High Commissioner for Human Rights: the Failure to Administer the COVID-19 Vaccines in a Fair and Equitable Manner is Prolonging the Pandemic

MORNING

Council Concludes Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children

The Human Rights Council this morning held a panel discussion on ensuring equitable, affordable, timely and universal access for all countries to vaccines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hearing the High Commissioner for Human Rights say that the failure to administer the COVID-19 vaccines in a fair and equitable manner was prolonging the pandemic. 

Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the world had been profoundly fortunate to have had effective COVID-19 vaccines developed at an unprecedented pace.  Science had saved millions of lives and livelihoods, but had failed to administer the vaccines in a fair and equitable manner.  Right now, this failure was prolonging the pandemic.  Close to 70 per cent of people in high income countries had been vaccinated with at least one dose, while just over 13 per cent of people in low income countries had been vaccinated.  This failure was profoundly unjust and immoral, and was also deeply counterproductive.

Juan-Carlos Holguín, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador, said that despite the consensus on the need for all people to be vaccinated, inequalities persisted, and many countries faced significant difficulties in immunising their populations, which could have a negative impact on human rights and the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  For these reasons, Mr. Holguin said Ecuador would present at this session of the Human Rights Council, jointly with Azerbaijan as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, a draft resolution to follow up on resolution 46/14, so that good practices and the main challenges in this area would be addressed. 

Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, said that while recognising that the situation with global vaccination in the world had improved compared to what it was a year ago, least developed countries still lagged very much behind in terms of vaccination levels.  This had to be changed if the international community was to live up to the commitment to leave no one behind. 

The Azerbaijani Non-Aligned Movement Chairmanship would continue advocating for shared responsibility in providing fair and affordable access for all countries to COVID-19 vaccines.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said the World Health Organization had been advocating for universal, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines since they were first introduced in December 2020.  While almost 10 billion vaccine doses had been administered around the globe, their distribution told a story of inequality.  Almost 70 per cent of vaccinations were in high income countries, while less than 14 per cent of people in low income countries had received a single dose.  The world was at an inflection point in history.  They had the tools to end the acute phase of the pandemic if they used them properly and shared them fairly.  Profound inequities were undermining that chance.  

Farid Ahmadov, Associate Professor of Law and Co-founder of the Law Programme at ADA University, Azerbaijan, said that in times of global challenges such as COVID, the best way to address them was by taking joint action through international cooperation.  States should devise effective means of taking concerted measures against the disease.  Moreover, given that some diseases were easily transmissible beyond the frontiers of a State, the international community had a collective responsibility to address this problem.

Attiya Waris, Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, said the common demand was for international cooperation to ensure timely, affordable and fair access to COVID-19 vaccines, yet, instead of improving, vaccine inequality had widened.  This pandemic had shown that addressing illicit financial flows was essential not only because it depleted national coffers but also because national health systems required public funding to have the capacity to protect and fulfil the rights to health and to life.

Thomas Cueni, Director-General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, said the pharmaceutical industry had engaged, since the first days of the pandemic, in unprecedented levels of collaboration to find solutions to COVID-19.  The industry had stepped up, bringing its knowledge and expertise in the discovery and development of novel therapeutics and vaccines and in building manufacturing capacity and distribution networks.  And yet, a large part of the eligible population in many African nations remained unvaccinated.  

Gita Sen, General Coordinator of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, said the most pressing issue of our time was inequality.  Inequality across south and north countries; and inequality within countries along multiple dimensions – economic, social, ecological and political.  Extreme poverty had increased in low and middle income countries and had set back progress by a decade, with fewer jobs and much lower incomes.  The gendered effects of this inequality were frightening. 

In the ensuing discussion, speakers said that a multilateral approach was essential in dealing with the pandemic, with a two-pronged approach which would include reforms of the global health system in order to avoid such events in the future.  The pandemic was not over - it was a health crisis, and also an economic and social crisis.  The pandemic had reminded the world of the importance of integrating human rights in responses to complex health emergencies.  Millions of people faced challenges in accessing health services.  The root causes of the lack of equity, affordability and universal access to vaccines needed to be addressed in recovery efforts.  Access to vaccines was essential to protect people’s right to life and health.  Economic inequalities impeded access to the right to health, and eradicating them was an important factor in accessing it.  The fundamental role of the United Nations system in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and providing support to health was stressed, in particular with regard to the World Health Organization. 

Speaking in the panel discussion were: Spain, Norway (on behalf of a group of countries), Malaysia (on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Guyana (on behalf of a group of countries), Côte d'Ivoire (on behalf of the African Group), Ecuador (on behalf of a group of countries), Brazil (on behalf of a group of countries), European Union, Azerbaijan (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), Pakistan (on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), Azerbaijan, Fiji, Syria, Bangladesh, Germany, Senegal, Belgium, Ethiopia, Japan, China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia and Morocco.

The following civil society organizations took the floor: the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation, Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII, EMERGENCY - Life Support for Civilian War Victims, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Friends World Committee for Consultation, and Caritas Internationalis (International Confederation of Catholic Charities).

The Council then concluded its interactive dialogue with Mama Fatima Singhateh, Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children.  The interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur started on Wednesday, 9 March, and a summary can be found here.

In the discussion, speakers said that the sale and sexual exploitation of children continued to be a perilous issue, and the practical approach outlined in the Special Rapporteur’s report, including efforts for prevention, protection and support measures, was appreciated.  COVID-19 had made the situation worse, and programmes should be developed in that regard, including parents and taking into account the development of children.  Child marriage and child trafficking required support measures to be put in place for families.  The issue was becoming ever more acute, with children increasingly falling victim to trafficking throughout the world.  Given how technology was developing, national and international efforts to protect children had to be appropriate, and more needed to be done at every level.  Transparent implementation of the Voluntary Principles to combat online exploitation was required.  Work to combat this inhuman phenomenon needed to continue.

Mama Fatima Singhateh, Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, in concluding remarks, said Member States were already involved in activities that addressed the sale and sexual exploitation of children.  The laws were there, but were they being effectively implemented, and were they reaching those in need, those in rural or marginalised communities?  That was the issue.  When it came to the implementation of a given State's laws and policies, Member States must ensure that they reached those who were greatly in need of these services.  Services should be provided to victims of sale and sexual exploitation of children.  It was important for children to have access to justice - and it must be child-friendly, to handle children who had already been traumatised. 

Speaking in the dialogue were Cameroon, Pakistan, Indonesia, Russian Federation, Benin, Australia, Panama, Algeria, South Africa, United States, Belgium, Afghanistan, United Kingdom, Greece, Columbia, Georgia, Malawi, Malta, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Iran, Gabon and Armenia.

The following civil society organizations also spoke: National Human Rights Council of Morocco, Association d’Entraide Medical Guinee, Associacion HazteOir.org, Caritas Internationalis (International Confederation of Catholic Charities), Jubilee Campaign, International Organization for the Development of Freedom of Education,  Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XX111, China Society for Human Rights studies, then the Promotion du Development Economique et Social.

The webcast of the Human Rights Council meetings can be found here.  All meeting summaries can be found here.  Documents and reports related to the Human Rights Council’s forty-ninth regular session can be found here.

The Council will next meet at 1 p.m., when it will hold an interactive dialogue with the Independent Expert on foreign debt, followed by an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.

Keynote Statements

MICHELLE BACHELET, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said today, as the world entered the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the international community stood at a crossroads.  Inequality versus the right to development.  Nationalism against international solidarity.  They needed to choose the right path.  The world had been profoundly fortunate to have had effective COVID-19 vaccines developed at an unprecedented pace.  Science had saved millions of lives and livelihoods, but had failed to administer the vaccines in a fair and equitable manner.  Right now, this failure was prolonging the pandemic.  Close to 70 per cent of people in high income countries had been vaccinated with at least one dose, while just over 13 per cent of people in low-income countries had been vaccinated.  This failure was profoundly unjust and immoral, and was also deeply counterproductive.

The pandemic’s finish line was still out of sight.  Despite this, a false narrative that it may be over was arising in some countries with high vaccination rates, and where the effects of the Omicron variant had been relatively mild.  Yet low vaccination rates in many countries continued to create ideal conditions for new variants to emerge, which posed a threat to everyone.  The human rights impact of global vaccine inequity was profound.  Many developing countries were being plunged into multiple interlinked emergencies – a debt crisis, a development crisis and a human rights crisis.  Delayed vaccination could mean a lost decade for development. Countries would become less resilient to fresh crises and shocks.  And discontent at the human rights consequences of pandemic-related measures had the potential to escalate societal tensions and violence, which were growing around the world.  Vaccine nationalism denied people their inalienable human right to development.  It exacerbated poverty and deepened inequalities.

While there had been some recent progress on closing the vaccine equity gap, the international community needed to further accelerate these efforts by supporting COVAX to ensure timely, predictable and effective access to vaccines to all countries, and also address vaccine hesitancy - another global threat - by ensuring that factual and timely information reached all people, everywhere.  This was a crucial opportunity to revamp social protection programmes and to ensure universal health care, in order to future-proof the world against other crises.  But the international community could still emerge from this crisis with an equitable, sustainable, and resilient world, if human rights were placed at the centre of its response. 

JUAN-CARLOS HOLGUIN, Foreign Minister of Ecuador, explained that a year ago, at the forty-sixth session of the Council, Ecuador - with Azerbaijan, as chair of the Non-Aligned Movement – had led the negotiation of resolution 46/14, which was unanimously adopted by the Human Rights Council.  Ecuador's successful vaccination programme had been widely recognised in various forums.  The Government of Ecuador had articulated a response of national unity, with the participation of multiple actors.  It was the largest vaccination campaign in the country's history and was carried out as a collective goal, with a special focus on the most vulnerable people and with the important support of international cooperation.  

However, the circumstances that had led Ecuador to promote the adoption of resolution 46/14 were still valid.  Despite the consensus on the need for all people to be vaccinated, inequalities persisted, and many countries faced significant difficulties in immunising their populations, which could have a negative impact on human rights and the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  For these reasons, Mr. Holguin said that Ecuador would present at this session of the Human Rights Council, jointly with Azerbaijan as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, a draft resolution to follow up on resolution 46/14, so that good practices and the main challenges in this area would be addressed.  The Minister invited all countries to support the initiative by actively participating in the negotiation meetings to be held in Geneva. 

JEYHUN BAYRAMOV, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, said strengthening international cooperation and solidarity in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic had been high on the agenda of the Azerbaijani Chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement since the eruption of this global health crisis.  Proceeding from this understanding, the Non-Aligned Movement had put forward a number of initiatives of global importance.  While recognising that the situation with global vaccination in the world had improved compared to what it was a year ago, least developed countries still lagged very much behind in terms of vaccination levels.  This had to be changed if the international community was to live up to the commitment to leave no one behind. 

The Azerbaijani Non-Aligned Movement Chairmanship would continue its endeavours aimed at consolidating global efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, both through advocating for shared responsibility in providing fair and affordable access for all countries to COVID-19 vaccines, as well as for strengthening international cooperation in addressing the consequences of the pandemic.  Azerbaijan was currently working on convening another high-level meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Member States to exchange views and formulate the position of the Movement with regard to the post-COVID-19 period. Azerbaijan also advocated for establishing the United Nations High-Level Panel on Global Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic which could prepare concrete recommendations on global measures.  At the current session of the Human Rights Council, Azerbaijan on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, and Ecuador would table a follow-up resolution on access to vaccines, and counted on the continued support of the United Nations Member States to these important initiatives.

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said that more than 6 million people had lost their lives to COVID-19 yet these figures likely seriously underrepresented the reality of this crisis.  The World Health Organization had been advocating for universal, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines since they were first introduced in December 2020.  While almost 10 billion vaccine doses had been administered around the globe, their distribution told a story of inequality.  Almost 70 per cent of vaccinations were in high income countries, while less than 14 per cent of people in low income countries had received a single dose.  The world was at an inflection point in history.  They had the tools to end the acute phase of the pandemic, if they used them properly and shared them fairly.  Profound inequities were undermining that chance.  Countries with high vaccination rates were reopening while others with low vaccination rates and low testing rates had been left behind.  The result was more than 60,000 deaths per week, along with an increased risk of the emergence of new variants.  

In Ukraine, the health system was struggling with COVID-19 and dangerously low oxygen and medical supplies while war raged around them.  The Director-General said that the World Health Organization was delivering badly needed oxygen and other medical supplies as part of its humanitarian aid package and reiterated that attacks on hospitals, medical personnel and medical transports were forbidden under international humanitarian law; any such attacks were grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.  There had never been a greater need for global solidarity to recover from this pandemic, end the current crisis in Ukraine, and regain progress on the 2030 Agenda, Mr. Ghebreyesus concluded. 

Statements by Panellists

FARID AHMADOV, Associate Professor of Law and Co-founder of the Law Programme at ADA University, Azerbaijan, said countries across the globe were gradually relaxing COVID related restrictions.  This may be a sign that the virus was losing its previous severity and that humanity may hopefully be turning the COVID page of its history.  However, there must be lessons learned for future generations. Obviously, there may be ambiguities concerning the scope of the right to health under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and complexities in implementation of this right to the full extent, i.e. reaching the highest attainable standard of health.  Indeed, the scope of the right to health may vary from one jurisdiction to another depending on the availability of resources.  Nevertheless, the core of the right to health which manifested itself in the access to basic medical care was undeniably universal, demanding the international community to cooperate to ensure this fundamental core to every human being. 

In times of global challenges such as COVID, the best way to address them was by taking joint action through international cooperation.  States should devise effective means of taking concerted measures against the disease.  Moreover, given that some diseases were easily transmissible beyond the frontiers of a State, the international community had a collective responsibility to address this problem.  Economically developed States parties had a special responsibility and interest to assist the poorer developing States in this regard.  This was particularly so in respect of fulfilment of core obligations, more specifically, to obligations to ensure the minimum essential level of the right to health.       

ATTIYA WARIS, Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, said that when she took up this function in August 2021, access to vaccines had been the main concern of many low and middle income countries.  In numerous discussions, Government authorities and other actors had worried about heavy debt burdens while their populations required vaccines, doctors and social protection measures.  It was an impossible dilemma.  The common demand was for international cooperation to ensure timely, affordable and fair access to COVID-19 vaccines, yet, instead of improving, vaccine inequality had widened.

This gap was hard to explain, Ms. Waris said, as the financial resources existed and could have been deployed more effectively, more equitably and faster.  Despite this, delays in lifting intellectual property rights protections, and in sharing technologies and know-how with manufacturers in the global south to ensure faster access, were noted.  These delays had benefited a few to the detriment of the many.  They ensured billions of dollars in profits for a handful of pharmaceutical companies.  They deterred the development of more localised, effective manufacturing responses that could have reached those in need faster.  One possible solution would have been and could be in the future to combat illicit financial flows, which included tax evasion and tax abuse.  According to the State of Tax Justice 2021, published by a coalition of civil society organizations in November 2021, “countries are losing a total of US$ 483 billion in tax a year to global tax abuse committed by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals”.  This amount of money would suffice to fully vaccinate the global population against COVID-19 more than three times over.  This pandemic had shown the world that addressing illicit financial flows was essential not only because it depleted national coffers but also because national health systems required public funding to have the capacity to protect and fulfil the rights to health and to life.

THOMAS CUENI, Director-General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, said, being aware of the responsibility that the pharmaceutical industry had to patients and society, pharma companies large and small, in developing and developed countries, it had engaged, since the first days of the pandemic, in unprecedented levels of collaboration to find solutions to COVID-19.  The industry had stepped up, bringing its knowledge and expertise in the discovery and development of novel therapeutics and vaccines and in building manufacturing capacity and distribution networks.  And yet, a large part of the eligible population in many African nations remained unvaccinated.  A commitment to work together to achieve fair and equitable access was also forged in the early days of the pandemic, with the creation of a unique global public-private partnership, Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, which the International Federation had joined as founding partner.  Today, over 12 billion doses of vaccines had been produced, and more than 60 per cent of the world’s population had received at least one dose. 

But despite these successes, collectively, ambitions to reach vaccine equity had not been met.  The global challenge to guarantee a widespread access to vaccines had turned from one concerning supply constraints to one regarding the ability to quickly administer the vaccines.  To turn vaccines into vaccinations, and ensure that vaccines were shipped effectively and reached populations, attention was urgently needed on concrete measures in recipient countries to support COVID-19 vaccine deployment and uptake.  To ensure that no one was left behind in the race to tackle the pandemic which now entered its third year, the biopharmaceutical industry was fully committed to effective international cooperation focusing on getting vaccines from the tarmac into arms.  

GITA SEN, General Coordinator of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, said that the most pressing issue of our time was inequality.  Inequality across south and north countries; and inequality within countries along multiple dimensions – economic, social, ecological and political.  Extreme poverty increases in low and middle income countries had set back progress by a decade, with fewer jobs and much lower incomes.  Infection fatality rates in low and middle income countries were double the rate in high income countries and big pharma and their allies and apologists were denying poor countries and people meaningful access not only to vaccines but to COVID-19 tests, therapeutics, and equipment.

The gendered effects of this inequality were frightening: nearly 50 million more girls and women pushed into poverty, drastic loss of jobs and incomes, increased school dropouts by girls with digital inequality playing a big role, increased child marriages, early and unplanned pregnancies, a not so hidden pandemic of violence against girls and women, as well as murders of trans and gender nonconforming people.  How had the world come to this?  The answer was the stranglehold of intellectual property rights by large profit-driven pharma companies over access to vaccines, tests and therapeutics.  While their profits soared by hundreds of millions of dollars, poor and subordinated people died and had their lives and futures blighted.  Austerity policies that the International Monetary Fund had supported in over 100 mainly poor countries in the thick of this pandemic, made economic recovery, social protection, and building back health systems well-nigh impossible, she concluded. 

Discussion

In the discussion, speakers said that a multilateral approach was essential in dealing with the pandemic, with a two-pronged approach which would include reforms of the global health system in order to avoid such events in the future.  The pandemic was not over - it was a health crisis, and also an economic and social crisis.  The inequity in access to COVID-19 tools was evidence of the further and greater need for solidarity, and initiatives to deliver vaccines should be financed, as the inequity was stark.  Vaccines were not effective until persons were vaccinated.  Global, regional and local bottlenecks needed to be addressed, as should vaccine hesitancy.  The approach must not be hesitant: ending the pandemic was of interest for all countries.  Commitments to vaccine security must be upheld.

The pandemic had reminded the world of the importance of integrating human rights in responses to complex health emergencies.  Millions of people faced challenges in accessing health services.  The root causes of the lack of equity, affordability and universal access to vaccines needed to be addressed in recovery efforts.  Boosting local efforts to create vaccines was crucial.  Affordable, timely, and equitable access to distribution was vital, both for adult and paediatric doses. The COVID-19 pandemic had negatively impacted the human rights situation and the progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.  Inequalities in the distribution of vaccines remained, and many developing countries had difficulties in accessing their population.  The situation of migrants and people in vulnerable situations was also an issue.  This impacted human rights, including economic and social rights, and increased structural inequalities across the globe.

The contribution of the private sector in the response was also essential, in the context of the United Nations Charter.  Access to vaccines was essential to protect peoples’ right to life and health.  Economic inequalities impeded access to the right to health and eradicating them was an important factor in accessing it.  The fundamental role of the United Nations system in controlling the spread of COVID-19 and providing support to health was stressed, in particular with regard to the World Health Organization.  The disparity in the distribution of vaccines, however, hampered the efforts of the international community to eliminate the virus.  The successful global response to the pandemic should be leveraged in the future to increase solidarity.  Hundreds of millions of vaccines purchased by wealthy countries were at risk of being wasted, whereas the virus had stretched developing countries’ ability to react.  Lack of access to timely availability to the vaccine continued to impose a devastating public health cost.  This went against the spirit of human values.

Concluding Remarks

FARID AHMADOV, Associate Professor of Law and Co-founder of the Law Programme at ADA University, Azerbaijan, said international cooperation among States to combat the consequences of COVID-19 and bring their forces to act together against the pandemic was of fundamental importance.  There were flexibilities of opinion regarding the scope of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other treaty obligations, but States were incumbent to take action and deliver upon the core, especially in their efforts to combat the pandemic.

ATTIYA WARIS, Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, said she was deeply heartened with the action countries were taking.  Business was not yet normal.  As populations were being vaccinated, there was a risk that the most vulnerable slipped back and were left behind.  When looking at the international framework, certain key principles were coming out in health at many levels, and these were the principles of fiscal legitimacy.  This required transparency and accountability, as well as a sense of fairness and justice.  This was very critical in building international solidarity, as it affected life.  Stakeholders were global stakeholders, not just States or international bodies.  The private sector, academia, and many other actors were playing a global role in a way that had been unprecedented.

THOMAS CUENI, Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, said the issue was no longer vaccines but it was vaccinating - getting the vaccines into the arms of the people that needed them.  The vaccines were available.  Scaling up was possible because companies had shared licensing with each other.  The private sector had risen, but they had also seen public/private partnerships.  Risk sharing was needed when manufacturing capacity was scaled up at a time when they did not know yet whether the vaccine would work.  The World Health Organization had played a critical role early on and continued to do so.  It also played a crucial role in quality assurance and emergency use licensing for the vaccines.  They had to be better prepared for the next pandemic because sadly, there would be a next pandemic.

GITA SEN, General Coordinator of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, said as a health economist, she was very familiar with the phenomenon of inverse equity.  Resources had poured in from the public sector and governments to support the production of vaccine technology.  Inverse equity meant that unless governments took serious steps to prevent it, the fruit of those responses were taken by the rich and powerful, while those who were at the bottom end of society were left behind.  That was what they had seen in this pandemic.  As for how this could be prevented, it required government/government agencies to work systematically to focus on access to those who were worse off, and on barriers.  Despite COVAX, the international community had continued to have extreme inequality that they were seeing.  They needed to try something new. 

Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children

The interactive dialogue with Mama Fatima Singhateh, Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, started on Wednesday, 9 March, and a summary can be found here.

Discussion

In the discussion, speakers addressed the issue of online child pornography and child exploitation.  The voice of the child in protection measures had to be ensured, including in the giving of medical consent.  Efforts to protect children against all that was involved in human trafficking were very important, and countries should adopt all relevant international instruments, ensuring that human trafficking, particularly trafficking in children, be punished, and that there be severe penalties.  Steps for the rehabilitation of child victims should take into account the cultural context of the country, and take into account parental support.  Poverty, hunger and unemployment only reinforced this scourge, and needed to be combatted to reduce the sale of children, particularly girl children. 

Sale and sexual exploitation of children continued to be a perilous issue, and the practical approach outlined in the Special Rapporteur’s report, including efforts for prevention, protection and support measures, was appreciated.  There were significant problems with regard to the communication between States, and this needed to be remedied in order to improve the quality of the combat.  COVID-19 had made the situation worse, and programmes should be developed in that regard, including parents and taking into account the development of children.  Child marriage and child trafficking required support measures to be put in place for families, which was fully in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Efforts must be made to break apart trafficking networks, and the criminal groups involved in exploiting children through the sex industry.  Judicial and institutional measures needed to be taken and increased.  The issue was becoming ever more acute, with children increasingly falling victim to trafficking throughout the world. Given how technology was developing, national and international efforts to protect children had to be appropriate, and more needed to be done at every level. 

Interim Remarks

MAMA FATIMA SINGHATEH, Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, said she had addressed all the different or most of the different elements of serial sexual exploitation, and this could serve as a tool for all stakeholders in their work to address the sale and sexual exploitation of children.  The checklist annexed in the report would better assist all in matters addressing the sale and sexual exploitation of children.  In addition to the legal and policy framework, there was a need for skilled law enforcement agencies with the skills to track and prosecute perpetrators.  There were qualified law enforcement agencies that had been provided the necessary training in this regard.  Helplines and hotlines were good technologies that should be made accessible to every segment of society.  In addition to effective law enforcement, awareness should be raised across all sectors of society, with regard to the harmful effect of child marriage and sexual exploitation.  On integrating the gender perspective, it was important, when designing legislation, to ensure that it was gender-sensitive, as it was mostly girls who were vulnerable- although of course boys and gender-neutral children were too, and services should be made available for all.

Discussion

Continuing awareness-raising could help combat the growing scourge of sale and sexual exploitation of children, speakers said.  All Member States should ensure that this took place, and ensure that the best practices outlined by the Special Rapporteur were implemented.  Appreciation for the work of the Special Rapporteur was expressed.  Better education could help improve the situation of those who were trapped in early marriages or in sexual abuse.  Other speakers said that to abandon children was to abandon the future, and the commitment to protecting the human rights of all was necessary.  Tackling all forms of child sexual exploitation required action at local, national and global levels to keep children safe across the world.  Online child sexual exploitation and abuse was of grave concern for all. Transparent implementation of the Voluntary Principles to combat online exploitation was required. Work to combat this inhuman phenomenon needed to continue.

Speakers further expressed concerns that thousands of children became victims of human traffickers each year and that the COVID-19 pandemic had increased that risk worldwide.  More concerns were expressed about the increase of online sexual exploitation of children and calls were made for a stronger international cooperation on the subject.  Children were always victims.  Arranged marriages were denounced, particularly amongst vulnerable religious minorities, where girls were forced into conversion and early marriage.  Further calls were made to the Human Rights Council to work to collect data on abductions and forced marriage of religious minority women and girls.  One speaker denounced the cruel practice of surrogacy, as it developed a reproductive bio market, contested paternity and turned children into commodities.  Children could not be sold, and the United Nations had to promote concrete actions to fight surrogacy and declare it a universal crime and crime against humanity.  Multiple countries went over their existing national legal frameworks protecting children’s rights. 

Concluding Remarks

MAMA FATIMA SINGHATEH, Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, said Member States were already involved in activities that addressed the sale and sexual exploitation of children.  The laws were there, but were they being effectively implemented, and were they reaching those in need, those in rural or marginalised communities?  That was the issue.  When it came to the implementation of a given State's laws and policies, Member States must ensure that they reached those who were greatly in need of these services.  She would like to talk about services that should be provided to victims of sale and sexual exploitation of children.  It was important for children to have access to justice - and it must be child-friendly, to handle children who had already been traumatised.  This was an area where Member States should ensure services and specific personnel in this regard.  In response to Gabon’s question to integrate children who were victims of sexual exploitation into activities, she said designing policies relating to them must be included.  Generally speaking, Member States were already doing what they were supposed to do with laws and policies to address sexual exploitation of children, but she felt this must be widespread.  Policies could be further developed to ensure that the issues related to the sale and sexual exploitation of children were addressed.

Link: https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2022/03/conseil-des-droits-de-lhomme-nous-disposons-des-outils