CORRUPTION

International Affairs Forum Fall 2016
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in Palermo, all state signatories had agreed to
adopt effective measures against organized crime at a national level as well as through international
and intergovernmental cooperation. The Palermo Convention included three specific protocols, two
of which represent an important step to better address the issues of human trafficking and trafficking
of migrants (“smuggling”): The “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
especially Women and Children” and the “Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea
and Air”. We should consider that in most cases people who are trafficked, if they do not come from
European countries, are also illegal migrants. In both cases, it is important to strengthen international
cooperation in the area of international migration, providing migrants with humane treatment and full
protection of their rights.
When we talk about trafficking in human beings, we deal with a serious criminal offense that states
must prosecute. In Italy, for example, the criminal offense of trafficking in persons was recognized in
2003 1 in Article 601 of the Italian Code of Criminal Law, along with other new offenses 2
With regard to the European framework, we should refer to the Council of Europe framework 3 as well
as to some Directives that deal with this topic.
The European Court of Human Rights, in the emblematic case Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia
(application No. 25965/04, sentenced on 7th January 2010), explained that there is a violation of
Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights if national authorities do not take appropriate
measures and do not cooperate to crack down on the phenomenon of human trafficking. Additionally,
trafficking in human beings is specifically prohibited by Article 5 of the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union. Since the 1990s, the European Union has launched initiatives
and funded programs against human trafficking, but a key step was the adoption of the Directive
2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims; this
directive replaced the framework decision 2002/629/GAI (whose main aim was the harmonization
of Member States’ internal legislations on trafficking as to judicial cooperation in criminal matters).
Directive 2011/36/EU adopts a comprehensive, integrated approach that does not only focus on
law enforcement but also aims to prevent crime and ensure that victims of trafficking are given an
opportunity to recover and to reintegrate into society, while respecting victims’ fundamental rights. 4
The Italian State adopted the directive in 2014 5 , placing emphasis on the vulnerability of trafficking
victims and on the concept of the right to information. Moreover, the Italian directive introduced a right
to compensation for trafficking victims, and it also provided for the establishment of a national Action
Plan against trafficking.
Because Italy (together with other European countries along the Mediterranean) represents a “door
to Europe”, the country is very aware of the human trafficking phenomenon. According to the 2013
Eurostat-European Commission Report on trafficking in human beings, Italy was the European
country with the highest number of identified or presumed victims of trafficking in 2008, 2009, and
2010. In most cases, the majority of identified trafficking victims originated from Eastern European
countries such as Romania, as well as African countries like Nigeria. As a result of the high rate of
human trafficking that occurs in and around Italy, the country has taken a particular approach to
combatting human trafficking, exemplified by a national legislation that establishes a residence permit
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