Addressing sexual violence and human trafficking in armed conflict: Side event at the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly

The event will provide an overview of the current challenges in the prevention of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation of women and children fleeing armed conflict and the protection of identified victims of trafficking. The insights to be shared with participants stem from the findings of ODIHR visits to Ukraine and refugee transit and destination counties that the Office conducted in response to the military attack of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. The visits were intended to assess of the functioning of National Referral Mechanisms for victim support in respective countries.

The event seeks to examine effective ways to reduce the vulnerability to trafficking of women and children fleeing armed conflict and to enable participants to share promising practices with regard to protection measures for trafficking victims. It will focus on the gender dimension and the necessity to include the voices of victims and survivors in the design and implementation of protection systems.

Participants

Welcome remarks: Kateryna Ryabiko, First Deputy Director, OSCE/ODIHR

Opening remarks: Åsa Regnér, Deputy Executive Director, UN Women

Keynote speaker: Pramilla Patten, UN Under‑Secretary-General and Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Speakers of panel discussion:

Purna Sen, Visiting Professor at the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit London Metropolitan University and former UN Women’s Director of Policy Division;

Fawzia Koofi, former Second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament in Afghanistan and women’s rights activist;

Tatiana Kotlyarenko, OSCE/ODIHR Adviser on Anti-Trafficking Issues;

Mykola Kuleba, Founder of Save Ukraine and former Ombudsman for Children in Ukraine;

Malaika Oringo, member of the OSCE/ODIHR International Survivors of Trafficking Advisory Council

Moderators: Tatiana Kotlyarenko, OSCE/ODIHR Adviser on Anti-Trafficking Issues;

Ruchira Gupta, Emmy award-winning journalist and Founder of Apne Aap International

Registration

If you would like to participate in person, kindly register here.

For online participation, please sign up here.

Background

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has been active in preventing and combating trafficking in human beings in the OSCE region since 1999, focusing on the promotion of international human rights standards and gender-sensitive measures in responses to trafficking. ODIHR has developed expertise and a significant role in the domain of victim protection and the promotion of the rights of trafficked persons and groups who are at risk.