Displacement

First of all, although sexual violence affects a cross section of the population, certain factors contribute to greater vulnerability. Forced displacement and migration increase the risk of abuse and exploitation. Reports from refugees and migrants arriving in Europe suggest that many women and girls have been sexually exploited upon their flight from conflict situations. At last year’s open debate on conflict-related sexual violence (see S/PV.7704) we referred to the need to protect women and girls when they are forcibly displaced or travelling along migration routes. Sadly, that concern persists. Sexual violence in all its forms is also a driver of displacement and a risk factor for people on migration routes and being displaced. The same holds true for boys and men.

Over the next two years, United Nations States Members will negotiate a new framework for global migration governance. The global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration offers an opportunity to include some of the issues of this debate in the discourse on global migration. The thematic debate on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants hosted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and to be held in Vienna in September 2017 is one of many platforms for addressing those issues.