Trafficking in human beings: human rights and ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Current Responses
to Traffi cking
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Mary Robinson once emphasised to
governments that anti-traffi cking measures should not “adversely affect” human rights. She
started with the principle that “the human rights of traffi cked persons shall be at the centre
of all efforts to prevent and combat traffi cking and to protect, assist and provide redress
to victims”. 346 Nevertheless, the priority for governments around the world in their efforts
to stop human traffi cking has been to arrest, prosecute and punish traffi ckers, rather than
to protect the human rights of people who have been traffi cked. In other words current
practices often do not bridge a gap between human rights and criminal law, but very often
fail on the criminal law side and in the worst cases endanger human rights.
This approach is consistent with the one adopted by governments over the past two
centuries in the context of efforts to stamp out slavery, forced labour and slavery-like
practices (of which traffi cking is regarded as one): they have given higher priority, both in
international agreements and national law, to declaring slavery and similar abuse illegal,
than to spelling out how such forms of abuse are to be eradicated or how, when doing so,
to safeguard the human rights of the individuals who have been subjected to abuse. 347
346 Principle 1 of the UN High Commissioner’s Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights
and Human Traffi cking, Addendum to the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights to the Economic and Social Council, UN document E/2002/68/Add.1, 20 May
2002.
347 Global Alliance Against Traffi c in Women: Collateral Damage – The Impact of Anti-Traffi cking
Measures on Human Rights around the World. Global Alliance Against Traffi c in Women. 2007.
p. 2.
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