232 Children’s Legal Rights Journal [Vol. 37:2 2017]
dealing with child sex trafficking victims.163 UNICEF set a goal to reach 2.7 million of the 4.69
million Syrian civilians affected by the ongoing war and rebellion violence in Syria in the year
2016 alone.164 UNICEF has combined humanitarian response under the inter-agency Regional
Refugee and Resilience Plan with efforts to build the medium- and long-term resilience of
affected individuals, households, communities, and institutions in refugee hosting countries.165
UNICEF has also supported the coordination of the "No Lost Generation" initiative to improve
the quality of education, child protection, and youth/adolescent programming across Egypt, Iraq,
Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.166 UNICEF has implemented strategies to increase the supply of
and access to services, improve service quality, increase demand and address barriers to access,
and advocate for legal and policy reforms to strengthen national education and child protection
services.167 Lastly, given the escalating vulnerabilities amongst refugees, UNICEF plans to
reinforce nutritional screening and the provision of micronutrients and nutritional supplements
for the most vulnerable children, youth, and their families across these regions.168
Similarly, ECPAT released a monitoring report in 2015 to address the status of action
against the sexual exploitation of children in regard to Turkey and Syrian refugees.169 The report
urges Turkey to become aware of the international human rights standards regarding the rights of
refugees from Syria.170 ECPAT specifically references Article 5(5) of the Council of Europe
Convention on Action Against the Trafficking in Human Beings, which requires Turkey and
other parties to "take specific measures to reduce children's vulnerability to trafficking, notably
by creating a protective environment for them."171 ECPAT's preliminary recommendation to
combat the sexual exploitation of child refugees requests that Turkey allow greater access to
NGOs and more strictly enforce its laws against polygamy.172
V. FUTURE ACTIONS TO COMBAT MINOR SEX TRAFFICKING OF SYRIAN REFUGEES
A. Recommendations for Syria to Combat Minor Sex Trafficking Once the Government is
Stabilized
Syria needs to "significantly increase law enforcement action against trafficking
offenders by prosecuting and punishing them with prison sentences."173 The Syrian government
should also "improve protection for sex trafficking victims by providing shelter, medical, and
psychological services or institute a formal referral system to ensure that victims receive such
care from NGOs."174 Similarly, the government can provide "funding or in-kind assistance to
163 Lee, supra note 6, at 401.
164 UNICEF, Syrian Refugees and Other Affected Populations in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey,
HUMANITARIAN ACTION FOR CHILD., https://www.unicef.org/appeals/syrianrefugees.html (last visited May 28,
2017).
165 Id.
166 Id.
167 Id.
168 Id..
169 ECPAT INTERNATIONAL, GLOBAL MONITORING: TURKEY 1, 5 (2015), http://www.ecpat.org/wp-
content/uploads/legacy/A4A_V2_EU_Turkey_FINAL.pdf.
170 Id. at 14.
171 Id.
172 Id.
173 U.S. DEP'T OF STATE, supra note 8, at 238.
174 Id.
