Prosecuting the Nexus between Terrorism, Conflict-related Sexual Violence and Trafficking in Human Beings before National Legal Mechanisms

Abstract

United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 2331 (2016) recognizes that ‘acts of sexual and gender-based violence, including when associated to trafficking in persons, are known to be part of the strategic objectives and ideology of certain terrorist groups, used as a tactic of terrorism and an instrument to increase their finances and their power through recruitment and the destruction of communities’. In the same resolution, the Council noted that such trafficking, particularly of women and girls, ‘remains a critical component of the financial flows to certain terrorist groups’ and is ‘used by these groups as a driver for recruitment’. Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab are among the main terrorist groups that have used human trafficking (including for sexual exploitation) and conflict-related sexual violence as tactics of terrorism, or ‘sexual terrorism’. This article will: (i) explain the nexus between these three crimes; (ii) focus on its different manifestations in the context of these terrorist organizations; and (iii) reflect on the possibilities for national criminal prosecution. To assist in the fight against impunity and increase accountability, this article provides suggestions to facilitate the successful prosecution of sexual terrorism in a more survivor-centric way.

Human Trafficking-Terrorism Nexus: When Violent Non-State Actors Engage in the Modern-Day Slavery

“…When crime promises high yield in revenue at a relative low cost, insurgent groups can be expected to engage in criminal activity. The barriers to entry for human trafficking are relatively low, in part because governments have not standardized prosecution laws for the crime (Shelley 2010; de Brouwer, de Volder, and Paulussen 2020). Compared to other forms of organized crime, human trafficking has an ancillary benefit of providing “monetary flows to terrorist organizations […] through the sale and re-sale of human bodies” (Malik 2017, 2).…”

“…For example, Boko Haram has used human trafficking and concomitant sexual violence to humiliate the Nigerian state and “destroy the social fabric of society” (Attah 2016, 388). Al-Shabaab deployed human trafficking and sexual violence to terrorize civilians and state structures in Somalia and neighboring countries (de Brower, de Volder, and Paulussen 2020, 14).…”