DRAFT CEDAW General recommendation on Trafficking in
Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration
h)
a.
Provide forcibly displaced women victims of trafficking with access to justice,
including through the deployment of mobile courts to camps, rural areas and
border zones. 232
Investigations, prosecutions and punishment
85.
The Committee acknowledges the complexity and the high level of skill required to
investigate and prosecute allegations of trafficking in women and girls that often implicate a
criminal network operating transnationally. Over-reliance by the prosecution on witness
testimonies is often insufficient to secure a conviction. Low rates of investigations,
prosecutions and convictions can also be attributed to lengthy legal proceedings, lack of
trafficking expertise among judges and prosecutors, complicity of State officials, gender bias
in courts, difficulties in securing victim cooperation due to lack of victim-friendly approaches
and procedures, and low corporate accountability.
86.
The Committee condemns the use of anti-trafficking interventions to justify violence
against specific groups of women, particularly in the case of violent raids and entrapment
operations by law enforcement authorities conducted with a view to dismantling trafficking
networks.
87.
International and regional agreements on investigating trafficking offences: Build
the capacity and accountability of specialized law enforcement units to proactively
investigate organized crime linked to trafficking 233 , including through international,
regional and bilateral cooperation with countries of origin, transit and destination to
detect, investigate and prosecute trafficking in women and girls by exchanging
information including by executing memorandums of understanding with other countries
in the region234 and harmonizing legal procedures to prosecute traffickers. 235
88.
Prosecutions
a) Ensure the timely prosecution and adequate punishment of trafficking in women
and girls and related offences, whether perpetrated by public authorities or
private actors, including by developing gender-specific guidance on collection of
evidence and the conduct of the proceedings;
b) Adopt specific protection measures for victims of trafficking that take into
account the needs of women subjected to multiple forms of discrimination,
including forcibly displaced and migrant women; 236
c) Provide capacity building for judges, prosecutors and police officers on the robust
application of criminal law provisions to prosecute traffickers, on the principles
232
para. 49(b), CEDAW/C/RWA/CO/7-9; para. 11(c), CEDAW/C/NER/CO/3-4; para. 19(d),
CEDAW/C/VEN/CO/7-8.
233
para. 25(a-b), CEDAW/C/GTM/CO/8-9; para. 21(a), CEDAW/C/CRI/CO/7; para. 23(b),
CEDAW/C/SGP/CO/5; para. 31(a), CEDAW/C/IRL/CO/6-7.
234
para. 27(f), CEDAW/C/LKA/CO/8.
235
General recommendation No. 30 (2013) (CEDAW/C/GC/30), para. 41(d); para. 28(f),
CEDAW/C/BWA/CO/4; para. 20(f), CEDAW/C/MUS/CO/8; para. 29(d), CEDAW/C/PSE/CO/1; para.
36(f), CEDAW/C/SAU/CO/3-4; para. 27(f), CEDAW/C/KEN/CO/8; para. 23(e),
CEDAW/C/SGP/CO/5; para. 25(f), CEDAW/C/THA/CO/6-7; para. 28(c), CEDAW/C/NGA/CO/7-8;
para. 6(d), CEDAW/C/BRB/CO/5-8; para. 30(j), CEDAW/C/ITA/CO/7; para. 31(a),
CEDAW/C/UKR/CO/8; para. 19(h), CEDAW/C/ARM/CO/5-6; para. 25(d), CEDAW/C/HND/CO/7-8;
para. 23(f), CEDAW/C/ERI/CO/5; para. 25(d), CEDAW/C/GAB/CO/6.
236
General recommendation No. 30 (2013) (CEDAW/C/GC/30), paras. 32(a) and 41; para. R,
CEDAW/C/MMR/CO/3; para. 38(d), CEDAW/C/LBN/CO/4-5; para. 38(d), CEDAW/C/PHL/CO/7-8;
para. 20(f), CEDAW/C/AGO/CO/6; para. 19(d), CEDAW/C/VEN/CO/7-8; para. 40(b),
CEDAW/C/ITA/CO/7; para. 36(c), CEDAW/C/NLD/CO/6; para. 37(e), CEDAW/C/THA/CO/6-7.
29
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