High-Level Side Event on the Occasion of the Security Council Open Debate on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

Welcome everyone.
Welcome to the high level side event on the occasion of the 2026 UN Security Council open debate on conflict related sexual violence entitled Combating Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation by armed and terrorist group, closing the information gap and strengthening cooperation to promote accountability for survivors.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today to discuss this important topic ahead of tomorrow's Security Council open debate.
My name is Chloe Marne Bassanger.
I'm the Chief of Staff of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in conflict, misses Patton.
I will have the honor to moderate this event today.
We're delighted to convene so many of you, delighted, Madam Prime Minister, to have such distinguished guests and be able to hold with our co hosts the permanent Mission of Denmark, the Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Latvia, and Panama as co sponsors this very interesting and timely discussion.
We have the honor of welcoming Her Excellency, Madame Judith inv Tulua, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who has kindly joined us for this event, and we very much look forward to first hearing opening statements from their Excellencies, Madam the Prime Minister and the Special Representative, miss Pramila Patten, as well as miss Sandra Jensen Landy, Deputy Permanent representative of Denmark.
These intervention will be followed by remarks from two of our co sponsors, France and Latvia.
We will then turn to our outstanding panel of experts to dive into the subject matter discussion of the nexus between trafficking and conflict related sexual violence.
At the end and time permitting, we will open the floor At the end, we will then open the floor to the question and answers from participants.
I will now turn the floor over to Her Excellency, Madam Prime Minister Judith Tuca Excellence.
Your Excellency, you have the floor.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
It is an honor for me to take the floor during this event.
The event is high level event organized in the margin of the open debate of the Security Council on conflict related sexual violence.
Please allow me to, first of all, express my heartfelt gratitude to the Office of the Special Representative of Secretary-General on the issue of conflict related sexual violence.
Which is headed by miss Patel and to all of the partners who have contributed towards organizing this important meeting.
I also would like to send my thanks to all of the participants.
Your presence here today is testimony of the importance we each attach collectively to this issue.
For the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this meeting today is of a very special importance.
Experience of our country recalls for us the fact that sexual violence conflict related sexual violence is never an isolated tragedy.
It's part of a broader dynamic of violence, instability and crime, which requires a comprehensive response based on international solidarity, dialogue, shared experiences, and constant engagement on the part of the actors concerned.
By meeting today, we reaffirm our conviction that cooperation remains our best tool to better capture this phenomenon, strengthen prevention, support the victims, and promote responses, making sure that they're increasingly more consistent, effective, and lasting.
Beyond the exchanges we will have during this meeting, I'd like to express a wish that this meeting today helps strengthen our common understanding of these challenges and enables us to move forward to push this understanding forward and consolidate our collective commitment in the service of peace, justice, and human dignity.
I thank you.
Thank you so much, Excellency.
And thank you to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the leadership regarding this important issue that gathers us today.
Now, I will turn the floor to Her Excellency Special Representative Patton.
Excellency, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Madam Moderator, Honorable Judith Tuiuatua, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Excellency's, distinguished panelists and guest.
The past years have confronted us with relentless challenges stemming from armed conflict and the rise of extremist groups.
In these chaotic landscapes, we have witnessed the emergence of a horrific shadow economy where individuals, predominantly women and girls are sold into the nightmare of sexual slavery.
Thank you all for joining us at this pivotal moment to assess progress made since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 23 31 and to address the remaining gaps in combating the scourge of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in conflict situations.
We know how devastating and far reaching these abusers can be, inflicting not only immediate but long term physical and psychological damage to victims.
Therefore, addressing these harms is just not only a moral imperative, but also critical to rebuilding societies ravaged by conflict.
I'm delighted to be co hosting this event with the permanent permanent mission of Denmark to the United Nations.
I also wish to thank our other co sponsors, France, Latvia, and Panama for their presence and commitment, as well as our distinguished panelists.
Excellencies, more than a decade ago, the world watched with horror as I see institutionalized sexual slavery and commodified women and girls as spoils of war in Iraq and Syria.
My office shed light on the open slave markets in Iraq, Syria, an exposed price list and so called fatwa, which regulate their sale, transfer, and trafficking of sex slaves.
Women and girls were being traded for cigarette or sold for up to $25,000.
The harrowing stories of survivors I met, including from the Yazidi community shook me to the core and stay with me till today.
Unfortunately, these are not tactics exclusive to Daesh.
Over the past 15 years, the UN has documented horrifying accounts of sexual violence perpetrated against Somali, women by Al Shabbab, against Nigerian girls by Boko Haram, and women in Northern Mali living under the shadow of Ansaridin.
The actions of Daesh and other armed and terrorist groups prompted the Security Council in 2016 to adopt Resolution 23 31, a landmark recognition of the nexus between trafficking in persons, sexual violence, and violent extremism.
Resolution 23 31 highlighted that trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation is not just a consequence, but a potential driver of conflict.
It acknowledged what survivors had long known that the use of sexual violence by parties to conflict is not incidental, it is deliberate.
It is deployed by certain armed and terrorist groups as part of their strategic objectives and ideology.
Ten years since its adoption, where are we? The latest report of the Secretary-General on conflict related sexual violence indicates that trafficking of women and girls remained prevalent in 2025.
In remote areas of the Sahel, girls as young as 11 were forced into sexual slavery and repeated rapes in captivity by armed groups leading to unwanted pregnancies.
In South Sudan, abduction and sexual slavery continued to be used as a collective punishment of rival communities driving displacement.
In Haiti, sexual slavery and exploitation, though chronically under reported, constitute a systematic practice by multiple gangs with survivors abducted, held under threat of force, repeatedly raped, and trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Yet the data that we have is only the tip of the iceberg.
Survivors continue to be silenced by barriers to reporting, including stigma, fear of reprisals, lack of services, and widespread insecurity.
Global trends, including shrinking resources, UN mission transitions and drawdowns, and humanitarian access restrictions are further diminishing our capacity to monitor abuses and undermining our capacities to effectively prevent and respond to such crimes.
In short, if we do not see, we cannot act.
Through resolution 23 31, the Security Council charted a clear path towards greater accountability.
It called on member states to ratify or accede to relevant international instruments, including the Palermo Protocol, to investigate and prosecute perpetrators, to disrupt and dismantle trafficking networks, including through counterterrorism laws, and to implement robust victim protection and support mechanisms.
Resolution 23 31 furthermore placed trafficking in persons and sexual violence squarely into the work of Security Council sanction committees, paving the way for a response aimed at preventing and deterring these crimes.
While there are some encouraging trends such as the almost universal ratification of the Palermo Protocol, or the adoption in 2018 of sanctions against six leaders of human trafficking networks in Libya, which certainly sent a clear message that the Security Council will hold perpetrators accountable for sanctions, clearly, much more remains to be done.
Excellencies, we must address the remaining gaps that enable these crimes to flourish with impunity, perpetrators to walk free, and survivors to carry the pain without justice.
Allow me to highlight a few recommendations in this regard.
First, we need to strengthen information collection.
Too often we are left with fragmented data that makes it difficult to fully comprehend the scale of trafficking operations conducted by these armed groups.
The critical role of women Protection advisors who convened the monitoring analysis, and reporting on CRSV cannot be overstated.
The data collected from MAA not only ensures that we have timely and accurate insight into this chronically under reported crime, but also establishes the evidence base for accountability and to guide our programmatic response.
I urge member states to continue supporting existing and new deployments of these positions in all peace missions and relevant non mission settings.
Secondly, member states should continue to establish comprehensive legal frameworks that protect survivors and bring perpetrators to justice.
Capacities to investigate and prosecute these crimes must be enhanced.
As highlighted in Resolution 23 31, in situations of armed conflict, it is particularly important to collect and preserve evidence to enable future accountability processes.
Thirdly, I urge the Security Council to continue to place pressure on perpetrators as well as their commanders and backers through the timely application of sanctions.
In view of the information gaps, I also urge the Council to continue encouraging the inclusion of CRSB expertise and reporting by sanctions panels of expert.
Furthermore, we must maximize the use of partnership and coordination between key actors.
Trafficking networks do not operate in silos, and thus, neither can our responses.
Lastly, but most importantly, we must place survivors at the center of our prevention and response strategies.
Their insights experiences and needs should be integral to policy formation, rehabilitation programs, and the pursuit of justice.
We must resource and implement comprehensive support services, including medical and psychosocial care, but also family training and reunification, reparations, and financial and livelihood assistance.
Victims of trafficking and sexual violence committed by terrorist groups should be eligible for official redress as victims of terrorism.
We need to also fund and empower women led organizations working in the front lines.
Ultimately, it is not enough to address the symptoms of this issue.
We must tackle its root causes, those systemic issues that perpetrate inequality, violence, and exploitation.
Excellencies, it would not be unrealistic to say that at this very moment, countless women and girls are sitting in rooms very different than this one without the ability to leave and subject to trauma that no human being should be forced to endure.
Let us use this discussion to identify practical solutions for those women and girls, to close the data gaps that obscure these crimes, to strengthen the partnerships that enable effective response, and to ensure that perpetrators are held to account, including through the strategic use of sanctions.
The fight against trafficking for sexual exploitation in conflict is not only about protecting the vulnerable.
It is about defending human dignity, upholding the rule of law, and ultimately securing sustainable peace.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Excellency, for the powering but sobering remarks that you just gave us and for elaborating on the linkages between trafficking and sexual violence, including the use of security sanctions, Security Council sanctions as a strategy to enhance prevention, deterrence, and accountability for this crime.
I will now hand the floor to Her Excellency, miss Sandra Jensonny, Deputy Permanent representative of Denmark to the Security Council.
You have the floor.
Thank you.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, thank you and thank you to SSD Paton and her office for convening this event with us and to our co sponsors, France, Latvia and Panama, for joining us in raising awareness on this topic.
Especially warm thanks to Her Excellency Toluca, Prime Minister of the DRC, for being with us today and for underlining how important this topic is.
Let me also just start by highlighting Denmark's very strong and full support to the mandate of the SSD and for the important work that you and your office is doing.
Now, on today's topic of discussion, the link between conflict related sexual violence, trafficking in persons, terrorism, and organized crime is very clear.
But our response has not kept pace with the scale, the brutality, and adaptability of these crimes.
Women and girls continue to be abducted, trafficked, raped, sold, forcibly married, and subjected to sexual slavery by armed and terrorist groups.
These acts are not incidental.
They are deliberate tactics of war, terror, and repression.
They are used to finance operations, reward fighters, displace communities, fracture social cohesion, and entrench control over territory and over populations.
Men and boys can also be victims and all survivors continue to face immense stigma, trauma, and barriers to justice.
As we prepare for the open debate in the Security Council tomorrow, let me highlight just how the latest SG report makes clear that these patterns remain deeply entrenched from the Sahel to South Sudan and to Libya.
Yet too often, perpetrators still benefit from the same three enablers, impunity, invisibility, and institutional fragmentation.
Denmark believes we need to be much more candid about the gap between the council's normative framework and the reality on the ground.
We do not lack resolutions.
We do not lack legal tools.
What we lack is consistent implementation and systematic information sharing and sufficient political willingness to use the tools already at our disposal.
One practical questions for us today is how to ensure that the information gathered by the UN entities, by member states, and by civil society can more systematically inform sanctions monitoring and committee work while fully respecting survivor safety and confidentiality.
Denmark has been supporting the office's work in this area for a few years because we believe in the effect of sanctions and influencing attitudes and approaches of armed groups.
This engagement is also grounded in Denmark's broad commitment under the women peace and security agenda to strengthen protection, accountability, and the full equal meaningful and safe participation of women in peace and security efforts.
Sanctions are not the silver bullet and they cannot replace criminal accountability.
But they are one of the clearest tools available to the Security Council to raise the cost of abuse, disrupt trafficking networks, and constrain financing and send a political signal that these crimes will carry consequences.
At the same time, we must listen to survivors and support women led and local civil society organizations whose documentation, protection work, and access to affected communities are indispensable.
So let us be clear, survivors do not need us to restate the problems.
They need us to act on what we already know.
Listen.
Denmark stands ready to work with all the partners to help close information gaps, strengthen cooperation, and ensure that the Security Council's commitments are matched by action.
I look forward to our interesting discussion.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Excellency, and thanks to Denmark for the longstanding support and the leadership that Denmark has shown in the Security Council on moving forward the cursor on this issue.
We will next turn to intervention from our two co sponsors, France and Latvia, due to scheduling issues, unfortunately, our additional co sponsor, Panama is unfortunately not able to join us today, but we remain grateful for their commitment and support as well.
Allow me to first give the floor to His Excellency Oleg Ilgs, Deputy Permanent representative of the Republic of Latvia to the United Nations.
You have the floor.
Thank you, Madam Moderator, Madam Prime Minister, Madam SRSG, distinguished organizers, co sponsors, Excellencies, dear colleagues.
I would like to begin by thanking the Office of the SRSG on Sexual Violence and Conflict and the Permanent Mission of Denmark for convening this important discussion.
I also thank our fellow co sponsors, the Permanent Missions of France and Panama, who is not here today, for being co sponsors to this event.
The Secretary-General report on conflict related sexual violence underscores the urgency of today's discussion.
Verified cases of CRSV more than doubled last year, once again, demonstrating how sexual violence was used as a tactic of terrorism and to advance strategic and ideological objectives of armed groups, as also recognized in the resolution 23 31.
Rape, sexual slavery, trafficking, abduction, and forced marriage are used to terrorize communities, sustain operations, and even incentivize recruitment of fighters.
At the same time, denial of access for independent monitors, persistent under reporting, and limited resources continue to obscure the true scale of these crimes.
Addressing these challenges requires stronger action by the Council, by the member states, and by the wider international community.
Allow me to briefly emphasize three following points.
First, to close information gaps, we need greater deployment of women's protection advisors.
They are currently deployed in fewer than half of the situations covered by the report.
Latvia has consistently supported these positions during UN mission mandate negotiations and believes they should be maintained throughout mission transitions.
Second, accountability must be strengthened.
Impunity for CRSV remains the norm rather than the exception.
Targeted sanctions should be used more systematically against those who commit, order, facilitate, or profit from these heinous crimes.
Third, prevention and accountability must go hand in hand.
Parties to conflict listed in the report should make concrete commitments to prevent and end these violations and cooperate closely with the Office of the SRSG.
We also encourage broader engagement through initiatives such as the CRSP Prosecution Network, which Latvia recently joined.
It strengthens cooperation among practitioners, promotes the exchange of expertise and advances survivor centered justice.
Finally, we reaffirm our strong support for the mandate of this SRSG on sexual violence and conflict and her office.
Their work is indispensable.
Without rigorous monitoring, verification, and reporting, many of these crimes would remain invisible and accountability would be even further out of reach.
Continued political and financial support for the mandate is therefore not only important, it is essential.
I thank you.
Thank you so much, Excellency, and thanks for Latvia's support.
I now give the floor to Her Excellency, Madame Isis Jarod Arnaud, political coordinator at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations.
You have the floor.
It.
Thank you very much.
Allow me to welcome here, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Judith Sino Toluca.
I'd like to thank the other co sponsors of this event and the special representative for the organization of this important meeting.
On the eve of the annual open debate of the Security Council, I would like to reiterate France's full support for your mandate, Madam Representative, which is part of one of the UN's essential roles, which is to independently and impartially verify and document violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law and name those who are responsible for them.
Preserving and strengthening this role should guide the reform of our organizations.
Terrorist groups, rape, enslave, marry by force, and sexually exploit women and girls.
These crimes are part of a deliberate strategy of terror.
I'm thinking, for instance, about the genocidal assaults by Da’esh, on Yazidi women, the rapes committed by enim on Mali, and Burkinabe women and sexual crimes committed by Bogo Haram in Nigeria, as well as those committed by Hamas on the 7th of October.
We must act and I'll insist on three points here.
Firstly, strengthen the use by the Security Council of targeted sanctions against those responsible for sexual exploitation.
Eight out of the 15 UN sanctions regimes contain a listing criteria that can be linked to sexual violence in times of conflict.
Several of these cover areas where the number of UN verified cases is the highest, that is the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, and Haiti.
In 2024, France worked to strengthen the consideration of sexual violence that is committed by terrorists in how listing criteria are applied in the 12 67 regime for Al Qaeda Da’esh and their affiliates.
That's indeed the purpose of the Council Resolution 27 34 in combating the terrorists who are guilty of sexual crimes, we increasingly use Security Council sanctions.
Secondly, we should make the fight against impunity a collective struggle.
In March this year, for the first time in France, a court found a French member of Da’esh guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity against Yazidi women, particularly to sexual crimes.
This landmark judgment is part of a wider movement within our justice systems around the world that are increasingly strengthening and equipped to respond to international crimes through legal means.
We need to together support this movement, strengthen the rule of law, and support national and international courts in combating impunity by sharing our resources and our knowledge.
In this regard, I'd like to pay tribute to the new international network of prosecutors, investigators and other specialized practitioners launched by the Special Representative.
Finally, we must support victims and those who provide them with assistance on the ground.
I'm thinking in particular of civil society organizations such as the Global Fund for Survivors whose expertise and commitment are so essential to protect the rights, dignity and lives of women and girls.
I'm also thinking about UN agencies, the UNFPA and UN women who provide protection and care to the most vulnerable.
France is mobilized through its own support fund for women's rights organizations, which is one of the largest in the world in terms of geographic and financial scope.
Thank you.
Merci Excellence.
Thank you, Excellency.
I think it tells a lot that we had so many member states co sponsoring and co organizing this event.
I think it tells us that this is a timely discussion, that this is an issue that is on the radar of the Security Council and that we hope we can make progress in concrete.
Now to help us flesh this out, we will turn to our group of a expert panelists that will share with us their perspective from different organizations working on the prevention and response to trafficking, including as a form Of conflict related sexual violence in different contexts.
Thank you all for making the time to be here with us and be willing to share your experience.
Let me introduce our distinguished panel members.
I'm pleased to be joined first by Matteo Pascali from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and who is the Deputy representative of the UNODC liaison office in New York.
Welcome.
I also wish to welcome miss Sheila Quitaru, who is the senior Women Protection Advisor at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, where she works on coordinating UN response to sexual violence and conflict, including in relations to trafficking and abduction by non state armed group.
Thank you for making the time to join us, Sheila, virtually on screen.
We can see you very well, and it's really a privilege to be able to have the field with us in New York.
From Juba.
We're also honored to be joined by miss Neimat Amdi, founder of the Darfur Women Action Group.
The Darfur Women Action Group is a women led anti atrocity organization founded in 2009 to amplify the voices and empower affected communities of the Darfur region.
We're also delighted to be joined by Sue Eckert, a member of the Analytical Support and Sanctions monitoring team pursuant to resolution 152-62-2503 concerning ISOL Al Qaeda, and the Taliban and associated individuals and entities.
Finally, I would like to warmly welcome miss Chavan Muli Special Rapporteur on trafficking in person, especially women and children appointed by the Human Rights Council.
Welcome to all of you.
I will start by asking Matteo Pasquai to begin.
We would be very grateful, Matteo, to hear your insights about UNODCs work on trafficking globally, including the nexus with conflict related sexual violence and the lessons learned that you may be able to share in the experience that your organization has been carrying.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Chloe and most importantly, on behalf of our Executive Director, miss Duma, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you as LSG Paton and the members of your team as well as Denmark for convening this very important initiative and also to thank the DRC Excellency.
It's a pleasure to see you today and together with France, Latvia, and Panama for their support As was previously mentioned by other speakers, this year marks the tenth anniversary since Security Council Resolution 23 31 was adopted, which recognized the links between trafficking in persons, conflict related sexual violence, terrorism, and transnational organized crime.
Allow me to highlight that this resolution specifically call on member states to prevent trafficking, protect victims, prosecute perpetrators, and dismantle the criminal networks that profit from exploitation.
For more than two decades, UNIC has worked on these issues under the UN Convention Against Transitional Organized Crime and its trafficking in Persons Protocol.
Our experience consistently shows that conflict creates ideal conditions for traffickers, armed groups and criminal networks, networks exploiting security, displacement, and weakened institutions to target vulnerable populations, particularly women and children.
UNODC research demonstrates that conflict significantly increases vulnerability to trafficking.
Trafficking for sexual exploitation remains one of the most frequent forms of trafficking and is especially prevalent in conflict settings.
As other speakers mentioned, reports from numerous conflicts show victims being abducted, held in captivity, subjected to rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and other forms of exploitation.
And women and girls are disproportionately affected.
Armed groups continue to traffic women and girls for sexual slavery, forced marriage and other forms of sexual violence.
At the same time, children remain heavily targeted.
A recent UNODC research brief, found that 80-90 armed groups operating in Africa were involved in trafficking and exploiting children in conflict related operation in 2023.
Recruitment of children has been documented in at least 12 African countries affecting more than 5,000 children.
While boys are often exploited in combat and support roles, girls are more frequently trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced marriage.
Displacement further increases exposure to trafficking.
Refugees and migrants lack safe pathways, legal status, and adequate protection, making them vulnerable to exploitation.
Women, girls, and accompanied children in general face particularly high risks, especially when protection systems and refugee services are under reserved.
Corruption can aggravate it vulnerabilities by facilitating exploitation and allowing traffickers to operate with impunity.
In response, this has been supporting member states through research, policy development, and capacity building, and we're particularly grateful for the partnership with the Sexual Violence and Conflict team under the framework of the UN team of experts on rule of law and sexual violence in conflict with whom we have been working together in Ukraine since 2024 to prevent human trafficking, particularly in the context of conflict related sexual violence, strengthen investigations, and improve protection for vulnerable populations.
We have also supported refugee hosting and conflict affected countries across Africa and the Middle East, as well as peacekeeping contributing countries to improve the identification and protection of trafficked victims, including through a multilingual training manual for practitioners working in conflict and post conflict settings.
The rest of unclear.
Protecting people means reducing the vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit.
This requires stronger cooperation between humanitarian actors, law enforcement, civil society, and international organizations, alongside better data, stronger criminal justice responses, and a survivor centered approach.
Excellence.
In conclusion, no country or organization can address these challenges alone.
As criminal networks become increasingly sophisticated, we need a stronger international cooperation, greater information sharing, and renewed commitment to accountability, as SRSG very ably mentioned earlier.
Only by working together we can better protect those most vulnerable to trafficking and sexual exploitation in situations of conflict and displacement.
I thank you.
Thank you, Matteo and thank you for the partnership of UNODC in Ukraine and in Nigeria and in other contexts.
I think this is how we make things happen on the ground.
Let me now turn to miss Sheila Quitart, our senior women Protection advisor in UMS, who is joining us virtually on screen.
Sheila, we would be very glad to hear more from you about your work in the field and any associated insights and recommendation you might have for this group and for the member states of the Security Council.
Excellencies, and distinguished guests, colleagues.
I would like to share a central finding from some research that we've been doing at OMS and what we found is that many cases of conflict related sexual violence in South Sudan, particularly those involving abductions constitute trafficking in persons.
This is important because classification shapes our understanding of the crime and protection we offer to survivors and the accountability mechanisms we pursue.
My argument is that these violations are often not isolated acts, but part of the broader system of exploitation.
The problem is really what we should move from incidents to systems.
CRSV has been extensively documented in South Sudan.
However, our analysis often focuses on individual crimes such as rape or sexual assault.
The reality is more complex.
Many survivors experience abduction, extended captivity, repeated abuse, forced marriage, and exploitative labor.
These cases are linked by a pattern of coercion and control.
Rather than seeing them as isolated incidents, we should understand them as a process of exploitation that unfolds over time.
With regards to some empirical reality in South Sudan, from our cases, what we find is that the evidence shows that these patterns occur over multiple contexts, including conflict involving both state and non state actors, intercommunal violence, militia attacks, cattle raiding, et cetera, victims are often abducted and held for months or even years.
During captivity, they may be subjected to sexual slavery, forced marriage, and integration into households where continues.
This demonstrates the continuum of harm.
The violation does not begin at the end with the sexual violence.
It evolves into sustained exploitation and deprivation of freedom.
So the evidence we have gathered and here I have a quick caveat.
We're still working on the figures and analyzing the context.
So this is work in progress.
So the data that we have found we have been looking at reinforces the systematic nature of these practices.
Reports indicate continued abductions 2023-2026, including an increase in incidents during late 2025.
Now, beyond these figures themselves, the key finding is that abduction remains a recurring feature of related sexual violence.
We are now looking at the misclassification of the problem.
This is where the central challenge lies.
We generally at the mission, classify these cases as CRSV while trafficking is treated as a separate issue.
But yet many of these cases meet defining elements of trafficking, abduction as the act, coercion as the means, captivity and exploitation as the purpose.
By focusing exclusively on the sexual on the sexual violence component, we risk missing the broader pattern of exploitation.
This limits our analysis and we accountability efforts by not fully recognizing the interconnected nature of the crimes committed.
The legal framework, we've looked at that a little bit to say that South Sudan's legal framework already criminalizes several relevant offenses, including abduction, kidnapping, trafficking, compulsory labor, and forced marriage.
The challenge is that these crimes are addressed through separate legal provisions rather than being understood as interconnected violations occurring within conflict centers.
Now, let's look at the key legislative gaps that remain.
South Sudan does not yet have a standalone CRSB law or a comprehensive anti trafficking law aligned to the Palermo protocol.
Existing trafficking provisions do not fully capture practices such as sexual slavery and other forms of exploitation frequently observed in abduction linked CRSV.
Which could be also trafficking.
These legal gaps contribute to fragmented prosecutions under recognition of survivors harms and continued impunity for perpetrators.
Now, we know that although the Security Council resolutions have recognized the nexus between trafficking and CRSV, implementation remains a.
Field actors like myself frequently lack practical tools, analytical frameworks, and classification guidance to identify trafficking indicators with CRSC cases.
As a result, substantial amounts of information are collected, but not always analyzed in ways that inform protection strategies, accountability efforts, or policy decisions with trafficking lenses.
Now, what are the policy implications? Straightforward.
The first one, we need to understand and integrate CRSB and trafficking frameworks or the nexus rather than addressing them separately.
Second, field practitioners require practical identification and screening tools to recognize trafficking indicators in CRSD in conflict settings alongside CRSD.
The third, accountability efforts should focus not only on individual perpetrators, but also on the systems that facilitate exploitation.
Finally, we must address the structural drivers that sustained these violations, including the harmful patriarchal social norms and the abduction economy.
These two are both linked while continuing to advocate for legal reform.
To, you know, to conclude my final takeaway for the meeting, abduction linked CRSV in South Sudan should be recognized those that have the linkage should be recognized as both CRSV and trafficking in persons because this reflects the reality of sustained exploitation in these abductions and provides stronger pathways for protection prevention and accountability.
In short, we are looking at the right crimes, but too often we are naming them wrong.
We need to start doing things differently.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Sheila, for this extremely precise and in depth presentation of the situation in South Sudan and highlighting how core international crimes and international organized crimes intersect and how important it is to understand the various possibilities to qualify those acts so that we can actually prosecute them and deal with them adequately.
Let me now turn to miss Nemat Hamdi from the Darfur Women Action Group.
Miss Hamdi, we look forward to your insights and any views you can share based on the context in Sudan, as well as recommendations that you might have for this group and for the UN member states and any stakeholders who wants to make a difference on this issue.
Over to you.
Madam More, and thank you, miss Patten, for drawing attention to this deadly phenomenon and appreciation to all co sponsor in the member states.
Speaking about sexual related, gender based violence, trafficking, and rape, Sudan has been the worst example.
Unfortunately, this patterns of these crimes has been going on for years as a part of the long standing crisis in Sudan and in the recent war, In Sudan, it has been well documented the widespread rape, sexual slavery, abduction of large number of women and girls.
From the early start of the war, it has been well documented.
Eyewitness have reported that in the early days of the start of war in Sudan, there have been several buildings were identified where women were abducted and kept in deplorable condition and were forced to render domestic service while sexually abused almost every day.
In other instance, there were women who have been seen shackled into landed cruiser trucks and pickup trucks taken from Omdurman across the Kordofan and through some villages and cities in Darfur.
In some instance, communities came to Gan and they had to pay amount of money to release some of the girls.
Some of the girls have by indirect ways reached out to their families and they paid money to be released.
Many more have yet to be released and their whereabouts have not been determined.
People have seen this woman chained into these trucks.
In some instance, there are reports that they have been sold to multiple traffickers and some of them have been forced and taken across borders to an unknown places and I In therefore, in the cities that were controlled by the Rb support forces have been report, for instance, in Nyala and in some areas in Algina that women who have been abducted from different regions have been kept in captivity and they were forced into sexual slavery.
And some of them have been trafficked and sold to other militia leaders and some of them also taken across the border.
In Nyala alone, the report indicated that 19,000 people have been detained by the Abi support forces.
They are forced to live in deplorable conditions.
This was way before the fall of Al Fhashir.
Most of these people who are detained are women and children.
They were detained with the purpose of being trafficked, sexually abused, and used as sexual slaves, and they have yet to be released.
Recently, women civil society leaders who just gathered to discuss women issues have also been arrested and have yet to be released in Nyala.
We don't know what happened to them as of today.
This has been a trend throughout this crisis.
Unfortunately, it's continued because there hasn't been enough outrage or protest against this deadly phenomenon.
After the fall of Al Fasra the numbers of people detained, abducted, and taken hostage has increased, but documentation has yet to be conducted in proper way to make possibility for survivors to be reached or released and In some instance, some of the girls who have been able to flee, they reported condition that you cannot imagine.
And they said, I remember this girl who was 15-years-old that told her relative said this for her was way better than the situation she and many other women were forced to leave.
This has been going on and as of today, no one has been held accountable.
Speaking about this incident, it's not only happening where the active war is going on, it's also happen in the neighboring countries where refugees are living in vulnerable situation.
There are reports in multiple cases where women have been trafficked.
In our held captive for sexual slavery or forced marriages, but they cannot report because they're vulnerable, they have no adequate protection and they don't know where to turn.
This situations continued because of lack of accountability and also perpetrators are emboldened.
We have seen this whether in the case of ISIS or Arabi support forces and others in West Africa and because of lack of accountability, this incident continue in Sudan become very visible.
In the early days, report has been coming out constantly, but recently this report has been muted because of credible fear of retaliation and risk that involve the survivors and their families.
This is really sad because we know that this incident is happening.
There's only one case of an abducted girls who has returned.
But when we try to render assistance, her family refuse and they went quiet and they move to an unknown place.
So imagine a victim have been re victimized again and denied services due to stigma and fear of retaliation.
I would like to conclude that incidents that are the most horrific attack against women should not be let go as another report to be published, but it has to be treated serious.
It is not terrorist group who are doing this, but this is an act of terrorism and until we treat it as though it will continue to be perpetrated.
It requires collective action from council members and other NGOs and groups that are documenting these incidents and collaboration across the board between national, international civil society organizations, starting with documentation and provision of assistance to encourage victims to step forward so that they can report.
Without adequate reporting, there will not be accountability.
Targeted sanctions including asset freezing and not targeting the individual who commit crimes, but also the leaders under their command, those individual operate because we have not seen with all the report that are coming out, we have not seen single members of the IRSF or their political affiliate living abroad have condemned this incident or asked their affiliate to release the women who have been abducted and unless tightened sanctions being imposed, including asset freezing, travel ban and restoring that fund that they have accumulated accumulated by this warlord to restore and then use as reparation and support for the victims and it can be then can be traced and then serious accountability measures including criminal accountability has to take place and support for survivor centered approach and support for affected community led organization.
So far, with all this, support for women led organization has been very symbolic and that needs to be changed.
Beyond the regular bureaucracy, there is a need for flexible quick funding that can be deployed for protection and also for documentation and restoration of dignity for these women.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Nimat and thank you for reminding all of us here in New York what the realities of the human experience of the issue we're speaking about here today mean.
I think you're making our work cut for us and your calls are very well heard.
I will now give the floor to our next speaker and welcome Sue Eckert from the Analytical Support and Sanctions monitoring team.
You have experience on the monitoring team and on sanctions more generally, and I think for this discussion, we would welcome your reflections on how monitoring teams such as the ones you serve on approach the nexus we were discussing between trafficking and conflict related sexual violence in its work and how it gets considered under the Security Council Sanctions framework more broadly.
Thank you, Excellency's, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to participate on behalf of the 12 67 monitoring team in this important side event in advance of the open debate, which will take place tomorrow.
As you know, the Analytical Support and Sanctions monitoring monitoring team for short, since it's a long name, is mandated to engage with the intelligence and Security Services of member states to gather information on the global threat posed by Al Qaeda, ISIL or Da’esh, and associated individuals, groups, entities, as well as to report on the implementation and impact of sanctions on listed groups and individuals.
Our reports are based on the information we receive from member states.
In 2024, the Security Council, very importantly, adopted new language related to sexual and gender based violence.
UN Security Council Resolution 27 34, paragraph three specifically added, recognizes that planning, directing or committing acts involving sexual and gender based violence, including rape, enslavement of persons, and cases of abduction and trafficking in persons may be eligible for designation in the ISO, Daesh and Al Qaeda sanctions list.
On the basis of the criteria set out in paragraph two, when such acts are being used by ISO, al Qaeda, and associated individuals, groups, and entities as a tactic of terrorism.
While sexual and gender based violence, trafficking, enslavement, et cetera, are not standalone criteria for the listing on the Al Qaeda ISO list, when groups and entities which we've seen engage in such activities as the tactic of terrorism, they are eligible for designation under the 12 67 regime.
Since adoption of this new resolution, no new groups or individuals have been designated on this basis.
There may be several reasons related to this.
First, there have only been four new designations since the adoption of 27 34.
This is a cause for concern, which the monitoring team has repeatedly noted in the reports about the importance of new designations and updates to the list to ensure that the sanctions regime is addressing contemporary but changing terrorist threats.
Secondly, while the pre existing criteria before 2024 for terrorist designation is extremely broad and by broad, this includes participating in financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetuating acts, supplying or selling arms, recruiting, or otherwise supporting the activities of ISIL, Al Qaeda, or any cell affiliated splinter group or derivative thereof, very broad, encompasses a broad range of activities, and that is the basis for listing that existed before.
Being designated for sexual and gender based violence thus must be linked to the above mentioned criteria.
Information supplied by member states usually relate to the broader first three categories, which is financing, planning, facilitating, or associated with ISIL and Al Qaeda.
Third, the monitoring team routinely ask member states about sexual and gender based violence.
We send requests for information to sometimes 60 or 70 member states, all of the council member states, groups, et cetera We review open source reporting, we look at reports such as the special representatives and the SGs and the NGO reports.
However, this 12 67 monitoring team has not received information from member states on these issues.
As noted in all previous reports since adoption of the new language in 27 34, and we say this in each report, member states did not provide information concerning involvement in the trafficking of persons or sexual and gender based violence, and this is in 27 34.
So in this regard, I would like to really emphasize that we need and we want member state reporting and active engagement on these particular matters.
To utilize sanctions as a tool, we must have the information provided by member states.
So given that the SG's April 2026 report mentions seven entities subject to sanctions under the 12 67 regime, there appears to be a gap between the information that member states provide to the monitoring team and on these terrorist actors and information available otherwise.
This could be related to a lack of understanding of the nexus between sexual and gender based violence and trafficking and terrorism.
In which case, the recommendations of the special reperoire are particularly important about the need for greater understanding and involvement with related groups.
The monitoring team takes note of the point made that sanctions for sexual and gender based violence in the 12 67 regime appear to be an underutilized tool.
The monitoring team stands ready to assist member states with listing proposals.
The team itself worked with any individual member state to bring forth new listings or amendments to existing listed entities.
Along with the recommendation of the Special Rapporteur and the Secretary-General report related to sanctions, these issues will be noted to the committee.
Thank you.
Thank you, Sue, and thank you also for reminding us that, of course, the mechanisms that are created, particularly in New York are only as good as we make use of them and that it's our collective responsibility to ensure that those mechanisms are given the means by which they can actually function.
So thanks for that.
I'm sure you've given us some food for thought.
Um Now, turning on to our last panelist, Professor Mullai, special rapporteur on trafficking in person, especially women and children.
Professor Mali, given your longstanding experience on this topic, I think we would really welcome your closing thoughts for the panel on current challenges and best practice to address trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in conflict areas and any other recommendations that you might have.
Thank you very much.
Special Representative Patton, co sponsoring member states Excellency's distinguished participants.
More than a decade now since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 23 31, we see that accountability for trafficking in persons in conflict situations remains limited and the consequences of this impunity include limited access to justice for victims of trafficking and continuing failures of prevention and protection.
It also means continuing profits for criminal networks and instability due to the continuing activities and strengths of armed groups, undermining peace building measures.
As we've heard, the forms of trafficking prevalent in conflict and transitional situations include abductions of women and girls for sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, child enforced marriage, and extortion.
In many conflict situations, although the form of violence reported clearly meets the legal definition of trafficking in persons, it is not consistently reported or identified as trafficking in persons, and that is leading to continued impunity and a lack of accountability, and most importantly, a gap in terms of access to justice for victims and survivors.
We also see that victims are sometimes punished rather than provided with assistance and protection.
Patterns of violence against men and boys that may constitute trafficking in persons, including for purposes of sexual exploitation or sexual slavery, are under reported or may be identified as torture or other inhumane acts rather than as trafficking for sexual exploitation because of continuing stigma and obstacles to reporting.
As yet, the International Criminal Court has not prosecuted the crime of trafficking in persons under the crimes against humanity of enslavement or sexual slavery.
The draft Crimes Against Humanity Treaty includes reference to trafficking in persons within the definition of the crime of enslavement, but is not referenced in relation to the definition of sexual slavery, which may lead to inconsistencies and gaps in terms of its application in the future to trafficking in persons.
We have time to correct that.
We also see that with limited exceptions, investigative and fact finding mechanisms of the Human Rights Council, which have a key role to play in promoting accountability, have not investigated the prevalence of trafficking in persons, even in situations where significant indicators of trafficking in persons are present.
The independent fact finding mission on Libya was an exception in that it specifically addressed and reported on trafficking in persons potentially reaching the level of crimes against humanity of enslavement.
As special rapporteur jointly with other special procedures mandates, I have issued communications to Libya to highlight the prevalence of trafficking in persons, especially of black African women for purposes of sexual exploitation and sexual slavery and issued communications to states engaged in forcible removals of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees back to Libya despite the real risk of refoulement.
In my mandate report on the country visit to South Sudan, I highlighted that conflict related sexual violence against women and girls was being recorded and documented, but not always referenced or identified as trafficking in persons as such as Sheila has also highlighted.
I have again recently highlighted continuing concerns in relation to abductions of women and girls and trafficking of persons for purposes of sexual exploitation in South Sudan and widespread impunity and lack of access to justice.
In my country visits to both South Sudan and Central African Republic, the impact of climate change and environmental degradation was clear in terms of hindering access to justice and effective investigations with mobile courts operational on paper but not in practice and limited capacity for effective investigations.
In my recent country visit to Chad, I highlighted the gaps in assistance and protection services for women and children forcibly displaced from Sudan, many of whom were victims of trafficking for sexual slavery and sexual exploitation in Sudan and in transit.
I highlighted the prevalence of trafficking in persons in the refugee camps, the spontaneous sites around Adré, where survivors of sexual and gender based violence, including trafficking in persons were again at risk.
Due to the limited capacity for protection by host communities, the prevalence of non state armed groups and criminal networks engaged in trafficking for sexual exploitation, and weakness in the rule of law.
In several communications to Sudan and to the rapid support forces, I have highlighted the reports received of trafficking for sexual slavery and sexual exploitation, particularly affecting women and girls.
As we have heard, this is continuing and requires an urgent response.
In my recent country visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the report presented at the Human Rights Council, just recently, I highlighted again the prevalence of trafficking in persons in conflict affected areas in north and south Kivus and the limited capacity for prevention or infective investigations.
With the potential drawdown of Monusco and cuts to funding for humanitarian responses, the capacity for protection of civilians against trafficking in persons risks are severely limited and accountability efforts face many obstacles.
Excellency' distinguished participants, I would also like to highlight that in post conflict and transitional settings, transitional justice mechanisms have an important role to play in ensuring accountability and access to justice for victims and access to reparations.
However, despite the prevalence of a range of forms of trafficking and conflict situations, we see that trafficking in persons remains largely invisible in truth recovery and transitional justice accountability processes and reparations measures are not being implemented in practice despite orders for such.
We also see that trafficking is frequently prosecuted as a domestic or transnational crime, but not always as an international crime or as a crime of universal jurisdiction, again, leading to impunity.
Accountability gaps, as we've heard, are linked to a number of factors, including challenges in gathering evidence, threats to the safety of investigators.
Importantly, also the absence or limited availability of witness and victim protection facilities and high risks of reprisals against victims and their families, particularly where conflict is ongoing and criminal networks are present or disarmament programs have been insufficient, and those risks are particularly prevalent in transition settings.
We also know that refugees and displaced persons faced high risks, including because of limited access to international protection pathways and cuts in resettlements.
I have highlighted this also in communications to Ethiopia and Eritrea in relation to displaced persons in Tigray and Amhara and Afar regions.
We've also seen the risks faced by Rohingya people in Myanmar, but also in Cox’s Bazar, where the protracted situation of displacement and statelessness leads to heightened risks of trafficking, including of young girls by sea on dangerous journeys, We heard directly from children that at night it is worse, it's worse when it rains because their cries are not heard and armed groups operate in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar at night.
We also know and it's been reported that conflict related sexual violence has been highlighted affecting forcibly displaced Palestinians in Gaza in particular, with indicators of serious gaps in prevention and protection capacity and of accountability.
We know that children are particularly at risk of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation and weaknesses in child protection systems are an obstacle to effective investigations and investigations are also hindered by stigma, tabooz and shame.
As special rapporteur, I've also highlighted the trafficking of women and girls to Syria for purposes of sexual exploitation, child enforced marriage and domestic servitude, and positive obligations arising in relation to their assistance, protection, and non punishment, but those are not being respected in practice.
I would also like to highlight the gaps in the women peace and security agenda and programming, the failure to integrate responses to trafficking in persons and conflict related trafficking into women peace and security agendas and planning.
And finally, I want to highlight the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which applies at all times.
There are no provisions for derogations in times of armed conflict, and in my joint work with the Special Rapporteur on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we've highlighted the importance of a disability inclusive approach to combating trafficking in persons in conflict situations, recognizing the gendered risks faced by women and girls with disabilities, and the importance of leadership by disabled persons in prevention and accountability measures.
To conclude, I want to highlight again the importance of a comprehensive application of international law, the need to strengthen international cooperation and mutual legal assistance to ensure effective investigations, recognition of the significant risks of reprisals, the need to strengthen capacity for effective investigations into technology facilitated trafficking, and the need to ensure that UN mandated investigative mechanisms and transitional justice processes include trafficking in persons within the scope of their work.
We need to resource and support survivor centered and survivor led responses through meaningful long term inclusion measures.
Thank you.
Thank you, Professor Mu.
I think it's nice to be in New York and to benefit from Geneva focused research and in depth knowledge.
I invite everyone who's interested, of course, to read your reports and benefit from all of the research that's been carried out.
We have come to the end of the panel and we now can open the floor for a very short discussion with the panelists if there are questions in the room, and then we will close the um the event.
If you can please state your name and which member state or organization you come from prior to your intervention, that would be most useful.
Hi, my name is Maya.
Hi, my name is Alexa.
This is a question on behalf of the DMUN Foundation, we welcome the timely discussion and we know it recognizes the importance of strengthening international cooperation to combat conflict related sexual violence and trafficking in persons while significant progress has been made since the adoption of the Security Council resolution.
In this regard, we would like to ask the distinguished panel, what concrete measures can the international community take to strengthen information sharing and cooperation among government, the UN, civil society, youth research organizations, and responsible private sector partners to improve accountability while ensuring survivor centered approaches remain at the heart of these efforts.
We thank you.
Thank you.
We'll take another one.
We'll go there and then there, and then I'll close it just because we have very few minutes only left.
Please go ahead.
Hi, my name is Maya Sab and I'm also from DMUN Foundation.
I wanted to say several speakers have highlighted that we do not like norms, but implementation.
What concrete steps could the Security Council take in the next 12 to 24 months to ensure that sanctions are used more consistently against trafficking in CRSV and how can information collected by civil society and women led organizations be better and more safely integrated into sanctions committee deliberations without exposing survivors and witnesses to additional risks? Thank you.
Thank you.
And we'll go to our last question, Madam, you have the floor.
I had.
I'm also member of National Commission of Status of Women in Pakistan.
My question to the panelists and to the distinguished guests also here is that what we see between the protection mechanisms and mandate between the connectivity between Resolution 13 25 and Resolution 23 31.
Is an extension of 13 25.
My question to the panelists is that what we have observed from Madame Sheila's presentation, that the frameworks for both are different.
We see the intersectionality between the two resolutions, but we see the disconnect between the intersectionality and implementation mechanisms of the two resolutions over not just only in Sudan, but it's everywhere around the globe.
What are the key important steps that you people could recommend so that there is a cohesion and there is a connectivity between the implementation frameworks across the board to prevent violence all forms of violence against women and girls in the conflicting areas and regions.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone, and I'll go back to the panel in reverse order maybe.
I think the question highlights the understanding of the of the existence of strong frameworks, but still the persistent implementation gap and ask for concrete as possible recommendations or observations in terms of what can be done and particularly also echoing Sue your point about information and how that actually trickles to the mechanisms that exist.
Maybe Professor Mi, you start and we'll go backwards and then we'll close it.
I think in relation to the gaps and the disconnect in implementation, the differences that may exist in terms of on paper, different legislative frameworks, those can be corrected.
We don't have any shortage of normative frameworks, so they need to be corrected and quite a bit of work has been done inside Sudan.
To highlight as just one example, the need for reforms and corrections.
But what we see is that, for example, with regard to investigative mechanisms of the Human Rights Council or others, unless trafficking in persons is really explicitly referenced, it's being missed.
It's not being properly reported or identified as such, even though all of the indicators are there, even though the conduct that is being referenced clearly indicates trafficking in persons.
That means that those patterns and the systematic nature of that has not been properly addressed.
As I said, we have the Rome statute, for example, but we haven't seen prosecutions at the International Criminal Court.
There is a gap, I think in relation to the draft Crimes Against Humanity Treaty, which could be corrected.
The women Peace and Security agenda programming, it's very patchy in relation to how trafficking in persons is addressed.
That again, needs to be more systematically Um, and explicitly referenced, and there we need leadership by those affected to ensure that that's incorporated.
But we have the frameworks and the documents.
It's around implementation in practice and proper resourcing of that, and in relation to the question around sanctions and risks, again, I think we really need to highlight the resourcing of victim and witness protections in practice on the ground, which are often absent.
Thanks.
Has said, and I should also note that it's not the role of the monitoring team to make recommendations and here we make it through the committee.
But I would say on a personal level, information and NGO any member state may make a proposal for a listing.
Can make amendments to existing listings.
It's a situation in which the information that can be provided be given to member states who have the ability to make recommendations.
I think that in that regard, I think what we need is more information and engagement between the NGOs, the people who are seeing this on the ground, the special inators, et cetera, and the member states to bring that information forward.
NMT, if you want to It is important that information and documentation be prioritized, as well as also those measures need to be domesticated or translated into the reality of the situation.
In addition to civilian protection, when people are left vulnerable, this is why the crimes occur.
So there is a need for civilian protection as well as also recognizing this trafficking related to sexual exploitation and sexual violence as an international crime and as though it required a collective and international response.
Thank you.
We'll go to Sheila over to Sheila in Juba.
Thank you.
I believe the first thing would be for us on the ground to stop siloing trafficking and CRSV.
We need the tools, we need the frameworks to be able to look at the nexus more closely.
That's the first one.
The second is that our own data at the moment is limited.
We are looking only at abduction linked CRSV within South Sudan, and we haven't done any work in terms of over the border in sort of work with the involving trafficking.
I believe there are ways of ensuring that whatever links we can find are used in order to ensure that the frameworks are used.
That's the first thing.
But above all, that we are able to provide using those frameworks, the necessary support and access to justice, et cetera, to survivors of abduction linked CRSV which could also be trafficking.
So these are my few thoughts on this.
It's basically what I mentioned earlier, refiling abduction linked CRSV as trafficking in persons where the elements are there.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Matteo, you have the final word, and then we'll close it.
Thank you.
No, everything has already been said.
I think from a UNODC perspective, capacity building, I think it is important to have and particularly from the UN system, the appropriate understanding and resources to operate on the ground.
I think that this is a significant message that I would like to share with member states.
It is important to maintain the spotlight on the issue, to provide the necessary resources, particularly because we don't want to address this issue from a cookie cutter approach.
It is very important to distinguish when we operate to address sexual violence in general, but particularly when linked to trafficking in persons, in conflict situation when we know how hard it is to operate, as well as in post conflict scenarios or in transition settings.
This is fundamental particularly because we do have to operate in a specific context where we know how hard it is in conflict situations where we have to invest more on the role of communities, NGOs, and those on the ground who can access areas where we can't differently from a post conflict situation where we can invest a little bit more on capacity building and support institutions, not only from a transitional perspective, link the various agencies responsible from the continuing care, from prevention to ensuring accountability.
We talk about Ministries of Health, interior, the judiciary, et cetera.
My plea again is, first of all, again, thank you for the opportunity and thank you for maintaining the spotlight on this important initiative because it is far too often.
Not only from a trafficking person's perspective, conflict sexual violence is often far too overlooked.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
That brings us to the end of our panel today and thanks everyone for a very rich conversation.
I think what I take away from the conversation today is how pervasive this issue remains.
We've heard from many different contexts.
We've heard the harm that it creates at the human level.
But we've also heard a number of leads in terms of how we can actually have a better impact to address these issues.
Hopefully, we can harvest those and run with them for action.
Of course, the Office of the SRSG for Sexual Violence in conflict remains committed to working with all of you, all of our partners in addressing these and other forms of CRSV.
We're very thankful to our co host, Denmark and our co sponsors, the DRC, Frances, Latvia and Panama, and all of you distinguished speakers for making the time.
And everyone that joined us today, and we hope to see you tomorrow at the open debate in the Security Council to discuss the Secretary-General 2026 report on conflict related sexual violence under the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Copies for those interested of the reports are actually available on your way out if you want to take one of them.
Thank you so much and have a good evening.