Invisible Victims
Drugs and Digital Market
Considerations For Prevention
Persons with disabilities are at increased risk of being targeted by traffickers due to their disability, possible reduced capacity to give informed consent, and the power imbalance that exists between them and their traffickers.
This can be due to various factors, including physical, cognitive, sensory, developmental, or emotional impairments that might make it difficult for such victims to give consent or to refuse to go along with traffickers, to escape exploitation, to advocate for themselves, or to protect themselves from exploitation.
Persons with disabilities often have reduced capacity to access support networks and may face discrimination, which in turn leads to social and economic exclusion, as well as isolation. Because human traffickers seek people with perceived vulnerabilities, victims of previous violence and social discrimination are especially targeted.
For such victims, violence and abuse may be normalized, and beliefs of shame or unworthiness may heighten future risk of human trafficking.23 Among the specific vulnerabilities that increase the risk to fall victim to human trafficking are:
Dependence on caregivers or support systems: People with disabilities often rely on caregivers, family members or friends to provide them with basic needs, such as transportation, housing and medical care.
This dependence can make them more vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers, who may offer these services or such assistance in exchange for labour or other forms of exploitation.
Cases are also known in which traffickers specifically target individuals with a disability to gain access to their government-issued benefits.25 23 See, e.g., Adult Advocacy Centres (2020), Needs Assessment: Human Trafficking and People with Disabilities.
US Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Centre E-Guide, Human Trafficking Legal Centre Fact Sheet. b. Limited access to information and resources:
Limited access to quality education impacts the ability of persons with disabilities to gain the skills or knowledge they need for making informed decisions or judgements about potentially exploitative situations.
When people with disabilities lack accessible or understandable information about human trafficking, they typically also have limited access to information and resources that would protect them from being trafficked. For example, they may not have access to information about their rights, including their sexual and reproductive health rights, or may not know how to report abuse.
Lack of sex education for persons with disabilities also enhances their vulnerability to trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Difficulty communicating or advocating for themselves: Due to language barriers, people with disabilities may have difficulty communicating or advocating for themselves, which can make it difficult for them to seek help or report abuse.
Isolation can also heighten dependency on exploiters and reduce the ability of people with disabilities to report abuse. d. Stigma and discrimination: People with disabilities frequently face stigma and discrimination in their communities, which can make them more vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers.
Low access to education and employment, exposure to violence, and high risk of poverty are factors contributing to their social and economic exclusion and increasing their dependence, making them more likely to be targeted by trafficking networks
Victims of human trafficking with disabilities face many new or exacerbated vulnerabilities after experiencing exploitation. Traffickers may target victims because of their disability or abuse their disabilities for forms of exploitation (e.g., street begging or theft of social security benefits).
Survivors may also have suffered violence and abuse inflicted in the course of trafficking, or illnesses and conditions that have caused them to develop disabilities, such as post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD) or other dissociative disorders.29 Hence, their vulnerability may be enhanced due to the trauma and abuse they have experienced, as well as the specific challenges and barriers they face as people with disabilities.
Factors That Increase Vulnerability
These include a. Physical and mental health issues: Survivors may experience a range of physical and mental health problems because of the abuse and exploitation they have endured. This can include physical injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), dissociative disorders, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
A fact sheet published by the Human Trafficking Legal Centre in 2017 highlights the important role of health care systems in combating trafficking in human beings. Medical personnel and health professionals have frequent contact with patients in health care settings and are therefore uniquely placed to identify and safely respond to human trafficking.
Additionally, medical personnel can document injuries, offer expert testimony, and provide affidavits for use in legal proceedings.
The Human Trafficking Legal Centre, Medical Fact Sheet: Human Trafficking & Health Care Providers: Lessons learned from federal criminal indictments and civil trafficking cases; available here. b. Invisibility of some forms of disability:
Trafficking victim
The disability of a trafficking victim often plays a significant role in how they were selected or exploited by a trafficker for victimization, how a report regarding that trafficking case is received and investigated, and how the related case is tried in court.
The abilities and limitations of those with intellectual disability will vary from person to person: not everyone with an intellectual disability will have the same vulnerabilities, needs, degree of independence or intellectual capacity. It is critical to understand that while a victim with intellectual disability may have been evaluated as having the developmental age of a child, they are not a child.
They have the life experience of their chronological age and should not be infantilized. An intellectual disability may affect the victim’s competency (the ability to testify in court) and capacity (the ability to make informed decisions).
These are two separate issues: a person may be competent to testify in court, but still lack the capacity to appreciate or understand the nature of conduct at issue, which never extends to exploitation, to which, under the Palermo Protocol, an individual can never consent.
Many in the criminal justice community suggest dispensing with the necessity of proving means in cases of victims with disabilities to facilitate prosecuting more cases and supporting more survivors. While well intended, this would send an underlying message that is counter to the dignity and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
It is unjust to categorize all individuals with intellectual disabilities as lacking the fundamental capacity to make choices. Assessing the impact of an individual’s disabilities on their vulnerability to prohibited means must be done on a case-by-case basis. This is challenging and takes time and patience.
It also requires collaboration with experts to understand the circumstances of a disability and its impact on an individual’s capacity, by including their ability to appreciate, understand or control their conduct. Traffickers strip humans of their dignity and agency. Significantly, capacity in this context does not imply that victims can consent to their own exploitation. Rather what must be addressed is their unique vulnerability to trafficking.
The international community has recognized the crime of human trafficking as a serious violation of human rights and a threat to global development.
In the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs), the global community has committed itself to eradicating forced labour, ending modern slavery and human trafficking, and eliminating child labour by 2030 (Target 8.7); to eliminating all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation (Target 5.2); and ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture against children (Target 16.2).
Available data on human rights violations and crimes that often manifest as trafficking – forced labour, sexual exploitation, forced marriage and child labour – clearly indicate that the phenomenon is widespread.
In its 2021 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, the International Labour Organization ( ILO) indicates that some 27.6 million people are in forced labour worldwide. While it notes the enhanced vulnerability of children with disabilities to trafficking for sexual exploitation,48 it otherwise offers no specific mention of disability as a vulnerability factor in trafficking.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, raised the importance of collecting data and information on disability status in comments made in 2021 to the 24th Session UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: “
The intersections of disability and human trafficking is an area that has been neglected in international law, policy and practice on human trafficking. This gap should be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Limited disaggregated data is available on experiences of persons with disabilities of human trafficking, or prevalence of forms of exploitation. This contributes to the lack of visibility, and a lack of knowledge and good practice. ”
The OSCE Survey Report 2021 of Efforts to Implement OSCE Commitments and Recommended Actions to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings identified specific targeting of people with developmental/physical disabilities by traffickers as an emerging trend.
According to survey information provided by OSCE participating States regarding trafficking involving people with disabilities, 13 of 41 respondents (31%) reported cases in the judicial process or under investigation.
Another 8 (20%) noted unconfirmed reports of trafficking of persons with disabilities. Of the remaining 20 respondents, 7 did not know and 13 had no reports. In 5 of these 13 countries, NGOs stated that they had reports of targeting of people with disabilities.
Conclusions and recommendations
Despite a growing awareness of the intersection between trafficking in human beings and disabilities, the present review highlights the under-researched nature of this phenomena and underscores the pressing need to address existing gaps in anti-trafficking responses at national, regional and international level.
Disabilities are largely invisible in data and statistics, and the absence of a systematic mapping of the specific vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities complicates more targeted policy and regulatory approaches to protect persons with disabilities from trafficking.
Victims with disabilities need tailored prevention programmes and effective and appropriate assistance. Information about disabilities available from judicial cases indicate that disability is a documented risk for trafficking. Thus more systematic collection of jurisprudence involving such cases may help inform national responses.
The significant number of references to disabilities by OSCE participating States in their National Action Plans, as demonstrated in Annex 2, is an encouraging sign that points to a growing recognition that disability is a concern in trafficking. At the same time, there is still no systematic or targeted approach to address disabilities in trafficking responses.
The OSCE/ODIHR Handbook on National Referral Mechanisms (NRM) addresses disability within national frameworks to protect and promote the human rights of victims of trafficking.
In order to build on this and better assist participating States address the nexus between disability and trafficking in human beings, the following recommendations are offered.
National responses should be holistic and inclusive National measures to protect persons with disabilities, in particular in National Action Plans, should integrate specific risks and needs across the 4Ps:
Prevention (tailored awareness-raising, data collection); ƒ Protection (comprehensive, tailored national referral protocols and long-term assistance, training/capacity-building, disability-inclusive indicators for victim identification);
Prosecution (training/capacity building, application of the concept of abuse of a position of vulnerability [APOV] and non-punishment principle); ƒ Partnerships (survivor engagement, national and international collaboration, collaboration between anti-trafficking experts and disability advocates and experts).
Policies and response measures should also take into account the compounded vulnerabilities of trafficking victims with disabilities that make them particularly vulnerable to exploitation and less likely to be able to access support and protection. Better data and information for policy formulation
The absence of comprehensive data poses a significant barrier to formulating effective policies addressing the intersection of human trafficking and disability. This gap hinders both preventive measures and remedial actions aimed at safeguarding persons living with disabilities from becoming trafficked and to assist survivors with disabilities.
Additionally, inadequate data collection and limited visibility regarding trafficking and disabilities erodes endeavours to enhance the capacity of criminal justice practitioners and service providers, and obstructs the allocation of budgets for proactive initiatives and support services.
To address the data gap, the OSCE and other relevant international organizations should support: ƒ the development of practical guidelines to collect better data and information on disability and trafficking to inform policy and national action, and capture good practices for collecting data that pertains to trafficking and disabilities.
Collecting data and information should include: F how disability increases trafficking risks; F how disability is a factor in exploitation or is caused by exploitation; F how disability affects trafficking victims’ ability to access protection, justice, health, and employment as well as long-term rehabilitation services.
Data should be disaggregated by physical and mental disabilities, as well as other factors (e.g., gender, age, origin, type of exploitation); ƒ Increased survivor engagement and collaboration with disability organizations to inform policies and contribute to policy design;
The development of a comprehensive mapping of vulnerabilities related to trafficking and physical and mental disability to: F inform prevention strategies aimed at reducing trafficking risks for persons with disabilities.
F inform comprehensive identification and service responses, referral systems, and protection approaches to address the specific vulnerabilities of trafficking victims with disabilities; support access to justice and a disability-sensitive criminal justice response.
Awareness-raising Attention to disability is low or non-existent in both, international, regional and national standards as well as in policies on trafficking in human beings.
Modern human rights responses to trafficking should pay more attention to the special vulnerabilities and needs of specific groups, including adults and children with disabilities.
To support more attention to disability, international agencies and national authorities should collaborate and develop informational and promotional materials that highlight the nexus between disabilities and human trafficking and thus help to set future standards and policy formulation at national, regional and international levels.
These materials should be developed in partnership with civil society organizations, advocates and experts in the field, including those with lived experience. In 2021, the European Disability Forum and the CERMI Women’s Foundation organized a webinar titled “
Women and girls with disabilities in the face of trafficking and sexual exploitation”. The webinar was aimed at raising awareness among organizations of persons with disabilities and other participants on relevant instruments and policies for combating trafficking and sexual exploitation in women and girls with disabilities.
Healthcare
Healthcare professionals working in healthcare systems or people working directly with persons with disabilities are often the only points of contact and should thus be the primary target audience for prevention efforts.
The 2022 revised Handbook on National Referral Mechanisms ( NRM) published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights ( ODIHR) is an important new policy guidance tool. It seeks to advance progress in addressing disability within national frameworks to protect and promote the human rights of victims of trafficking.
The newly revised NRM handbook addresses the intersection between trafficking in human beings and disabilities, particularly within its NRM protocol, which provides essential procedures for all professionals working with victims of trafficking, including survivors who have disabilities.
The handbook maps out several vulnerability factors related to disability and provides important guidance for working with trafficking survivors with disabilities.
The handbook focuses on helping NRMs provide effective ways to identify, protect and support victims of trafficking. It is less targeted towards prevention efforts to make persons with disabilities less vulnerable to trafficking.
Nonetheless, for OSCE participating States as well as other countries, the handbook is the most comprehensive tool available on the nexus between disabilities and human trafficking and could serve as a basis for developing a dedicated guidance tool.
Such efforts should include sex education for persons with intellectual disability, including education about healthy relationships, consent and sexual boundaries. Moreover, targeted information and professional training should be provided in health centres.
The Polaris Project,39 an NGO committed to combating human trafficking, recommends providing information in places that are accessed by people with disabilities, including in waiting rooms of healthcare offices and clinics, behavioural and mental health centres, residential care facilities, and vocational training centres.
Furthermore, equipping professionals in these environments with training in human trafficking, which includes engaging with survivors with disabilities, can enhance their ability to effectively engage with and support vulnerable individuals. For example, the NGO HEAL
Trafficking has launched a webinar that serves as an introduction to steps combatting trafficking for service providers who may meet youth with disabilities who have experienced trafficking.
The webinar aims to increase the understanding of the vulnerability of youth with disabilities to human trafficking and to improve the ability of service providers to identify and support potential or confirmed youth survivors of human trafficking with disabilities
GRETA51
In July 2023, GRETA51 launched the fourth evaluation round of the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention, with a thematic focus on addressing vulnerabilities to human trafficking.
The questionnaire focuses on addressing vulnerabilities to human trafficking, including which measures State Parties have taken to reduce the vulnerability to human trafficking of persons with disabilities, as well as levels of assistance and access to justice for such victims.
At the level of OSCE participating States, there is little mention of the question of disability and trafficking in data or reports. While many countries publish annual or periodic reports on trafficking,
little attention is given to disability. A positive sign is that in some countries, such as Switzerland and France, disability indicators are included in data collection on trafficking.
Also, a study was carried out in the United States in 2022 that analysed the content of 18 federal and 17 state cases of human trafficking with the aim of increasing understanding of sex and labour trafficking involving survivors with disabilities.
The lack of comprehensive and disaggregated data, and the even less visible question of what role disability status plays in terms of vulnerability to trafficking, is a significant barrier for policy making, prevention, and remedial action to protect persons living with disabilities.
Poor data collection and visibility of the nexus between trafficking and disabilities undermine efforts to portray the extent that trafficking involves persons with disabilities.
This in turn undermines efforts to build capacities among criminal justice practitioners and service providers, or to allocate appropriate budgets for effective prevention efforts and comprehensive, inclusive support services for survivors.
The importance of data collection on disability status is also recognized in the ASEAN Baseline Report 2020 on trafficking, which makes the case that collecting sex, age and disability disaggregated data is critical for an understanding of who the victims are and what types of support are needed
The intersection of disability and natural and human-made disasters
Natural and human-made disasters further exacerbate the vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities, leading to heightened exposure to risks of human trafficking. In October 2023, an estimated 114 million people were forcibly displaced globally.
#While official statistics on disability prevalence among displaced populations are lacking, applying the World Health Organization’s global disability prevalence rate of 16 per cent suggests that approximately 18.2 million forcibly displaced individuals have disabilities.
In 2022, UN human rights experts expressed concern about the situation of children with disabilities in Ukraine, noting their heightened risks of human trafficking and exploitation.
The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children highlighted that “ … as a result of discrimination, harmful stereotypes and failures to ensure reasonable accommodation, people with disabilities, in particular women and girls, are at heightened risk of violence, including trafficking in persons, during climate-related disasters and emergencies, especially in emergency shelters.
Constraints imposed on decision-making and situations of dependency may limit mobility, including opportunities for migration, planned relocation or resettlement, and increase risks of harm and human rights violations, including trafficking in persons. ” 59
This underscores the critical necessity of investing in comprehensive research and data collection efforts.
As an example, a 2023 OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) report estimates that 15 per cent of 15.4 million individuals in Ukraine in need of protection services have a disability, and that women and girls with disabilities are at high risk of human trafficking
Recommendations
There are no comprehensive disability-sensitive trafficking policies or response plans, and there is limited guidance available for developing victim-centred approaches to support trafficking victims with disabilities.
The anti-trafficking community should assess the extent to which disability is incorporated in current training tools and materials, and support the development of guidance tools and training materials incorporating disability for practitioners on victim/survivor-centred law enforcement and justice approaches, as well as inclusive, accessible victim identification and care. In particular, support should be provided for the development of: ƒ
Guidelines for tailored prevention strategies focused on persons with disabilities to reduce their vulnerability to trafficking; ƒ Policy guidelines for a victim-centred response and protection approach to support victims of human trafficking with disabilities through proactive identification, and comprehensive, inclusive assistance that addresses the specific needs of victims/survivors with disabilities; Training and capacity-building of professionals working with people with disabilities, such as healthcare, social work and education professionals, to build their knowledge about human trafficking to improve prevention and identification; ƒ
Expand awareness-raising and training of anti-trafficking professionals to sensitize them to the vulnerability and needs of persons with disabilities to ensure that prevention and protection efforts are tailored and effective, and that specific needs of victims with disabilities are addressed during criminal justice processes.
Adult Advocacy Centers (2020), Needs Assessment: Human Trafficking and People with Disabilities; available here. Anti-Slavery International (2014), Trafficking for Forced Criminal Activities and Begging in Europe: Exploratory Study and Good Practice
Examples. ASEAN (2025), ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; available here. ASEAN (2022), ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in persons, especially women and children – Baseline Report 2020; available here. Center for Victim Research (2018), Human Trafficking Victims with Disabilities or Mental Illness – Annotated Bibliography; available here. CERMI/European Disability Forum, Report webinar “Women and girls with disabilities in the face of trafficking and sexual exploitation”; available here. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, General recommendation No. 38 (2020) on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 3 (2016) on women and girls with disabilities. Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 9 (2006) on the rights of children with disabilities.
Effective information campaigns on human trafficking and disability should identify specific target audiences (decision makers, anti-trafficking practitioners, the general public), incorporate data and facts, highlight solutions and success stories, and propose actions to prevent trafficking and protect victims with disabilities
Furthermore, it is imperative to extend awareness and training to anti-trafficking professionals, but also among medical personnel, to bridge the gap in disability literacy and to enhance awareness on trafficking indicators. This will ensure that identification, prevention and protection efforts are designed to meet the unique needs of individuals with disabilities.
Such efforts should involve inclusive and accessible prevention campaigns, as well as the development of protection services tailored and accessible to all persons living with a disability. 80 European Disability Forum, CERMI Women’s Foundation-European Disability Forum webinar on Women and girls with disabilities in the face of trafficking and sexual exploitation [webpage]; available here.
Effective law enforcement National authorities should consider requiring the means be sufficient to compel a reasonable person with the same circumstances, background, and vulnerabilities as the victim.
This would significantly ease the burden of proof and facilitate more effective prosecution of traffickers of persons with disabilities. Authorities should also enhance disability literacy among law enforcement and consider appointing victim advocates to guide survivors with disabilities through criminal justice procedures. Tools for policy formulation and capacity-building
Disability as a Result of Trafficking
Some disabilities may not be immediately apparent or identifiable and thus require diagnosis by a specialist. Lack of awareness of “invisible” disabilities means that they often go undiagnosed, with survivors thus not getting the services they need, or for as long as they need them.
This brings the real risk of leaving survivors of trafficking vulnerable to further victimization and exploitation. In the United States, a survey revealed that the majority of disability providers do not have screening in place for human trafficking. In turn, less than half of anti-trafficking service providers screen for disabilities.
The survey also revealed that very little collaboration exists between human trafficking services and disability service providers.31 c. Stigma and discrimination: Victims of human trafficking who have disabilities may face stigma and discrimination due to both their disabilities and their experiences as survivors.
Stigma surrounding disabilities, as well as the fact that people with “invisible” disabilities may not have a formal diagnosis, may also mean that persons with disabilities do not disclose their disability at the time of identification. This can make it difficult for them to access justice and specialized support services, including long-term reintegration support.
Challenges related to screening and victim identification: Victims of trafficking with disabilities may not be identified because most anti-trafficking actors (service providers and law enforcement) are illiterate about disabilities and/ or may not have the necessary skills or knowledge to identify persons with disabilities – particularly those with “hidden” disabilities.
Furthermore, victims are not systematically screened for disabilities, as most tools currently used in screening processes typically do not include a process to identify disabilities.
As a result, victims of human trafficking might not be identified as such by service providers or law enforcement services, increasing the likelihood that victims with disabilities do not receive adequate accommodation or referrals to disability-related services.
Lack of access to resources and support: Care and support services for trafficking victims often do not offer specialized support services to victims with disabilities. Moreover, given the long-term nature of many forms of disabilities, short-term services available to trafficking victims often do not meet the needs of victims with persistent disabilities.
Victims of human trafficking who have disabilities may have limited access to resources and support, as well as difficulties in navigating access to services and benefits. This includes accessible and appropriate housing, healthcare, education, employment, psychiatric and psychosocial support services, and other services essential for recovery and well-being.
Accessibility concerns
Accessibility concerns also take the form of physical access problems, such as: access barriers for persons with physical disabilities, ƒ sign language not being provided for persons with hearing impairments,
Braille or other services not being available for persons who are blind, ƒ buildings not accessible for wheelchairs or other assistance equipment, ƒ access barriers for persons living with mental/cognitive disabilities (such as support service providers not using inclusive language or special applications).
The duration of assistance provided for trafficking victims often does not meet the long-term needs of victims with disabilities, and/or medical costs are often too high for victims and may not be reimbursed by (social or health) insurance. Adult Advocacy Centres, n. 11. European Disability Forum, p. 8. 35 US Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Centre E-Guide.
Interviews with survivors. f. Difficulty advocating for themselves: Victims of human trafficking with disabilities may have difficulty advocating for themselves and communicating their needs, particularly if they have cognitive or communication impairments.
This can make it harder for them to access services and support. Victims of human trafficking with disabilities may also face compounded vulnerabilities due to a combination of factors such as gender, minority status, or socioeconomic background.
These intersecting vulnerabilities make them particularly vulnerable to exploitation and less likely to be able to acquire support and protection.
Various studies on trafficking and disability flag the importance of including survivors’ perspectives when developing guidance materials, capacity-building, and professional training to improve the identification of trafficking situations among persons with disabilities.
Frontline responders who usually serve as the first point of contact should be particularly targeted for such training and capacity-building efforts.
Learning from experts with lived experience and taking into account survivor-led solutions are crucial components for establishing effective anti-trafficking responses.
To date, there is still no comprehensive source document mapping out the various vulnerability factors related to disability that could inform international and national anti-trafficking policy, prevention efforts and overall practice.
However, prevention initiatives, responsive victim protection mechanism and criminal justice processes should consider such disability factors. A comprehensive mapping of vulnerabilities is crucial, since persons with disabilities are often beyond the reach of mainstream prevention efforts, such as public information campaigns or awareness-raising materials disseminated in schools.
Policy frameworks and strategies against trafficking
With varying degrees of clarity, twenty OSCE participating States refer to the connection between trafficking and disabilities in their National Action Plans ( NAPs) (see Annex 2). These references to disabilities are often part of a listing of various vulnerabilities.
In several cases they are limited to specific groups (e.g., children, or women and girls). In some cases, these NAPs65 point out specific interventions, such as developing guidelines and action protocols (Portugal), steps to improve assistance, support, and protection of victims with disabilities (Spain), or identification of research needs (United States).
At the regional level, most references to disability are also quite modest. The Third Work Plan on Trafficking in Persons of the Organization of American States ( OAS) includes several related recommendations, including on data collection and comprehensive, inclusive prevention and protection efforts that address the needs of victims with disabilities.
In 2023, the OAS issued Regional Guidelines for the Social Inclusion of Survivors of Trafficking in Persons in the Americas, which recommend that “accessibility to services should not be restricted by any physical and/or mental, visible or invisible, disabilities or abilities.”
The EU Common Anti-Trafficking Plan to address the risks of trafficking in human beings and support potential victims among those fleeing the war in Ukraine contains one reference to children with disabilities, but no indication of a more systemic approach to disabilities.
The 2021–2025 EU Strategy on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings68 recognizes disability as a special vulnerability factor and refers to the EU Strategy on Persons 65 See below, Annex 2.
OAS (2023), Regional Guidelines for the Social Inclusion of Survivors of Trafficking in Persons in the Americas; available here. EU, A Common Anti-Trafficking Plan to address the risks of trafficking in human beings and support potential victims among those fleeing the war in Ukraine; available here.
EC (2021), Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, on the EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings; available here. with Disabilities.6
This second strategy contains brief references to human trafficking but does not translate this into specific policy recommendations or proposed actions. In other regions, the picture is similar.
The 2016 Policy Brief of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Trafficking in Persons in the SADC Region recognizes the special vulnerability of persons with disabilities, but does not translate this into implications for trafficking policy.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children makes no reference to disability.
While the above references to disability are encouraging and may point to a growing recognition that disability is a vulnerability factor in combating human trafficking, there is still no systematic integration of disability in national or regional anti-trafficking policy frameworks, nor are there specific guidelines for addressing disabilities in prevention and response.
Likewise, there appear to be no references in national action plans to specific capacities to develop prevention responses or appropriate care and assistance to trafficking victims with disabilities.
Further research on the topic and development of guidelines for trafficking prevention strategies, as well as victim-centred responses and protection approaches for human trafficking survivors with disabilities may be of particular relevance for OSCE participating States.
Such research would help them develop more targeted approaches to trafficking and disabilities in their national response plans
