On June 10, 2020, the PJI legal team submitted written comments on the draft General Recommendation on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

We submitted our comments as individual career practitioners in international criminal law, in particular, as experts on investigation, prosecution, and litigation of conflict related sexual violence crimes and noting in addition that we were the principal authors of the forthcoming Model Legislative Provisions on Conflict Related Sexual Violence to be published soon by the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG-SVC).

We proposed changes that we believe would helpfully clarify and underscore that women and girls are afforded protection from acts of the slave trade as well as human trafficking rights violations.

We also directed the CEDAW’s attention to the forthcoming Model Legislative Provisions on Conflict Related Sexual Violence regarding slavery as war crimes and regarding slavery as crimes against humanity.