CEDAW/C/GC/30 to trafficking in women and girls, with the forms of trafficking varying by region, specific economic and political context and State and non-State actors involved. Women and girls living in or returning from camps for internally displaced persons, refugees or those searching for livelihoods are particularly at risk of trafficking. 40. Trafficking may also occur when third-party countries seek to restrict migrant influxes out of conflict-affected areas through measures such as interdiction, expulsion or detention. Restrictive, sex-specific or discriminatory migration policies that limit opportunities for women and girls fleeing from conflict zones may heighten their vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking. 41. The Committee recommends that States parties: (a) Prevent, prosecute and punish trafficking and related human rights violations that occur under their jurisdiction, whether perpetrated by public authorities or private actors, and adopt specific protection measures for women and girls, including those who are internally displaced or refugees; (b) Adopt a policy of zero tolerance based on international human rights standards on trafficking and sexual exploitation and abuse, which addresses such groups as national troops, peacekeeping forces, border police, immigration officials and humanitarian actors, and provide those groups with gender-sensitive training on how to identify and protect vulnerable women and girls; (c) Adopt a comprehensive gender-sensitive and rights-based migration policy that ensures that women and girls coming from conflict-affected areas are not subject to trafficking; (d) Adopt bilateral or regional agreements and other forms of cooperation to protect the rights of trafficked women and girls and to facilitate the prosecution of perpetrators. 3. Participation (arts. 7-8) 42. While women often take on leadership roles during conflict as heads of households, peacemakers, political leaders and combatants, the Committee has repeatedly expressed concern that their voices are silenced and marginalized in postconflict and transition periods and recovery processes. The Committee reaffirms that the inclusion of a critical mass of women in international negotiations, peacekeeping activities and all levels of preventive diplomacy, mediation, humanitarian assistance, social reconciliation and peace negotiations at the national, regional and international levels, as well as in the criminal justice system, can make a difference. At the national level, women’s equal, meaningful and effective participation in the various branches of government, their appointment to leadership positions in government sectors and their ability to participate as active members of civil society are prerequisites for creating a society with lasting democracy, peace and gender equality. 43. The immediate aftermath of conflict can provide a strategic opportunity for States parties to adopt legislative and policy measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and to ensure that women have equal opportunities to participate in the new, post-conflict structures of governance. In many cases, however, the promotion of gender equality and women’s participation in decision-making processes is not seen as a priority at the official cessation of hostilities and may even be sidelined as incompatible with stabilization 13-54331 11/24