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Abstract
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The United Nations (UN) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 (Trafficking Protocol), is a watershed in galvanising the global movement against human trafficking. Thanks to the Protocol, international and regional bodies, along with civil society groups, have become involved in researching the issue and supporting anti-trafficking efforts; and states have begun to introduce new laws and policies aimed at criminalising trafficking, protecting victims and preventing future trafficking.1
My unwavering position on this debate supports the proposition that the Trafficking Protocol has advanced the global movement against human trafficking. My experience in the six years while I carried out my global mandate as the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children (2008-2014), reinforced this position. Of course, that is not to say that the international community has got it all right in taking appropriate action and measures to eradicate trafficking and ensure accountability in the implementation of the Protocol. There are still noticeable gaps between the obligations of States with regard to trafficking and the extent to which those obligations are met in practice. There are gaps in knowledge about trafficking, and there are gaps in quick and accurate identification, protection and provision of assistance to trafficked persons; in prevention and prosecution of traffickers; and also in policy and legal frameworks. For example, national penal laws sometimes fail to comprehensively define or criminalise all forms of trafficking and fail to extend protection to all victims. States are still grappling with integrating a human-rights-based approach; a child-centred approach; and an approach that pays attention to causes and vulnerability factors, including the creation of opportunities for legal, gainful and non-exploitative migration, which is crucial for preventing future trafficking. There is also a gap in cooperation not only between countries but also in public-private partnerships, which can address trafficking-related exploitation in supply chains.
Notwithstanding, I have been impressed by the development engendered by the Trafficking Protocol around the world.
I want to raise a few specific points addressing the Trafficking Protocol's contribution to the global movement against human trafficking and its inherent exploitation. ...
Language: en |