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Strategic objective D.3.
Eliminate trafficking in women and assist victims of violence due to prostitution and trafficking
Actions to be taken
130. By Governments of countries of origin, transit and destination, regional and international organizations, as appropriate:
d. Allocate resources to provide comprehensive programmes designed to heal and rehabilitate into society victims of trafficking, including through job training, legal assistance and confidential health care, and take measures to cooperate with non-governmental organizations to provide for the social, medical and psychological care of the victims of trafficking;
Beijing Declaration (1995)
For the Beijing Declaration and the work for the advancement of human rights of women, sex trafficking remains a particularly egregious case as a crime against women. Sexual trafficking is one of the most rapidly growing crimes in the world. Bustle provided a decent rundown of some basic statistics.
That is to say, enslavement and rape, and sexual assault, are continuing to rise as a collective set of human rights violations. It becomes an international form of entrapment. When looking at those who are trapped in this form of sexual slavery, we see 24.9 million are in it, are trapped in it, based on 2017 data from the International Labor Organization.
71% of the victims of this massive human rights violation are women and girls. Over half are sexually exploited, because this is the nature of the violation of the rights here. Of those trafficked, by implication, or placed into this forced ‘labour,’ the vast majority are women and girls
By implication, the traffickers in the non-vast majority, or the super-minority, are women who traffick other girls and women, and some boys and men. In accordance with stipulation (d), the ways in which to help the women and girls is to allocate “comprehensive programmes” in order to “heal and rehabilitate” those who have been subject to these crimes.
And the recommendations are specific and concrete action items. They reference job training, legal assistance, and confidential health care. In job training, a girl or a woman took out of the job market for a long time because of being forced into sex trafficking can become a serious issue.
Reintegration and development of job skills become a significant hurdle or barrier for these women who may have not too long ago been girls. Another recommendation is legal assistance. This is a common recommendation. For those women who do not have the experience or legal expertise, or know-how, this assistance can be indispensable for the entry into a new life.
Confidential health care is important too. As with the fight for the abortion rights of women and girls, a level of confidentiality can be important, as a qualitative analysis, for the dignity respect of women and girls.
For women coming out of sexual trafficking, for example, this level of dignity and respect can be part of the healing process as they may not have been given much for the period in which their fundamental human rights and dignity were trampled upon as sex slaves.
The cooperation at the levels of analysis provided before become increasingly relevant, too. For example, if we look at the measures for cooperation between the non-governmental organizations and the aforementioned “regional and international organizations,” then the medical, psychological, and social care can be given in a more robust manner to those most in need of it.
These are serious human rights violations and, therefore, deserve the seriousness and due action that they deserve, internationally.
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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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