Side Event: Nexus between trafficking and the rights of persons with disabilities

Date: 12 July 2025 
Time: 10:00AM - 11:15AM

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities are organizing a side event on the margins of the 18th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP18) with support from Mexico and the Republic of the Philippines and in partnership with the Duke Law International Human Rights Clinic to present their work on the intersection between trafficking in persons and the rights of persons with disabilities.

Persons with disabilities are disproportionately trafficked, with women and girls with disabilities especially at risk. Victims of trafficking may acquire disabilities and/or additional impairments as a result of being trafficked. Persons with disabilities face additional risks of trafficking during displacement and migration and as refugees. There is, however, a dearth of documentation and investigation into the nexus between trafficking in persons and the rights of persons with disabilities. As a result, measures to prevent trafficking of persons with disabilities, protect victims, and provide effective remedies are often lacking. Access to justice, including enforcement of rights as persons with disabilities and as trafficking victims may be lacking or limited, which results in impunity for traffickers. Failure to fully recognize and address discrimination against persons with disabilities, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, also contributes to inadequate protection and remedies, including in refugee status determination.

The event will include closed captioning and will be webcast live on UN Web TV

View online/download:

• Concept note and agenda

For more information, please contact Rosa Minju Kim ([ Click to reveal ]) and Barbora Zamrska ([ Click to reveal ])