Following the roundtables, I have submitted to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) a proposal to recognise coercive control as a matter of international criminal law and it has recently been accepted.

This marks an important step towards acknowledging that patterns of coercion and control are not merely “private” relationship issues, but a serious form of harm with global consequences.

Coercive control refers to a pattern of behaviours designed to dominate, isolate, frighten and entrap another person. These behaviours can include ongoing threats, surveillance, economic control, restriction of movement, social isolation, and psychological manipulation. Over time, coercive control erodes a person’s autonomy and sense of self, creating conditions of dependency and fear that are difficult to escape.

Recognising coercive control at the international level matters because it is often the starting point of other grave abuses.

The same tactics used to control a partner or family member can be used to groom, recruit and retain victims in human trafficking networks.

In situations of domestic and family violence, coercive control is frequently present long before any physical assault, and it is a key predictor of escalating harm.

In the context of refugee journeys, coercive and controlling tactics are widely used by smugglers and exploiters to trap people in cycles of debt, exploitation and silence. These dynamics can also intersect with corruption, where abuse of power and fear are used to protect perpetrators and discourage reporting.

By treating coercive control as a serious international concern, this initiative seeks to shift the narrative: from seeing these patterns as “lesser” or invisible harms, to recognising them as central strategies used by both individual perpetrators and organised networks. It also supports the development of better laws, policies and responses that focus on early intervention, victim protection and accountability for those who use coercive control to facilitate wider criminal activity.

This work aims to contribute to a global framework where coercive control is understood, named and challenged, so that the early warning signs of trafficking, domestic and family violence, refugee exploitation and corruption are no longer overlooked or minimised.

Download the full submission here