1.4.5. HUMAN RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES The relationship between trafficking and disability has not yet been fully explored. The available literature generally does not touch on this issue and there is no reference to disability in any of the international instruments that are directly relevant to trafficking, including the Recommended Principles and Guidelines and the Trafficking Protocol. Despite this lack of attention there is some anecdotal evidence emerging that disability, both mental and physical, can increase vulnerability to trafficking and related exploitation.101 According to World Vision, “[t]he very factors that challenge people living with disabilities to take an active role in their communities are the same ones that make them attractive to traffickers. People with disabilities are often worth less to their community and potentially more to traffickers”.102 Certainly, persons with disabilities may be more susceptible to intimidation, coercion, deception and abuse of authority. In some cases (for example, the trafficking of persons with disabilities for forced begging), the very fact of an individual’s disability is key to their exploitation, as traffickers capitalize on the disability to make money. Disability can also be an element in the poverty, domestic and community violence, inequality and discrimination that are routinely identified as factors exacerbating vulnerability to trafficking. The trafficking process and resulting exploitation may themselves be a cause of disability. The See USAID, Women in Development, Women with Disabilities and International Development, available at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs /wid/gender/wwd.html. 101 World Vision, 10 Things You Need to Know about Human Trafficking (2009), p. 40. 102 trauma suffered by many survivors of trafficking has been well documented.103 It is also clear that, especially for women and girls, trafficking increases the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other illnesses that cause serious disability.104 Disability can also impact on the post-trafficking situation. Victims with disabilities may find it particularly difficult to access available protection and support mechanisms. The physical and attitudinal barriers that confront people with disabilities may further hamper the ability of victims with disabilities to receive the assistance they require and are entitled to. Until recently, the international law on disability was not very clear. While several of the treaty bodies, including the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, had issued general statements on disability,105 only one of the core human See, for example, Cathy Zimmerman, The Health Risks and Consequences of Trafficking in Women and Adolescents: Findings from a European Study (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2003). 103 104 See part 2.1, section 1.4.1, above. See, for example, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 5: persons with disabilities. The general comment identifies an obligation, on States parties, to eliminate discrimination of persons with disabilities in the areas of equal rights for men and women (art. 3), work (arts. 6-8), social security (art. 9), protection of the family (art. 10), adequate standard of living (art. 11), right to physical and mental health (art. 12), right to education (arts. 13 and 14) and the right to take part in cultural life and enjoy the benefits of scientific progress (art. 15). See also Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 18: disabled women, which states that women with disabilities suffer from “a double discrimination linked to their special living conditions” and are a particularly vulnerable group. It recommends that Governments provide information on women with disabilities in their periodic reports and on special measures taken to ensure that women with disabilities “have equal access to education and employment, health services and social security, and to ensure that they can participate in all areas of social and cultural life.” 105 COMMENTARY 71