protection needs under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as
well as complementary forms of protection, such as humanitarian status or other
temporary protection mechanisms..
- Special measures are needed to ensure that the specific protection needs of child
victims of trafficking are addressed. Such measures should include, but not be
limited to, a formal determination of the best interest of the child and a systematic
assessment of the child’s international protection needs.
I. UNHCR’S INTEREST AND ACTIVITIES REGARDING HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
1. UNHCR has been entrusted by the United Nations General Assembly with
responsibility for providing international protection to refugees, and for seeking
permanent solutions for the problem of refugees. UNHCR’s mandate ratione personae
also includes asylum seekers, returnees, stateless persons and, under specific
circumstances, internally displaced persons.
2. Neither the issue of human trafficking nor trafficking victims as such fall under
UNHCR’s mandate or the scope of application of the 1951 Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol (hereinafter “the 1951 Convention”).
However, as part of a broader international response to human trafficking, UNHCR
becomes involved where human trafficking impacts on persons of concern to the
Office, in particular:
- To prevent refugees and other persons of concern (asylum seekers, returnees,
stateless and internally displaced persons) from becoming victims of human
trafficking, and to address the needs of persons of concern who have fallen victim
thereto;
- To ensure that international protection needs of trafficking victims (or those at risk
of being trafficked) which may arise as a result of their trafficking experience are
properly identified, and
- To assist States in ensuring that trafficking victims who are without identity
documents are able to establish their identity and nationality status in order to
prevent them from being rendered stateless, and to protect stateless victims of
trafficking.
3. UNHCR’s interventions and activities in the area of human trafficking are based on the
premise that this specific crime may entail abuses or serious threats to the human
rights of the victims and that an international protection response may be called for to
58 ❙ Seoul International Conference Against Human Trafficking in Migrant Women