Introduction
The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (also called the Palermo Convention) was adopted through UN Resolution 55/25 (2001) with the objective of combatting transnational organised crime around the world. Within this resolution, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (henceforth the Palermo Protocol ) laid the foundation for novel legislative reform for protecting victims of human trafficking, preventing the crime and prosecuting the perpetrators. Further, the protocol included an agreed definition of human trafficking (see the definition below) and aimed to put an end to state differences as to what the crime entails. Despite the undisputable legislative progress achieved following the adoption of that agreed definition, to this day much remains unresolved regarding combatting human trafficking (Reiley 2006). There is, for instance, a worrying lack of attention paid to the issue of human trafficking in conflict. Since UN Resolution 55/25, subsequent anti-human trafficking documents and policies at the regional level, such as the EU Directive 2011/36 on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting Its victims , have largely neglected to focus on human trafficking in conflict. This is despite the fact that human trafficking is prevalent in conflict, as recognised, for instance, by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2331. Resolution 2331 calls upon governments, the international community and all other organisations and entities that deal with conflict and post-conflict, disaster and other crisis and emergency situations to address the heightened vulnerabilities of (particularly) women and girls to human trafficking and exploitation, and also stresses the close associations between human trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence, terrorism and transnational organised crime.
The phenomenon of human trafficking in conflict is as old as conflict itself, and it has been epitomised recently in the exploitation of the minority Yazidi community in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS or ISIL); or in the manner in which the ISIS in Iraq and Syria and Boko Haram in Nigeria commit yet further violations of international law (Patel 2014) through openly advocating the use of human trafficking and enslavement practices. The use of child soldiers by ISIS (the so-called ācubs of the Caliphateā) or by Columbiaās armed groups (see Chap. 6 for more detail), the trade in trafficked women that sprang up overnight outside the gates of UN and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) compounds in the Balkans, the kidnaping and enslavement of school girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria and armed militiasā use of forced labour to plunder rich natural resources in places such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) provide further examples of human trafficking in conflict. The multiple manifestations of this phenomenon in a context where traditional legal, policy and law enforcement responses are likely to be inadequateāif not entirely absentācalls for concerted efforts to better understand the problem and foster context-appropriate solutions and responses. Of course, the exact number of victims of human trafficking in conflict and crisis situations remains unknown; in reality, it is incredibly difficult to calculate due to a lack of data and ineffective research methods (Weitzer 2014). Nonetheless, numerous accounts and testimonies provide ample impetus to the quest for a much stronger understanding of the nexus between human trafficking and conflict, including, importantly, the potential role of the military, who are often one of the few actors able to operate with greater degrees of agency within complex conflict environments. More broadly, the phenomenon of human trafficking in conflict and crisis warrants a stronger consideration of the potential impact of human trafficking upon multi-stakeholder efforts to promote and sustain human security, safeguard human rights, foster development and advance peace and preā/post-conflict stabilisation.
It should be acknowledged that during conflict and crisis situations, the gap in anti-human trafficking legislation has, to an extent, been increasingly addressed by certain military actors through selected military soft law and related policy. Notably, in 2004 the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO ) adopted a Zero-Tolerance Policy on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. That policy commits NATO members and other troop-contributing nations participating in NATO-led operations to reinforce efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking. This, according to the policy, can be achieved through the agreement āthat all personnel taking part in NATO-led operations should receive appropriate training to make them aware of the problem of trafficking and how this modern-day slave trade impacts on human rights, stability and security, as well as being informed of their own responsibilities and duties and the respective responsibilities of International Organisations in this fieldā (NATO 2004).
Of course, whether any existing guidance and/or policy has had a meaningful impact on the operations and planning considerations of military forces requires further study towards which this book strives, at least in part, to contribute. Indeed, this book seeks to address what is a largely understudied topic within the human trafficking literature, with few studies having sought to contemplate the broader role of the military within anti-human trafficking efforts. Scholars, policymakers and civil society recognise that conflict increases the numbers of refugees and displaced persons, and aggravates poverty, amongst other issues, thus making conflict-afflicted areas a breeding ground for human trafficking. Observers note, for instance, that existing violence leads to high rates of forced labour and sexual exploitation, and they recognise the āegregious treatment inflicted by armed and terrorist groups in areas where conflict is ongoing, the different forms of exploitation emerging in that context and the large number of people who are made vulnerable by conflicts and who are forced to flee themā (UNODC 2018). Nevertheless, the military all too often remains on the periphery of anti-human trafficking discussions, whether concerning the protection of victims, the prevention of the crime itself or the prosecution of its perpetrators. That said, there is an increasing emphasis within military thinking on understanding and addressing the range of human security issues that exacerbate, and are exacerbated by, conflict and crisisāhuman trafficking included. This development reflects the broader shift from a traditional state-centric conceptualisation of ...