RefMig research to inform a report by UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons

Professor Cathryn Costello and Dr Yulia Ioffe have submitted their input for the preparation of the report on the implementation of the non-punishment principle in the context of trafficking in persons, which will be presented to the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2021. The report is prepared by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Ms. Siobhán Mullally. The purpose of this report is to identify the core human rights obligations of states, and to examine how forms of punishment such as deprivation of citizenship, detention, forced returns, as well as administrative and criminal sanctions, impact upon the human rights of victims/survivors of trafficking.  

 The input, submitted by Professor Cathryn Costello and Dr Yulia Ioffe in the context of the RefMig Project, concerns non-penalization and non-criminalization for illegal entry and stay of refugees and some other migrants, who in certain situations may also be victims/survivors of trafficking. The input is based on their work for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law (OUP, March 2021), as well as the study conducted for UNHCR.