UN demands justice for Epstein trafficking victims – JURIST

UN experts on Thursday insisted on accountability for trafficking allegations contained in the Epstein files, warning that disclosures emerging from the documents indicate that the systemic trafficking continues.

UN experts Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, as well as Claudia Flores, Ivana Krstić, Dorothy Estrada Tanck, Haina Lu and Laura Nyirinkindi from the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, issued a joint statement expressing concern over continuing sexual exploitation of young woman and girls and pushed for a “full and transparent” investigation. The experts stated:

The “Epstein file” allegations implicate senior politicians, public figures, diplomats, global business leaders and leading academics, and present shocking evidence of the trafficking of girls and young women across multiple international borders, continuing over decades… That such widespread child trafficking could persist at a global level – implicating multiple globally renowned figures – brings into sharp relief the entrenched discrimination and violence of patriarchal systems of power, and the grave failures of accountability that allow them to endure.

The Epstein files contain over 3 million pages of documents, including emails and photos connecting various notable public figures to Jeffrey Epstein, convicted billionaire sex offender and child sex trafficker. In November 2025, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring the Justice Department (DOJ) to make all records on Jeffrey Epstein available to the public. Since then, there have been no further prosecutions related to the vast sex-trafficking network coordinated by Epstein. The DOJ has attributed this to a lack of “credible evidence.”

Child sex trafficking constitutes a serious violation of international law as well as US law. The Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, classifies human trafficking, particularly of women and children, as a crime against humanity akin to enslavement and sexual slavery.

The US is not a party to the Rome Statute but has signed the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, also known as the Palermo Protocol. The Palermo Protocol seeks to prevent, suppress, and punish the trafficking of people and places an obligation on signatory nations to cooperate with the international community to investigate and extradite traffickers.