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

There is still a lack of quantitative information or understanding regarding the scope and
development of the crime of human traffi cking around the world. Even basic criminal
justice data on traffi cking in persons offences is not publicly available for many countries
and regions of the world, making the compilation of accurate statistics on human
traffi cking elusive and unreliable at any level. In the absence of systematic and reliable
statistical time series, we do not even know with any degree of precision if the number of
reported traffi cking cases is increasing or decreasing and why this might be so. Compiling
reliable and comprehensive statistical time series on the criminal justice response to human
traffi cking is thus a fi rst step towards a more global understanding of the phenomenon. 377
The major problem in studying and combating traffi cking in persons is exactly the
scarcity, unreliability, and non-comparability of existing international and national data.
The absence of comparable statistics on reported crimes, indictments and court cases, the
heterogenous criminalisation of the crime in national legislation, the characteristics of
traffi cking which results in a high dark number and makes traffi cking hard to identify, the
weak legal status of victims in national legislation, which contributes to their reluctance
to report the crime and the inconsistent use of the concept of traffi cking are all factors
that contribute to inaccuracy of data. 378
One of the major hurdles to undertaking a comparative analysis of traffi cking data is the
lack of specifi c legislation on the national level. This leads to absence of offi cial criminal
justice statistics on human traffi cking cases. The traffi cking Protocol has improved the
situation with its agreed defi nition of the crime and when countries reform legislation in
order to conform with this defi nition, data collection will be easier. The confusion between
smuggling and traffi cking is important when collecting data, because the police may
prefer to categorise some traffi cking cases as smuggling crimes, the collection of evidence
in these last is easier than obtaining evidence on offences related to traffi cking. 379
The trade in human beings is not a uniform business and operates very differently in
different cultural and political contexts. Human traffi cking shares much with the trade
in legitimate commodities from the region of origin. Traditional patterns of trade and
investment shape the trade in human beings as they do trade in other “commodities”. 380
Enormous differences exist in the trade of human beings from e.g. post-socialist countries.
China uses trade in people to generate revenue for investment whereas the traffi ckers
from the former USSR sell off human beings as if they were a natural resource like oil
377 UNGIFT: The Vienna Forum to fi ght Human Traffi cking 13-15 February 2008, Austria Center
Vienna Background Paper 024 Workshop: Quantifying Human Traffi cking, its Impact and the
Responses to it.
378 Aromaa, K.: Traffi cking in Human Beings: Uniform Defi nitions for better Measuring and for Effective
Counter Measures, in in Savona, E.U.; Stefanizzi, S.: Measuring Human Traffi cking, complexities and
pitfalls. p. 20.
379 Kangaspunta, K.: Collecting Data on Human Traffi cking: Availability, Reliability and Comparability
of Traffi cking Data, in in Savona, E.U.; Stefanizzi, S.: Measuring Human Traffi cking, complexities and
pitfalls. p. 28.
380 Shelley, L.: Human Traffi cking as a Form of Trans-national Crime, in Lee, M.: Human Traffi cking,
p. 123.
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