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

AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING: VULNERABILITY, IMPACT AND ACTION
IV.—Vulnerability: a definition
The terms “vulnerable” and “vulnerability” are used in areas of economic development,
social science, human security, crime prevention, environmental research, disaster relief,
famine, contagious diseases and mental health. Each of these areas has carefully developed
frameworks that serve as road maps for early warning systems as well as carefully
crafted countermeasures. The increased focus on vulnerability leads <strong>to</strong> measures that can
be implemented before the occurrence of a potential danger, trauma or abuse, thereby
lessening its human, economic and social consequences. Thus, an understanding of vulnerability
implicitly leads <strong>to</strong>wards prevention.
A.—Vulnerability and human trafficking
There is no broadly accepted definition of the terms “vulnerable” and “vulnerability” in
relation <strong>to</strong> prevention of trafficking. One definition of the term “vulnerable” is “exposed
<strong>to</strong> the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally”. 23 In much
of the literature on trafficking, the terms “vulnerable” and “poor” have been used synonymously,
and poverty is often cited as a leading cause of trafficking. Vulnerability, however,
is not the same as income-poverty or poverty even more broadly defined. In the
development literature, for example, vulnerability does not refer <strong>to</strong> lack or want, but rather
<strong>to</strong> exposure and defencelessness. 24 Vulnerability refers <strong>to</strong> the condition of a person in a
specific context. A response <strong>to</strong> vulnerability needs therefore <strong>to</strong> take in<strong>to</strong> account 24 the
external conditions of an individual as well as the coping mechanisms that enable the
individual <strong>to</strong> protect him- or herself against a negative impact from those external
conditions.
The terms are more precisely unders<strong>to</strong>od in law, where the term “vulnerable victim” is
used <strong>to</strong> refer <strong>to</strong> “a victim who is unusually vulnerable due <strong>to</strong> age, physical or mental condition,
or who is otherwise particularly susceptible <strong>to</strong> criminal conduct”. 25 The concept of
vulnerability is also used <strong>to</strong> enhance penalties in cases of trafficking. 26
The words occur three times in the <strong>Trafficking</strong> Pro<strong>to</strong>col. The first is in the preamble, which
includes the paragraph:
“Concerned that, in the absence of such an instrument, persons who are vulnerable
<strong>to</strong> trafficking will not be sufficiently protected”.
The second mention of the term occurs in the definition of “trafficking”
(art. 3, subpara. (a)):
23
Judy Pearsall and Patrick Hanks, eds., New Oxford Dictionary of English (Oxford University Press, 2001).
24
Robert Chambers, “Poverty and livelihoods: whose reality counts?”, Environment and Urbanization, vol. 7,
No. 1 (1995), p. 189.
25
Mohamed Y. Mattar, “Incorporating the five basic elements of a model anti-trafficking in persons legislation in
domestic laws: from the <strong>United</strong> <strong>Nations</strong> Pro<strong>to</strong>col <strong>to</strong> the European Convention”, Tulane Journal of International and
Comparative Law, vol. 14, No. 2 (2005), p. 385.
26
Ibid., p. 387.
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