The members of the United Nations Security Council hear terrible
stories from conflict zones with alarming frequency. So it takes
a truly horrific tale to bring them to tears.
When she fell silent, she received a rare ovation.
Murad is returning next week to the UN to be inducted as a
Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human
Trafficking. Since her last visit, the Security Council has
requested a report from the Secretary-General on
human trafficking in conflict, and what can be done about it.
The council should act soon – because the problem appears to be
rapidly getting worse.
Is slavery making a comeback?
International law is clear that slavery is never allowed,
anywhere, any time. Yet the best estimates suggest that 45.8
million people alive today are enslaved.
Armed groups have long forced vulnerable people into sexual
exploitation, military service, and forced labor including
construction, cleaning work, digging trenches, mining and
agriculture. Some people displaced by conflict in South-East Asia
may even end up catching and processing the fish that ends up
in our supermarkets.
But today, organizations such as Islamic State and Boko Haram are
openly encouraging and organizing slavery on a scale not seen
since World War II.
More than 5,000 Yazidi women, children and men are thought
to be enslaved by Islamic State right now. The organization has
set up slave registries and markets, openly advocates for
the revival of slavery through official mouthpieces, and has even
issued “how-to” manuals on slavery. Increasingly, the
group relies on forced child recruits as suicide bombers.
Slavery in a social media age
This is not just Iraq and Syria’s problem. Like conflict, the
problem of slavery has become international. A recent UN
Commission of Inquiry found that men from Algeria, Australia,
Belgium, Egypt, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Uzbekistan have participated in
Islamic State’s enslavement and human trafficking crimes. Other
armed groups, such as Boko Haram, are following suit.
This is partly because of social media. In the past year, the
UN reports, fighters have used the encrypted
communications app Telegram to set up online slave auctions,
circulating photos of captured Yazidi women, including their age,
marital status, current location and price.
Recently, a member of Islamic State attempted to sell two enslaved women on Facebook. Displaced
female Syrian refugees in Lebanon have been traded on WhatsApp, and Islamic State relies increasingly on secure apps such as
Surespot and Threema for its communications.
How the UN can help
Victims of illegal sex
slave trade behind bars in Israeli prison
Uriel Sinai/Getty
Images
Faced with this, what can the Security Council possibly do?
The answer is quite a lot, according to a new report published by United Nations University
(which I co-wrote). Published with support from the UK Mission to
the United Nations and others, and drawing on input from more
than 100 experts from across sectors and around the world, the
report argues that the Security Council has significant untapped
leverage on this issue.
For a start, the Security Council could clearly denounce
involvement with this crime against humanity, and encourage
states to punish any of their nationals who are involved. The
council could also consider a special international tribunal to
address Islamic State’s war crimes and crimes against humanity,
including enslavement.
There is a lot the council could do to monitor and disrupt human
trafficking connected to armed conflicts. This would involve
mechanisms to monitor specific groups’ involvement in
trafficking, as well as online and real-word hotspots. Members of
the council should figure out why existing sanctions that already
apply to involvement in human trafficking – including those for
Islamic State, Boko Haram and in Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia – are not being used effectively to
address it.
The council could also help protect those displaced by conflict –
at present at a high of more than 65 million people. These people are especially
vulnerable to human trafficking. UN agencies and states can do
more to identify, assist and protect civilians in trafficking hot
spots, through rapid reaction capabilities, reporting task forces
and information campaigns.
Enlisting the private sector
A foreign woman arrested
by Israeli police during a raid on a brothel, looks out of her
barred room where she is held ahead of her deportation in a
detention center December 29, 2003 in the Israeli town of
Hadera.
Uriel Sinai/Getty
Images
The Council can also encourage the private sector to help. The
Security Council could work with the financial, technology and
recruitment sectors to develop guidance to prevent their
value-chains being tainted by human trafficking in conflict. The
council has taken similar steps to prevent industry from
profiting from conflict minerals. Why not do the same in relation
to human trafficking in conflict?
The technology sector has another key role to play. Social media
providers may be able to use location data and content to
identify people vulnerable to trafficking, and warn them of
particular risks.
The London Metropolitan Police has released online videos of Syrian migrant women warning
foreigners about the realities of life under Islamic State, to
counter fraudulent recruitment and trafficking. Social media
providers can ensure these messages get to the right audience.
I have said many words &seen little action, 3500 Yazidis remain
under ISIS captivity & most heinous crimes have been committed
against them
— Nadia Murad (@NadiaMuradBasee) August 31, 2016
Nadia Murad Basee Taha’s testimony last December was
powerful and moving. Her appointment as a Goodwill Ambassador
signals the UN’s ongoing commitment to support victims.
Now it is up to the Security Council to take action, with
partners in the private sector and beyond, to ensure that more
people do not suffer her terrible fate. Without such steps, all
the council’s applause will ring hollow.
James Cockayne, Head of Office at the United
Nations, United Nations University
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Read the original article.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/sex-slavery-on-whatsapp-2016-9
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