3071-The political economy of new slavery

66 Trafficking and International Law
established.’ In other words, the issue of consent is irrelevant if any type
of coercion, intimidation or deception occurs.
The protocol also most importantly sets out a number of important
measures that states should take to assist and protect victims of trafficking.
These include various provisions of material and psychological
support, temporary or permanent residence and due consideration to
safety in the case of any repatriation (preferably voluntary). The general
agreement at international level on this definition of trafficking is
illustrated by a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against
Women (Coomaraswamy, 1997), who looked at four different scenarios
and considered whether the women were victims of trafficking:
• The first group includes women who have been completely duped
and coerced. Such women have no idea where they are going or the
nature of the work they will be doing.
• The second group comprises women who are told half-truths by their
recruiters about their employment and are then forced to do work to
which they have not previously agreed and about which they have
little or no choice. Both their movement and their power to change
their situation are severely restricted by debt-bondage and confiscation
of their travel documents or passport.
• In the third group are women who are informed about the kind of
work they will be doing. Although they do not want to do such work,
they see no viable economic alternative, and therefore relinquish
control to their trafficker who exploits their economic and legal
vulnerability for financial gain, while keeping them, often against
their will, in situations of debt-bondage.
• The fourth group comprises women who are fully informed about
the work they are to perform, have no objections to performing
it, are in control of their finances and have relatively unrestricted
movement. This is the only situation of the above four that cannot
be classified as trafficking.
Issues of concern
Despite this agreement, there remains a lack of consensus about what
should be done on behalf of the women, children and men, who are
the victims of trafficking, particularly what states and governments
have an obligation to do on their behalf once these victims regain
their freedom. The state’s obligation goes further than to simply
punish traffickers, to the responsibility to uphold the human rights of