Citation

Raymond JG. Womens Stud. Int. Forum 2002; 25(5): 491-502.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0277-5395(02)00320-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The new Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, is a wide-ranging international agreement to address the crime of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, on a transnational level. It creates a global language and legislation to define trafficking in persons, especially women and children; assist victims of trafficking; and prevent trafficking in persons. The trafficking in persons protocol also establishes parameters of judicial cooperation and exchanges of information among countries. Although the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children anticipates accomplishing what national legislation cannot do on its own, it is also intended to jumpstart national laws and to harmonize regional legislation against the trafficking in women and children. This article summarizes the key points of the new trafficking in persons protocol, the debate over the definition of trafficking, which was the most contentious part of the Protocol, how the Protocol is being interpreted, and its implications for regional and national policy against human trafficking. The article also addresses the connections between prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation, arguments of those who would dispute these connections, and policy and legislative trends in countries that are seeking to legalize/regulate prostitution as "sex work." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (journal abstract)