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Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children

Maria GraziaGiammarinaro

Visit to the United States of America

6 to 16 December 2016

Table of Contents:

I.Mandate and methods of work

II.Objectives of the country visit

III. Issues of interest for the Special Rapporteur

IV. Places to visit

V. Visit modalities and suggested meetings

VI. Key documentation

VII.Members of the delegation

VIII.OHCHR contact persons

Annex 1: Short biography of members of the delegation

Annex 2. Excerpt from the Manual of the UN Human Rights Special Procedures

I.Mandate and methods of work

  1. The mandate was created in 2004 by the Commission on Human Rights (decision 2004/110), when it appointed, for a three-year period, a Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to focus on the human rights aspects of the victims of trafficking in persons. Since then, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur has been renewed three times and in July 2014, has been extended for another three years by the Human Rights Council resolution 26/8.

2.In conformity with her mandate, the Special Rapporteur is tasked, inter alia, to:

(a) Promote the prevention of trafficking in persons in all its forms and the adoption of measures to uphold and protect the human rights of victims of trafficking in persons;

(b) Promote the effective application of relevant international norms and standards and to contribute to their further improvement;

(c) Integrate a gender and age perspective throughout the work of his or her mandate through, inter alia, the identification of gender- and age-specific vulnerabilities in relation to the issue of trafficking in persons;

(d) Identify and share best practices as well as challenges and obstacles in order to uphold and protect the human rights of victims of trafficking in persons, and to identify protection gaps in this regard;

(e) Examine the impact of anti-trafficking measures on the human rights of victims of trafficking in persons with a view to proposing adequate responses to challenges arising in this regard and to avoid re-victimization of victims of trafficking;

(f) Give particular emphasis to recommendations on practical solutions with regard to the implementation of the rights relevant to the mandate, including by the identification of concrete areas and means for international and regional cooperation and capacity-building to tackle the issue of trafficking in persons;

(g) Report annually on the implementation of the present resolution to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, according to their respective programmes of work.

  1. In the discharge of her mandate, the Special Rapporteur:
  • Takes action on violations committed against trafficked persons and on situations in which there has been a failure to protect their human rights (communications);
  • Undertakes country visits in order to study the situation in situ and formulate recommendations to prevent and or combat trafficking and protect the human rights of its victims in specific countries and/or regions;
  • Submits annual reports on the activities of the mandate
  1. Since its establishment, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur has contributed to a better understanding of issues related to trafficking in persons, especially women and children through the submission of an annual thematic report to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, the conduct of country visits, the issuance of communications to Governments and public statements. The webpage of the Special Rapporteur provides further detailed information regarding the various aspects of the work please see at:

II.Objectives of the country visit

  1. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur has conducted 22country visits since its establishment (Kuwait, Jordan, Malaysia, Belize, Bahamas, Italy, Morocco, Philippines, Gabon, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Thailand, Argentina, Uruguay, Egypt, Japan, Belarus, Poland, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina)
  1. Country visits are conducted in a spirit of cooperation and dialogue. The objective is for the Special Rapporteur to gain first-hand understandingon the phenomenon of trafficking in persons, especially women and children in the US including efforts made and challenges remainingby engaging in a constructive discussion with the relevant authorities.
  1. The Special Rapporteur will formulate recommendations to support the Government’s efforts in eliminating trafficking in persons, especially women and children in a report which will be presented at the 35thsession of the Human Rights Council in June 2017.

III.Issues of interest for the Special Rapporteur

  1. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur is interested in learning about the prevalent and emerging forms of trafficking in persons, especially women and children in the US as well as the legislative, institutional and policy frameworks in place on the fight against trafficking in persons.
  1. In addition, she would like to be informed of measures taken to prevent trafficking, assist and support victims of trafficking, prosecute and punish the perpetrators and provide redress to the victims both at the federal and State levels. The Special Rapporteur would also wish to discuss aspects related to cooperation, coordination and partnerships among those involved in the fight against trafficking in persons.
  1. This list is provided as an indication of the areas of interest to the Special Rapporteur on the basis of past practice for country visits, and additional issues and areas may emerge during the visit.

IV.Places to visit

  1. Besides her meetings in Washington D.C with the Federal authorities, the Special Rapporteurwishes to visit the States of California,New York and Texas.
  1. The Special Rapporteur will identify and propose places of visit, which will include the capital and other regions in the various States. The delegation will start and end the country visit in Washington D.C, where a press conference will take place.

V.Visit modalities and suggested meetings

  1. As per usual practice, the Special Rapporteur will be interested in meeting with federal and state officials, government departments, legislative and judicial authorities as well as national institutions involved in the combat against trafficking in persons, representatives of UN agencies, international organizations, civil society, academics, individuals and victims of trafficking and/or their representatives, with a view to examining issues related to trafficking in persons, especially women and children.in the US.
  1. Official meetings, including those with State authorities will be arranged by the Government in coordination with the Special Rapporteur through OHCHR. Meetings with other stakeholders including CSOs will be organized by the Special Rapporteur.
  1. As per usual practice, the Special Rapporteur will end the country visit in the capital city where she will provide a debriefing to the Government’s departments before sharing the preliminary findings of the visitat a press conference. In accordance with established practice for visits by special procedures, the press release announcing the visit will be forwarded to the Permanent Mission in Geneva before its publication. Similarly, the final press release and end of visit statement containing the preliminary findings will be shared with the Government prior to publication the last day of the visit, when the delegation will meet with Federal and States authorities met throughout the missionto wrap up her visit. After this debriefing, the delegation will hold a press conference to share her preliminary conclusions and recommendations. It is important to note that, in accordance with established practice, the press conference is only open to accredited media professionals. As per established practice, members of the civil society and/or the Government do not participate in the press conference.
  1. The broad mandate of the Special Rapporteurwill requiremeetings with a vast range of Federal and State departments and institutions. Meetings should ideally be attended by senior officials accompanied by relevant technical staff. The delegation wishes to meet with the Department of State at the beginning of the visit.
  1. The Special Rapporteurwill elaborate a report to be presented to the Human Rights Council in June 2017. She will formulate recommendations to support the Government’s efforts in eliminating discrimination against women in law and in practice.

Indicative list of proposed joint[1] or individual meetings:

  1. The list below is preliminary and the Special Rapporteur welcomes additional suggestions for meetings from your Excellency’s Government, both at the Federal and State levels:

At the Federal level:

  • President/Vice-President
  • Department of Agriculture (including the Consultative Group to Eliminate the Use of Child Labour and Forced Labour in Imported Agricultural Products)
  • Department of Defence (including the Combatting Trafficking in Persons Program Office)
  • Department of Homeland Security (including the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit, both within Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the US Citizenship and Immigration Services; the US Customs and Border Protection)
  • Department of the Interior (including the Bureau of Indian Affairs)
  • Department of Justice (including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including the Violent Crimes Against Children Section; the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Office for Victims of Crime; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit within the Civil Rights Division; the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section within the Criminal Division and the Attorney General’s Office)
  • Department of Labour (including theBureau of International Labour Affairs)
  • Department of State (including the Office to Monitor and Combating Trafficking Persons)
  • President's Interagency Task Force
  • US Agency for International Development (including the Counter Trafficking in Persons within Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance)
  • Judiciary
  • Detention facilities for migrants
  • Government shelters for victims of trafficking
  • Members of relevant United States Congress Committees

At the State level:

  • Governor (and other branches of the executive as appropriate, including inter-governmental task forces responsible human trafficking)
  • Members of the judiciary
  • Detention facilities for migrants
  • Government shelters for victims of trafficking

VI.Key documentation

To enable good preparation and maximize the time available during the visit, it will be most helpful if the Special Rapporteur could receive, in advance of the visit, key documents including relevant legislation, policies, programmes, strategies, statistics, and studieson human trafficking both at the Federal and State levels.

VII.Members of the delegation

The delegation will be consisted of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children and two OHCHR staff members.

VIII.OHCHR contact persons

Accompanying delegation:

Ms. Selma VADALA

Human Rights Officer

Tel.: +41 (0)22 917 91 08

Email:

Mr. Thibaut GUILLET

Human Rights Officer,

Tel.: +41 (0)22 917 96 74

Email:

Annex 1: Short biography of the Special Rapporteur and accompanying OHCHR staff

-Dr. Maria Grazia GIAMMARINAROis the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children. She has been a Judge since 1991 and has served as a Pre-Trial Judge at the Criminal Court of Rome, and currently serves as a Judge in the Civil Court of Rome.She was the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) from 2010 to 2014. In this position she hosted the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, a platform for consultation and cooperation including UN Agencies, International Organizations and NGOs. Maria GraziaGiammarinaro also served in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security in Brussels from 2006 until 2009, where she was responsible for combating human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. She drafted the EU Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims.From 2001 to 2006 she was a Judge in the Criminal Court of Rome, dealing with serious crimes including violent crimes, drug trafficking and trafficking in persons. During this time she was also a member of the Equal Opportunity Committee at the National Superior Council of the Judiciary. As Head of the Legislative Office and Adviser to the Minister for Equal Opportunities from 1996 to 2001, she drafted the Italian legislation on trafficking in human beings, judicial action against discrimination, and protection orders against domestic violence. Ms. Giammarinaroholds a degree in Italian literature and in Law, and worked for several years as a High School teacher before joining the Italian Judiciary.

-Selma VADALA is a human rights officer at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). In this role, she has worked on issues of trafficking in persons, violence against women as well as sale of children, child pornography, child prostitutionand other human rights issues since 2007.

-Thibaut GUILLET is a human rights officer. He joined the OHCHR in 2011 where he has since been providing support to various Special Procedures' mandate holders, including the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.

Annex 2. Excerpt from the Manual of the United Nations Human Rights Special Procedures

C. Country visits

1. Definition and purpose

1.Country visits are an essential means to obtain direct and first-hand information on human rights violations. They allow for direct observation of the human rights situation and facilitate an intensive dialogue with all relevant state authorities, including those in the executive, legislative and judicial branches. They also allow for contact with and information gathering from victims, relatives of victims, witnesses, national human rights institutions, international and local NGOs and other members of civil society, the academic community, and officials of international agencies present in the country concerned.

2.Country visits generally last between one and two weeks but can be shorter or longer if the circumstances so require. The visit occurs at the invitation of a State. Its purpose is to assess the actual human rights situation in the country concerned, including an examination of the relevant institutional, legal, judicial, and administrative aspects and to make recommendations thereon in relation to issues that arise under the relevant mandate.

3.Country visits by mandate-holders provide an opportunity to enhance awareness at the country, regional and international levels of the specific problems under consideration. This is done, inter alia, through meetings, briefings, press coverage of the visit and dissemination of the report.

2. Invitations and requests for visits

4.A Government may take the initiative to invite a mandate-holder to visit the country. Alternatively a mandate-holder may solicit an invitation by communicating with the Government concerned, by discussions with diplomats of the country concerned, including especially the Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva or at Headquarters, or by other appropriate means. The GA, the HRC, or the High Commissioner for Human Rights might also suggest or request that a visit be undertaken.

5.When a State does not respond to requests for an invitation to visit, it is appropriate for a mandate-holder to remind the Government concerned, to draw the attention of the Council to the outstanding request, and to take other appropriate measures designed to promote respect for human rights. An updated table of the status of requests for country visits is maintained on the website of the OHCHR.

6.Considerations which might lead a mandate-holder to request to visit a country include, inter alia, human rights developments at the national level (whether positive or negative), the availability of reliable information regarding human rights violations falling within the mandate, or a wish to pursue a particular thematic interest. Other factors which might be taken into account in determining which visits to undertake at any particular time might include considerations of geographical balance, the expected impact of the visit and the willingness of national actors to cooperate with the mandate-holder, the likelihood of follow-up on any recommendations made, the recent adoption by one or more treaty bodies of relevant concluding observations, the upcoming examination of the situation by one or more treaty bodies, recent or proposed visits by other Special Procedure mandate-holders, the list of countries scheduled for consideration under the Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, follow up to the recommendations and conclusions of the UPR mechanism, and the priorities reflected in OHCHR’s country engagement strategy.

7.In 2004, the CHR on Human Rights strongly encouraged all States to extend a “standing invitation” to all thematic Special Procedures. By extending such an invitation States announce that they will automatically accept a request to visit by any of the Special Procedures.[2] The extension of a standing invitation, and the overall cooperation afforded to Special Procedures,[3] are appropriately taken into account by the GA in considering the “pledges and commitments” made by States seeking election to the HRC. Additionally, the Code of Conduct “urges all States to cooperate with, and assist, the special procedures in the performance of their tasks”.

8.Where appropriate country visits might be undertaken by several mandate-holders acting together, or by mandate-holders in conjunction with other representatives of the international community.

3. Preparation

9.Mandate-holders are expected to ensure that their visit is conducted in compliance with the terms of reference of their mandate. The minimum standards that Governments are expected to apply in the context of a country visit by mandate-holders are reflected in the ‘Terms of reference for fact-finding missions by Special Rapporteurs/Representatives’ which are reproduced in Annex 3 of this Manual. These standard terms of reference and possible additional guarantees related to the specificities of the particular situation or mandate need to be addressed and agreed upon between the mandate-holder and the Government in advance of the mission.

10.The preparation of country visits is carried out on the basis of close consultation and cooperation between the mandate-holder(s) and the Permanent Mission of the concerned State in Geneva, as well as with OHCHR, and other relevant United Nations entities.

11.The OHCHR will make the necessary arrangements to ensure that mandate-holders have the staff support needed to conduct their mission effectively. Mandate-holders are usually accompanied in their meetings by OHCHR staff.