A/74/148 abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. 47 The trafficking of family members is a widespread phenomenon in many parts of the world and concerns predominantly children. In fact, the extent of family involvement in the trafficking of children (41 per cent) is more than four times higher than in cases of adult trafficking (9 per cent). 48 In practice, the trafficking of family members invariably involves th e intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain and suffering, often on the basis of discriminatory criteria, for the purpose of coercive exploitation including, most notably, forced prostitution and other sexual abuse, forced marriage, forced labour, forced recruitment into armed groups and criminal gangs, or even organ removal (A/HRC/7/3, paras. 56–58; CAT/C/RUS/CO/4, para. 11). 49 45. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, the trafficking of family members amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and, where it involves the intentional and purposeful or discriminatory infliction of severe pain or suffering on a powerless person, to torture. J. Child, early and forced marriage 46. Child, early and forced marriage is a human rights violation and a harmful practice that disproportionately affects women and girls globally, preventing them from living their lives free from all forms of violence. 50 The practice is detrimental to the victims’ capacity to realize the full range of their human rights ( A/HRC/26/22) and contradicts the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 5.3, on eliminating all harmful practices. Child marriage, or early marriage, is any marriage where at least one party is a child and, as the Committee of the Rights of the Child states in paragraph 29 of its general comment No. 13, it is considered to be a form of violence against children. While the practice of child marriage is declining, UNICEF estimates that a staggering 650 million girls and women alive today were married before their eighteenth birthday. 51 Forced marriage is marriage that lacks the full and free consent of one or both parties, or where a person desiring to end or leave their marriage is prevented from doing so, and is recognized as a form of domestic violence. 52 Child marriage is considered to be a form of forced marriage, given that one or both parties have not expressed full, free and informed consent. Data on other forms of forced marriage is scarcer, but the practice is strongly linked to contexts marked by patriarchal structures imposing discriminatory status and treatment on women. Both child marriage and forced marriage can inflict lasting harm, including severe psychological, emotional and physical suffering, marital rape and other forms of sexual abuse, servitude and life-threatening early pregnancies or unwanted pregnancies. These consequences being predictable given the children’s young age, the resulting infliction of suffering must be regarded as intentional and is generally rooted in profoundly discriminatory views of women and girls. __________________ 47 48 49 50 51 52 19-11892 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Or ganized Crime, art. 3. www.iom.int/sites/default/files/our_work/DMM/MAD/Countertrafficking%20Data%20Brief%20081217.pdf. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 (Vienna, 2018). https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/ChildMarriage.as px. https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Child-Marriage-Data-Brief.pdf. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Addressing forced marriage in the EU: legal provisions and promising practices (Vienna, 2014). 15/23