An Introduction to Human Trafficking - United Nations Office on ...

PART THREE.—ACTION
A.—Identifying trafficked persons
A major challenge for immigration and law enforcement officials is how <strong>to</strong> distinguish
trafficking victims from others they come in<strong>to</strong> contact with, who may be involved in
similar income-generating activities, but who have not been trafficked. Numerous <strong>to</strong>ols
have been developed at frontiers and for police forces <strong>to</strong> aid identification.
With good intelligence about the profile of adults or children who have already been
trafficked, police have identified the characteristics of such persons and used this intelligence
<strong>to</strong> pick out travellers who warrant advice and protection. 19 For example, the
Philippine Centre on Transnational Crime developed an 11-point checklist <strong>to</strong> help identify
such people and a further 11-point checklist <strong>to</strong> identify possible traffickers. 20
Unannounced operations or raids by law enforcement officials are a way of removing
individuals who are held in captivity by their traffickers or exploiters from the site of their
exploitation. In the course of some raids, both trafficking victims and others have experienced
further trauma. The Asia Pacific Forum of National <strong>Human</strong> Rights Institutions has
recommended the development of procedural guidelines for raids and rescues <strong>to</strong> ensure
that the human rights of trafficking victims are protected, emphasizing that raids should
not occur without adequate planning for the subsequent protection and support of trafficked
people. 21 Clearly, it is important that the use of raids on places where trafficked
individuals might be located, in the absence of actual intelligence, should be carefully moni<strong>to</strong>red
by senior law enforcement officials and human rights institutions, in particular <strong>to</strong>
ensure that the techniques used are proportional <strong>to</strong> the abuse they are intended <strong>to</strong> s<strong>to</strong>p.
B.—Interceptions at frontiers
Border posts offer an opportunity <strong>to</strong> identify victims of transnational trafficking and <strong>to</strong>
intercept them. The potential role of immigration officials is greater where traffickers take
their victims through an official border point. It is more difficult <strong>to</strong> control the movement
of people along long land or sea borders, whether they be regular travellers or traffickers
19
In the Netherlands, the Criminal Investigation Division developed a system in 2002 for recording information
about individuals suspected of being trafficked in<strong>to</strong> prostitution, as well as known victims. The system awards points
in an individual case, according <strong>to</strong> a list of indica<strong>to</strong>rs suggested by the prosecution service and police (see A. van
den Borne and others, Investigating Exploitation: Research in<strong>to</strong> <strong>Trafficking</strong> in Children in the Netherlands (Amsterdam,
Defence for Children International, 2005), p. 31. In the <strong>United</strong> Kingdom, “Operation Paladin Child” in 2004 involved
recording the personal details of every child arriving at a border post in the <strong>United</strong> Kingdom who was assessed as
possibly being at risk (of being trafficked or exploited), so that the child could be visited subsequently by social services
staff. Each arriving child was given a unique identifying number, had his or her pho<strong>to</strong>graph taken and was asked
<strong>to</strong> say where he or she would be living in the <strong>United</strong> Kingdom. Details of adults welcoming unaccompanied children
at airports or ports were also recorded. If the child could not be located at the address given, an investigation was
reportedly opened. Details can be found in the monthly magazine of the Metropolitan Police, The Job, vol. 38, No.
953 (May 2005).
20
Quoted in <strong>to</strong>ol 6.3, entitled “Checklist <strong>to</strong> facilitate the identification of victims” (see <strong>United</strong> <strong>Nations</strong> <strong>Office</strong> on
Drugs and Crime, Toolkit <strong>to</strong> Combat <strong>Trafficking</strong> in Persons (<strong>United</strong> <strong>Nations</strong> publication, Sales No. E.06.V.11)) (see
www.unodc.org/pdf/<strong>Trafficking</strong>_<strong>to</strong>olkit_Oct06.pdf).
21
Asia Pacific Forum of National <strong>Human</strong> Rights Institutions, Regional Workshop on <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Trafficking</strong> and National
<strong>Human</strong> Rights Institutions: Cooperating <strong>to</strong> End Impunity for Traffickers and <strong>to</strong> Secure Justice for Trafficked People, Sydney,
Australia, 20 23 November 2005 (see http://www.asiapacificforum.net/services/training/regional-workshops/trafficking/downloads/conclusion/report.pdf).
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