence and urgency about the rights of women and the violation of the rights of women in these contexts, as women may simply be more probable to be subject to sexual diseases and unwanted pregnancies with what amounts to conditions of rape.
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- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Preamble, Article 16, and Article 25(2).
- Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) in Article 1.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) in Article 3, Article 7, and Article 13.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979).
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984).
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the optional protocol (1993).
- Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), Five-year review of progress (2000), 10-year review in 2005, the 15-year review in 2010, and the 20-year review in 2015.
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), and the UN Security Council additional resolutions on women, peace and security: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), and 2242 (2015).
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).
- The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo Protocol” (2003).
- Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence or the Istanbul Convention (2011) Article 38 and Article 39.
- UN Women’s strategic plan, 2018–2021
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- 2015 agenda with 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (169 targets for the end to poverty, combatting inequalities, and so on, by 2030). The SDGs were preceded by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 to 2015.
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Led by: Scott Douglas Jacobsen
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