A/HRC/37/50 the activities of smuggling networks and, respectively, in connection with human trafficking including exploitation for ransom. 1. Torture and ill-treatment related to smuggling schemes 31. In the course of his consultations and country visits, the Special Rapporteur has received numerous allegations of migrants being subjected to extortion and abuse by both border guards and criminals in all regions of the world. In particular, where no safe and regular pathways are available, migrants increasingly engage the services of smuggler networks, many of which allegedly operate in collusion with border officials. According to the most commonly reported pattern, involved border officials turn a blind eye on clandestine entries in return for receiving their share of the smuggling fees paid by migrants. In enforcement of this business model, migrants seeking to cross the border without a smuggling arrangement are either routinely turned away or, if they are caught trying to cross the border clandestinely, severely beaten, robbed of their possessions and forcibly removed back across the border without any assessment of their protection needs. While those who pay the smuggling fees are generally allowed irregular entry at first, many are subsequently stopped by police patrols waiting for them deeper into the territory at "meeting points" agreed with the smuggler networks, and are then returned to the border for immediate expulsion - again without any assessment of their protection needs. 2. Human trafficking including exploitation for ransom 32. One of the greatest risks for migrants, particularly for unaccompanied children, single women and vulnerable men, is to fall victim to trafficking. Trafficking can occur at any point of the migrant journey and for a wide variety of purposes such as forced labour, slavery or servitude, all forms of sexual exploitation, forced adoption, child soldiering, begging, criminal activities and, arguably, also exploitation for ransom.47 Children account for approximately 28 per cent of trafficking victims globally, with migrant children being extremely vulnerable to violence, abuse, and enslavement.48 33. Especially migrant women and girls are often subjected to sexual abuse, particularly when they travel alone. In some contexts, the probability of sexual abuse for single migrant women and girls is reported to be as high as 75%, ranging from sexual acts being demanded as "payment" for passage, food, water or shelter, to gang rapes, sexual slavery and forced prostitution.49 LGBTI migrants are also particularly vulnerable to discrimination, violence, sexual abuse and humiliation.50 Further, in many contexts, irregular migrants are being abducted for ransom. Hostages are deprived of food, water and sleep, and are subjected to forced labour, sexual abuse and torture until families are prepared to pay large amounts of ransom, often after being forced to witness the abuse of their loved ones through the phone.51 In the context of trafficking, such abuse is practiced systematically for the purpose of exploitation, including exploitation for ransom. Migrants often also become victims of trafficking for organ removal for the purpose of medical transplantation. Organ trafficking and the trafficking of persons for the purpose of organ removal tender to a global black market controlled by transnational criminal networks52 with the collaboration of specialized health professionals and local transplant hospitals and laboratories, which may be State-run and complicit in the crime, or privately-run as part of the trafficking network, in which case 47 48 49 50 51 52 10 UNODC, Global_Report_on_Trafficking_in_Persons(2016), pp.26-31. Art.3_UNTOC_Trafficking_Protocol_(2000), in particular the words "at a minimum". M.O.Brhane, ‘Trafficking_in_Persons_for_Ransom_and_the_Need_to_Expand_the_Interpretation_of_Article_3_of _the_UN_Trafficking_Protocol’, Anti-Trafficking_Review_(issue4, 2015), pp.120-141. NICEF,_Harrowing_Journeys:_Children_and_youth_on_the_move_across_the_Mediterranean _Sea,_at_risk_of_trafficking-and-exploitation (2017), pp.9, 21. A/HRC/31/57(05.01.2016),§31. A/HRC/31/57(05.01.2016),§§32-35; A/HRC/29/23(04.05.2015); A/HRC/35/36 (19.04.2017), §§1415, 40. UNODC, Global_Report_on_Trafficking_in_Persons(2016), p.62. EUP, Directorate-General_for_External_Policies: Trafficking_in_Human_Organs(2015), pp. 8-9, 2022.