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

Implementation
As the ratifi cation of the Protocol by a State is usually followed by the adoption of relevant
legislation and national action plans within a matter of years rather than months, the
implementation of national anti-traffi cking legislation that is in line with the Protocol
is often a very lengthy process. Thus, many States (most of those who have not yet
ratifi ed the Protocol and many who have already ratifi ed it) still use different defi nitions
regarding the act of traffi cking, the means of traffi cking or the purpose thereof. 397 For
example, many national legislations do not include internal traffi cking in their defi nition
of traffi cking in persons but instead refer to trans-national traffi cking only, while the
Protocol arguably, and other national and regional human rights instruments (such as
the 2005 CoE Convention on Action Against Traffi cking in Human Beings) cover also
internal traffi cking. 398 In many other countries, it appears that internal traffi cking in
persons, even if covered by relevant national legislation, receives less attention by law
enforcement authorities than trans-national traffi cking across borders. One reason why
trans-national traffi cking may receive relatively more attention than internal traffi cking
is the stronger involvement of international organizations in anti-human traffi cking
activities and victim support services when it comes to cross-border traffi cking, which is
clearly related to the specifi c (international) mandates of these service providers. Another
problem arises out of differences over the legal age of minors. Not all countries apply
the defi nition of children contained in the Protocol as persons under 18 years of age but
instead have different defi nitions of who is a child, including in national family and child
397 As of November 2008, 63% of the 155 countries and territories the 2008 UNODC Global Report
on Traffi cking in Persons covered had passed laws against traffi cking in persons addressing the major
forms of traffi cking. These laws criminalize, at the very least, sexual exploitation and forced labour and
have no restriction regarding the age or gender of the victim. Another 16% had passed anti-traffi cking
laws that cover only certain elements of the Protocol defi nition, For example, laws that are limited to
sexual exploitation or only apply to female or child victims In 2003, only one third of the countries
covered by this report had legislation against human traffi cking; at the end of 2008, four-fi fths did. The
number of countries having anti-traffi cking legislation more than doubled between 2003 and 2008 in
response to the passage of the Protocol. In addition, 54% of responding countries have established a
special anti-human traffi cking police unit, and more than half have developed a national action plan to
deal with this issue. Given that this legislative framework is very new, it is remarkable that 91 countries
(57% of the reporting countries) reported at least one human traffi cking prosecution, and 73 countries
reported at least one conviction. A core of 47 countries reported making at least 10 convictions per
year, with 15 making at least fi ve times this number.
398 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. p. 9.
147