EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS IN THE CONTEXT OF ARMED CONFLICTS

Abstract

The areas where armed conflicts take place and have been perpetrated by state or non-state actors involved in conflicts represent a suitable place for emergence of phenomenon of human trafficking. The exploitation of victims of trafficking in human beings in the context of armed conflicts can take various forms, so that for the purposes of our research, this category of victims will be classified into two groups: victims of armed activities and victims of non-armed activities. Hence, the first group includes victims that take direct participation in armed combat activities or other activities during combat operations such as minefield cleaning, transport and medical services, etc. The second group includes victims of sexual exploitation in the conflict area and their forms, forced labour in different sectors and trafficking in organs.

Full text

EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING
IN HUMAN BEINGS IN THE CONTEXT
OF ARMED CONFLICTS
Milan Žarković, PhD1
Marija Tasić, MSc
University of Criminal Investigation and Police Studies, Belgrade, Serbia
Milica Ćurčić, MSc
Institute of Nuclear Sciences “Vinča”, University of Belgrade
Abstract: e areas where armed conicts take place and have been perpe-
trated by state or non-state actors involved in conicts represent a suitable
place for emergence of phenomenon of human tracking. e exploitation
of victims of tracking in human beings in the context of armed conicts
can take various forms, so that for the purposes of our research, this cate-
gory of victims will be classied into two groups: victims of armed activities
and victims of non-armed activities. Hence, the rst group includes victims
that take direct participation in armed combat activities or other activities
during combat operations such as mineeld cleaning, transport and medical
services, etc. e second group includes victims of sexual exploitation in the
conict area and their forms, forced labour in dierent sectors and tracking
in organs.
Key words: tracking in human beings, conict, victims, exploitation
INTRODUCTION
Tracking in human beings is a complex global problem that is present in
both regular or peacetime conditions, and even more in the extraordinary con-
ditions, and thus in conict and post-conict periods. e reason we can nd in
the fact that factors contributing to the emergence and expansions of this form
of human rights violations are numerous and diverse. In addition, those factors
are very present in the conditions that occur as a direct consequence of a dierent
crisis situations, including those that are manifested in armed conicts. e Unit-
ed Nations General Assembly recognized tracking in human beings as a direct
consequence of crisis situations in the Resolution 63/156 which calls upon “gov-
1 milan.zarkovic@kpu.edu.rs

Milan Žarković, Marija Tasić, Milica Ćurčić
44
ernments, the international community and all other organizations and entities
that deal with conict and post-conict, disaster and other emergency situations
to address the heightened vulnerability of women and girls to tracking and ex-
ploitation, and associated gender-based violence” (General Assembly, Sixty-third
Session, 2009, paragraph 4).
Armed conicts, as a type of crisis situations, are related with several and spe-
cic risk factors linked with tracking in human beings, primarily due to the fact
that these conditions feature the erosion of the rule of law and the breakdown of
institutions, including changes in economic system. Crisis-aected populations
tend to increase their reliance on negative coping mechanisms and adopt risky
survival strategies, so they become vulnerable to the various forms of criminal ac-
tivity. ey are forced to nd and accept the available ways of leaving the conict
zone, accepting also those who expose them to an increased risk of victimization
through those forms of criminal activity related to their smuggling, and under
such conditions, they are additionally exposed to tracking in human beings. At
the same time, criminal networks are adapting to the new situation, by targeting
new victims in new places, such as refugee and internally displaced persons, es-
pecially those who are located in camps where there is insucient level of protec-
tion and safety (I, 2015:3).
Victims of tracking in human beings in the context of armed conicts may
be exposed to various forms of exploitation related to armed and non-armed ac-
tivities. Each of these forms of exploitation has a specic characteristic related to
the conditions of armed conict or post-conict situations in which the track-
ing process takes place. ere is a particularly high risk of victim’s exploitation in
countries that do not recognize human tracking as a criminal act in their na-
tional legislation, so do not have adequate legal and other mechanisms for imple-
mentation of preventive and repressive measures in countering this type of crime.
DEFINITION OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS IN
THE CONTEXT OF ARMED CONFLICTS
Conict areas, whether a country or a region, are characterized by instability,
insecurity, economic devastation, impaired/suspended rule of law and weakened
state institutions. Due to the existence and functioning of numerous negative
social factors - state collapse, erosion of rights and non-respect of laws, forced
eviction, humanitarian crisis, social fragmentation and socioeconomic stress, the
vulnerability of all categories of people has increased. People have been facing
dierent challenges - armed acts, violence, brutality, abuse and exploitation, nu-
merous criminal activities, and tracking in human beings. e changed nature
of modern armed conicts that involve various actors and means, an increasing
number of non-state actors, resulted in the emergence of new forms of conict,
such as hybrid warfare. e fact that victims of tracking in human beings are

EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS... 45
especially vulnerable during and immediately aer an armed conict have put the
focus on tracking in human beings in the context of armed conicts.
is special vulnerability of victims is conrmed by two resolutions of the UN
Security Council on human tracking in the context of armed conicts. By the
Resolution 2331 of 2016 the UN Security Council “condemns in the strongest
terms all instances of tracking in persons in areas aected by armed conicts,
and stresses that tracking in persons undermines the rule of law and contributes
to other forms of transnational organized crime, which can exacerbate conict and
foster insecurity and instability and undermine development” (Security Council,
Resolution 2331, 2016). is resolution specically draws attention to the fact that
human tracking in armed conicts and post-conict period may be for the pur-
pose of various forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation, forced labour,
slavery and practices similar to slavery and tracking in human organs.
e Security Council reiterates its condemnation of the crime of tracking in
human beings by adopting the Resolution 2388 of 2017, which strongly expresses
concern about the vulnerability of children in relation to exploitation and abuse, the
recruitment and use of children in the armed forces; rearms its condemnation in
the strongest terms of all instances of tracking in persons, especially women and
children, who make up the majority of all victims of tracking in persons in areas
aected by armed conicts (Security Council, Resolution 2388, 2017).
e above resolutions indicate the importance of preventing tracking and
punishing perpetrators and emphasizing the fact that victims of tracking in hu-
man beings are additionally vulnerable when their exploitation occurs in the con-
text of armed conicts. Tracking in human beings, as a form of criminal activ-
ity, makes the process of establishing peace and the rule of law very dicult. e
suspension of national legislation during the duration of armed conicts and the
lack of legal mechanisms obstruct the prevention and punishment of tracking in
human beings, thereby reducing the possibility for victims to realize their rights.
Classication of victims of tracking in human beings
e exploitation of victims of tracking in human beings can be realized
through various forms: sexual and labour exploitation, reselling people, illegal
adoption of children, forced marriage, tracking in human organs, forced par-
ticipation in armed conicts and criminal activities. Accordingly, it is possible to
classify victims of human tracking based on several criteria: the degree of social
danger, the geographical level of realization, the bio physiological characteristics
of the victim, the relationship of the victim to his position and the type of ex-
ploitation (Mijalkovic, 2009:84). “In conict areas, tracking in persons for sex-
ual slavery, recruitment of children into armed groups, forced labour and abduc-
tion of women and girls for forced marriages are the most commonly reported
forms of tracking” (UNODC, Global Report on Tracking in Persons, 2018:6).
erefore, when analysing the phenomenon of tracking in human beings that

Milan Žarković, Marija Tasić, Milica Ćurčić
46
occurs during the armed conict, we can notice that new classication is not in-
troduced, but attention is drawn to the increased vulnerability of victims and its
specic manifestations. Some forms of exploitation, identied by exploration of
exploitative practices in conict situations, have emerged as specic to the con-
text of the conict, including, but not limited to the following:
1. Sexual exploitation of women and girls by members of armed and terrorist
groups;
2. Use of tracked children as soldiers;
3. Removal of organs to treat wounded ghters or nance war, and
4. Enslavement as a tactic of terrorism, including its use to suppress ethnic mi-
norities (UNDOC, Countering Tracking in Person in Conict Situation, 2018:
VII -VIII).
Considering the existing classications of victims of tracking in human be-
ings, the fact that this phenomenon in the context of armed conicts has been
very pronounced, that victims in such circumstances are especially vulnerable,
represents reasons and basis for creating a new classication of victims of track-
ing in the context of armed conicts. It is expected that its introduction into the
conceptual and categorical apparatus of criminalistics and security sciences and
practices will contribute to a better understanding of this complex phenomenon
and easier distinction of related concepts and phenomena. By highlighting the
emerging forms of tracking in persons that are characteristic to the context of
armed conicts, attention has been drawn to the social danger of this phenome-
non, but also to encourage new research in the context of justied criticism.
In the context of armed conicts and based on the criteria of the type of activi-
ty to which the victims of human tracking were executed, it is possible to distin-
guish two basic groups: victims of tracking in human beings in armed activities
and victims of tracking in human beings in non-armed activities. Within these
main categories, and with reference to the type of exploitation that victims of
tracking are exposed to, it is possible to further classify them. Between victims
of tracking in human beings in armed activities we distinguish those who took
direct or indirect participation in combat activities. Victims of tracking in hu-
man beings in non-armed conict can be victims of sexual exploitation, forced
labour, tracking in human organs and body parts or reselling people (Chart 1).

EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS... 47
Chart 1: Classication of victims of tracking in human beings
in the context of armed conicts
Spatial and temporal determination of tracking
in human beings in the context of armed conicts
Armed conicts cause negative consequences that manifest in the territory of
the state in which the conict is taking place, and very oen beyond its borders,
most oen on the territory of neighbouring countries and regions, along migra-
tion routes of refugee population, but also on the global level. People forced to
ee their homes leave families, friends and support networks behind. is social
isolation makes them extremely vulnerable and easy targets for trackers. e
urgency of conict-related displacement compels people to gather in locations
with limited protection, safety and economic opportunities, such as informal set-
tlements, camps for internally displaced persons and refugee camps (UNODC,
Global Report on Tracking in Persons, 2018: 16). By changing the place of life,
forcibly displaced persons seek shelter, both within the boundaries of their state,
as well as in the territory of the neighbouring state and beyond. In this way, the
spatial determination of tracking in human beings in the context of armed con-
icts is possible through the separation of factors, actors, activities and conse-
quences in the countries of origin, transit and nal destination.
e time frame of occurrence of tracking in human beings in the context
of armed conict includes conict and post-conict periods. e conict period
implies the duration of the armed conict itself, whether it is an internal or in-
ternational conict. It is generally clear when the conict starts, but the moment
it ends is not, since peace agreements do not always mean the end of all hostile
activities. However, with regard to tracking in human beings in the context
of armed conicts, the moment of ending the conict is essential for the legal
classication of the act, but it is not crucial when it comes to the research of the

Milan Žarković, Marija Tasić, Milica Ćurčić
48
phenomenon itself, since the phenomenon of tracking in human beings is also
expressed in the post-conict period.
In the report of the Special Rapporteur on tracking in persons, especially
women and children of the UN General Assembly it is stated that “post-conict
situations are typically characterized by absent or dysfunctional justice and law
enforcement institutions, and consequently by: a climate of impunity that fosters
violent criminal networks; high levels of poverty and lack of basic resources; sig-
nicant inequality; large populations of highly vulnerable individuals (displaced
persons, returnees, widows, unaccompanied children); fractured communities
and lack of trust; and militarized societies tolerant of extreme levels of violence.
ese features render men, women and children in post-conict societies es-
pecially vulnerable to tracking” (A/71/303, 2016:13). Peyroux identied four
groups of factors that promote the existence of tracking in human beings in the
post-conict period: organized crime (warlords are shiing the market for arms
tracking to trade in narcotics, cigarettes and humans beings); the appearance of
vulnerable population groups (unaccompanied women and orphaned children);
the dissolution of the traditional value system and the lack of economic opportu-
nities as a result of the country’s impoverishment (Peyroux, 2016:38).
VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS IN
ARMED ACTIVITIES
Victims of tracking in human beings can be exploited through involuntary
involvement in armed activities. Any exploitation of victims of tracking in-
volves a number of risks to the victim; however, this kind of exploitation brings
with it a number of additional risks. Above all, these victims are at constant risk
of losing their lives in conditions of war activities in which they are compelled to
participate. Also, in many instances, victims of tracking released from the cap-
tivity of armed and terrorist groups are not identied and supported as victims
of tracking and terrorism, but rather classied as “combatants” and treated as
threats or intelligence assets, potentially detained and denied access to protection
and assistance, or stigmatized for their involvement with terrorist groups if they
are returned to their communities. Ultimately, with this approach and addition-
al victimization and stigmatization by their community, they have been denied
access to protection and help they need (UNDOC, Countering Tracking in
Person in Conict Situation, 2018:17). Depending on the specic (predominant)
activities on whose performance the victims are forced, it is possible to distin-
guish participation in armed activities through combat (direct) or non-combat
(indirect) activities.

EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS... 49
Direct participation of victims of tracking in human beings
in combat activities
Direct participation in armed activities implies the participation of victims
of tracking in human beings in the combat activities of one of the actors in the
conict. In order to protect their ghters from the increased risk of losing the
life in acts that are particularly dangerous or to replace those who died in the
previous stages of the ght, they force adult victims, and oen children, to take
part in armed and terrorist activities in the conict zone. e variety of forms of
tracking in human beings, the modality of recruiting victims and ensuring their
obedience, on the one hand, and the nature and context of armed conicts, on
the other hand, can lead to dicult identication and clear distinction between
the situation and the position of specic victims. ere won’t be any dilemma
of changing the situation of the victim if the victim is exploited through forced
labour and then forced to participate in ghting. Similar situation is in the case of
the use of force or threat of force during the recruitment of adults in armed and
terrorist groups. e problem may arise in cases where more subtle means, such
as ideological, were used during the recruitment, and the victims are previously
marginalized, discriminated persons, persons who do not have economic oppor-
tunities, etc. e fact of the abuse of power, on the one hand, and the dicult
position of individuals and groups of people, on the other hand, are the real basis
for easier manipulation, recruitment and exploitation of victims of tracking in
human beings. e greatest possible paradox is reected in the fact that victims,
because of fear for their own life or the lives of the people close to them, take part
in those combat activities that carry the greatest possible risk of death.
Numerous and prolonged conicts have produced a new and particularly dan-
gerous form of exploitation of children in the form of their coercion to participate
in combat activities. e number of children involved in armed conicts in recent
years is on a rapid increase. According to the UN reports, from 2005 to 2016 the
participation of 49 640 children was conrmed, and only in 2016 there were 7734
conrmed cases of participation of children in armed conicts (e war on chil-
dren, 2018:22). According to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary Gen-
eral for Children and Armed Conict, “recruitment and use of children in armed
conicts is almost always a tracking in human beings” (A/HRC/37/47, 2018: 6).
e proliferation of light weapons has made children eective soldiers. Schauer
and Elbert summarized the motivational factors for recruiting and abduction of
children: in poor countries, children and adolescents represent the largest share
in the population, making them available for recruitment and abduction. e
limited ability of children to assess feelings and risks, make them fearless and
without rmly built moral barriers. ey are cheaper than adult soldiers because
they require less resources. ey attract less attention, making them suitable for
various tasks, such as placing mines and committing suicide attacks. ey are
subject to control and indoctrination, so they do not question the authorities and
the decisions they need to implement (Schauer and Elbert, 2010: 316-317).

Milan Žarković, Marija Tasić, Milica Ćurčić
50
Aer intensive training, children become armed and sent to battle ranks.
Even there are units made exclusively of children, as a 12-year-old boy from
Liberia, who commanded an eight-child unit (4 girls and 5 boys), testied for the
Human Rights Watch that they secured checkpoints and participated in direct
combat actions (HRW Report-How to ght, How to Kill, 2004:20). Children
are trained to install explosive devices, and in Colombia the cases have been
reported that children placed foot-breakers mines (HRW Report-You’ll learn
not to cry, 2003:67). ey were also used as spies to collect information about
the opposing side of the conict (Beber, Blaattman, 2013:88). e phenomenon
that is more frequent is the use of girls and boys in suicide attacks, primarily
in Islamic countries. Children who commit suicide attacks have previously been
recruited, abducted or exploited in other forms of tracking in human beings
(Olivier, 2018:117). Also, children in armed conicts are used as a “human shield”
(McKnight, 2010:113).
Indirect participation of victims of tracking
in human beings in combat activities
Indirect participation in armed activities includes compulsion of the victim
to activities that represent the support to the main armed activities. ese are ac-
tivities that are implemented in parallel with armed actions and which also carry
a high level of danger. Victims are forced to carry heavy equipment and weap-
ons (forced pottering), oen through inaccessible terrains such as jungles and
mountains, and they are not allowed to put o equipment in order to rest, despite
physical pain and suering. ey are also forced to be human landmine sweep by
walking in front of the military in the areas suspected of having mines or forced
to remove mines aer their detection (Cook, et al., 2015: 8-9). Engagement may
also include the provision of medical assistance in conict zones. Victims of traf-
cking in human beings can be forced to carry out various criminal activities,
such as transport of opium or conducting of abduction, as recorded during the
conict in Iraq (Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights Report,
2007:17).
VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS
IN NONARMED ACTIVITIES
Another form of exploitation of people in the context of armed conict is their
participation in non-armed activities. at considers dierent forms of exploita-
tion that are usually happening in time of peace, but they have certain specicities
when they have occurred in the context of war. is group includes: sexual ex-
ploitation, forced labour and tracking in human organs and body parts.

EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS... 51
Sexual exploitation
In the Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish tracking in persons, espe-
cially women and children, sexual exploitation is dened as “the exploitation of
the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation” (UN General As-
sembly, 2000: article 3 (a)). According to the UN Secretary-General’s Bulletin,
sexual exploitation is dened as any actual or attempted abuse of a position of
vulnerability, dierential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not
limited to, proting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation
of another (e UN Secretary-General’s Bulletin, 2003: section 1). It is a form of
exploitation that is related to gender-based violence that is widespread during
armed conicts.
Forced prostitution is one of the most common forms of sexual exploitation in
the context of armed conict. During conict, women and girls are particularly
vulnerable categories that are physically and economically forced or le with little
choice but to become sex workers or to exchange sex for food, shelter, safe passage
or other existential needs (UNIFEM, 2002:11). is phenomenon is known as
“survival sex” and does not, by itself, represent tracking in human beings, but it
can be of an exploitative nature because of the vulnerability of those who practice
it. In addition to cases in which women decide to become sex workers, in the
conditions of armed conict there is also a practice in which women and girls are
surrendered or sold by family members. Such cases were recorded in Syria, where
men sent their wives to Lebanon, with a promise of decent work, but women were
forced to work in bars or forced into prostitution or where poor Syrian families
in order to marry their daughters decided to use a go-between, who then sold the
girl or forced her into prostitution (Peyroux, 2015: 22). Forced prostitution is also
featured in refugee camps where members of the armed forces, police and camp
authorities use the sexual services of refugees and asylum seekers in exchange for
providing assistance with documents and safe transit. During the armed conict
there were cases in which the victims were videotaped during the act of rape,
aer which these video tapes were sold as pornographic material or used for the
purpose of war propaganda (Žarkov, 1997: 75-80).
Tracking in human beings is also related to countries in post-conict period,
especially in situations where serious human rights violations and exploitation,
such as slavery, forced labour, forced pregnancy, forced pregnancy terminations
and systematic rape campaigns, have been perpetrated during conict (UN De-
partment of Peacekeeping Operations, 2004:4). Members of armed and peace-
keeping missions in post-conict areas are oen perceived by trackers as a po-
tential source of sexual demands. One of the reasons that contribute to their par-
ticipation in sexual exploitations of victims of human tracking is the fact that
they are immune from prosecution for crimes they may commit while deployed.
For the purpose of preventing sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian
crises, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) established a special Task

Milan Žarković, Marija Tasić, Milica Ćurčić
52
Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crises.
e core central recommendations of the IASC imply that any sexual exploitation
and abuse is prohibited, especially sexual activity with children (persons under
the age of 18), regardless of the age of majority or age of consent locally; exchange
of money, employment, goods, or services for sex, including sexual favours or
other forms of humiliating, degrading or exploitative behaviour, is prohibited
(Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2002:4). e United Nations also responds
to this problem by establishing the special Department for Peacekeeping Oper-
ations (DPKO) which should play an important role in combating tracking in
people in post-conict areas, and as one of the objectives it emphasized the es-
tablishment of mechanisms for preventing, monitoring, reporting complaints, in-
vestigative procedures, disciplinary processes and punishment for all members of
the UN peacekeeping missions who participate in activities that support human
tracking (e Freedom Fund, 2016:17).
Sexual slavery includes almost all forms of forced prostitution, but also other
forms of exploitation related to human tracking. e practice of sexual slavery
in the context of armed conict is accepted as a war or terrorist strategy, and in
some cases is supported by religious ideology of actors in conict (Holz, 2017:
14). It should be noted that victims are not always captured for the purpose of
sexual exploitation, but in case of female victims, sexual violence is almost always
a part of their exploitation. One of the current examples of sexual slavery in the
context of armed conicts is the abduction and capture of about 3200 women and
girls of the ethno-confessional community of Yazidis by the ghters of the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (UN Human Rights Council, thirty-second session,
2016). Captured women and girls, some of them aged 12, were threatened as sex
slaves (sabayas) and sold in slave markets, as well as in online auctions where
potential buyers had insight in their pictures and “specications” such as: age,
virginity or marital status, how many times has been bought before and also, their
current location and starting price from which bidding would start (International
Federation for Human Rights, 2018:25).
In slavery, victims were constantly raped and beaten, without the possibility of
access to medical assistance, which is why victims oen suered from contagious,
sexually transmitted diseases. Some of them were forced to give birth or in some
cases, they were victims of forced pregnancy termination. Sabayas were oen
forced into marriage with members of the armed forces, where they were exploit-
ed in their households. Aer a certain period of time, most of them were sold or
given as a gi to other soldiers. Also, it should be noted that men who are in cap-
tivity can be victims of dierent forms of sexual exploitation such as rape, genital
mutilation and enforced sterilization, and sometimes can be forced to perform
this brutal acts on each other, sometimes among family members (Lewis, 2009:
10-13). One of the cases of sexual slavery in which boys were victims is recorded
during the armed conict in Afghanistan where local commanders of the armed
forces sexually exploited “dancing boys“, which was related with cultural practice
known as “bacha bazi” (UN Security Council, 2015:4). Boys aged 11 or 12 were

EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS... 53
picked o the street or sold by family members and taken into the ownership of a
wealthy tracker who trained them to be able to sing and dance in order to enter-
tain men who wish to pay to see them. Besides that, boys were exploited through
pornography and prostitution (Erdogdu et al, 2016:4). Based on the above, it can
be concluded that sexual slavery is one of the most complex forms of exploitation
of the victims, as it includes many other forms of exploitation that can last for a
longer period of time, which is why this practice is related with a large number of
suicide cases among victims.
Forced marriage is dened as the exploitation of the victim through the im-
posed role of the spouse, because the marriage is concluded by the consent of
only one party in the marital community (Mijalković, Žarković, 2012: 167). In the
conict, there is diminished capacity for the victim to leave the perpetrator-cap-
tor husband, which could include the reasons such as: forced capture, child-bear-
ing, strict restriction of movement, physical restraint or markings that identify
the victim as belonging to a particular group or captor, strong feelings of culpabil-
ity on the part of the victim if she was forced to commit atrocities, and the fear of
inability to reintegrate due to stigma and abuse by community members because
of her past association with the ghting force (Mazurana & Carlson, 2006:11).
Victims are oen kidnapped during the combat operations in their commu-
nities, which sometimes includes the executions of their family members, aer
which they are forced to marry with the direct perpetrators of such executions.
Girls and unmarried women are more desirable for forced marriages, but the vic-
tims can also be women who already have children. In these cases, children are
used by imposed husband as a means of intimidating and controlling the victim.
Sometimes, parents or other relatives of the victims agree with alleged marriage,
in good faith that in this way they will be protected from violence, aer which
they are sold or forced to prostitution by armed groups. Forced marriage in the
context of armed conict should be considered as a form of sex slavery, because
victims are captured and detained under conditions of extreme cruelty, with the
deliberate intention of raping them and perpetrating other acts of sexual violence
upon them; they are forced to child-bearing, work in households, travel with the
perpetrator-captor husband and support his activities, including combat oper-
ations (Bunting, 2012:172). is form of exploitation is characteristic for tradi-
tional societies in which it is considered that forced marriage guarantees a higher
and more far reaching degree of control over women than rape or sexual slavery,
especially during the conict and post-conict period.
Forced labour
Victims of tracking in human beings may be forced to conduct various ac-
tivities that are not directly correlated with armed conicts. Armed and terror-
ist groups force victims to various jobs, including construction work, cleaning,
mining, trenches, agriculture and household services (UNODOC, Countering

Milan Žarković, Marija Tasić, Milica Ćurčić
54
Tracking in Person in Conict Situation: 2018:15). e range of these forced
activities is wide, and we can divide it into forced labour in industry, agriculture
and households. e forced labour includes victims who are forced to work in
mines to nance the operations of armed groups. is form of tracking in hu-
man beings is conditioned by the availability of rich natural resources that can be
separated without advanced technology, and it is documented in various conict
zones in sub-Saharan Africa (UNODC, Global Report on Tracking in Persons,
2018: 13). Victims may be forced to do housework in households, that is, to be
chefs, drivers, repairman, etc. (Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human
Rights Report, 2007:23).
Tracking in human organs and body parts
According to the Palermo Protocol, removal of organs is a form of exploitation
of victims of human tracking. Organ tracking can be dened as recruitment,
transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of living or deceased persons or their
organs by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of ab-
duction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnera-
bility, or of the giving to, or the receiving by, a third party of payments or benets
to achieve the transfer of control over the potential donor, for the purpose of
exploitation by the removal of organs for transplantation (e Declaration of Is-
tanbul on Organ Tracking and Transplant Tourism, 2008).
is denition of organ tracking includes primarily the cases in which re-
moval of organs is related to their exploitation for transplantation, but in the
context of armed conicts, there are many other motives of such practice such
as: animosity, revenge, desire for destruction and showing supremacy, religious
beliefs, taking body parts of the enemy as war trophies and others. Victims of this
kind of tracking can be killed or alive enemy soldiers, in some cases also the do-
mestic soldiers who were killed during combat operations, as well as the civilian
population in conict areas. is practice can be validated with religious beliefs,
as in case with ISIS who through fatwas, religious expert pronouncement real-
ized from religious authorities, regulate combatants’ behaviour during conict.
ese fatwas informed ISIS combatants that harvesting organs from the bodies
of the enemy-indel or removing organs from living apostates, even if this might
cause their death, was permissible, because there is a religious obligation of all
combatants to save a Muslim soul from sickness and death by transferring them
the healthy organs; in some fatwas, there is a permission to eat their ash (Schep-
er-Hughes, 2017:168-169). In some conict areas there was organized transpor-
tation of combatant’s bodies to the medical institute where their eyes, skin, bones,
solid organs and other body parts had been removed during autopsy, without
consent of their family members (Scheper-Hughes & Boström, 2013:246). ere
was a doubt that some of the soldiers were injured, but alive, and that they were
deliberately hunted by enemy soldiers in order to cut their organs. Armed con-

EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS... 55
icts are also related to the large number of refugees and internally displace per-
sons, so trackers can exploit their vulnerability by oering them to sell their or-
gans or by threatening them into donating their organs. ere was reported that
some refugees were undergone an operation in hospitals and that their kidneys
were removed during the operation, without their knowledge or that some of
them, aer the treatment in hospital, were found dead with their organs missing
(Peyroux, 2015:20). Tracked organs and body parts can be used for the purpose
of medical treatment of injured soldiers or civilians in the conict areas or they
can be sold across the border, on a black market to other interested persons who
have a need for transplantation. Also, the pharmaceutical and medical industries
could be potential buyers of body parts such as skin, scalps, ngernails, tendons,
heart, valves, skulls, and bones, which then nd their way into research, drug
manufacturing, and replacement surgery (Territo & Matteson, 2012:6).
CONCLUSION
ere are many reasons which support the view that human tracking should
also be considered a direct consequence of crisis situations, especially armed con-
icts. During armed conicts and in the post-conict periods, the vulnerability
of the population is increased because of the economic deprivation and erosion
of the legal system, limited access to social services and forced displacement of
the civilian. In addition to these conditions, tracking in human beings becomes
more complex, both in terms of victims and forms of exploitation that can occur
in armed conict. e transnational and multidimensional nature of tracking in
human beings in the context of armed conicts is also reected in the dissemina-
tion of the consequences and eects of tracking outside of conict areas, due to
the fact that the migrant population can be exploited outside the country of origin.
Regarding the form of exploitation, the problem becomes even more com-
plex, because of the fact that in the context of armed conicts, certain forms of
exploitation become more present, while others take on specic characteristics.
In regular, peacetime conditions, there is a clear distinction between the various
forms of exploitation, which is not the case during the armed conicts in which
they very oen can be diused. It is dicult to classify them in strict categories,
bearing in mind that victims are almost always exploited multiple times. A partic-
ular problem occurs in sexual exploitation, because of the fact that sexual slavery
in armed conicts is accepted as a war strategy, and that it contains almost all
other forms of sexual exploitation, including prostitution and forced marriage.
Besides that, it is dicult to make a clear distinction between forced labour and
the victim’s forced participation in armed conicts, especially when it comes to
indirect participation, which includes a various activities that are not directly re-
lated to combat operations. Also, victims who are forced to participate directly in
armed conicts are oen forced to execute criminal activities, which is a special
form of exploitation in regular conditions. On the other hand, reselling can be

Milan Žarković, Marija Tasić, Milica Ćurčić
56
considered a special form of exploitation in cases when the victims were immedi-
ately sold to another person, so trackers had material or other kind of benet.
In the context of armed conict, reselling is a component of almost every form of
exploitation, since the victims are initially exploited and aer a certain period of
time, resold or given to another person who will exploit them further.
In international criminal law, tracking in human beings in the context of
armed conict is overly prosecuted as a crime against humanity,2 genocide or war
crimes,3 so there is a dilemma whether all cases of victim’s exploitation during the
armed conict can full the specic conditions contained as elements of these
international crimes. It further imposes the question of whether in this way the
possibilities for prosecution of human tracking as an international crime are
limited.
Based on the above, the classication of the forms of exploitation presented in
this paper must be considered as conditional, because it is based on the criteria
whether victims were exploited through participation in armed or non-armed
activities, so there is a need for further research of each of the mentioned forms
of exploitation in the context of armed conict, for the purpose of their complete
explanation and systematization.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
e paper is supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technologi-
cal Development of the Republic of Serbia, under numbers 179045 and TR 37021.
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