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often be diffi cult for law enforcement offi cials and victim service providers to determine
whether a particular case is one of smuggling or traffi cking. 45
TRAFFICKING AND SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
One of the most controversial and hotly debated issues during the negotiations concerned
the fi rst major lobbying goal of the participating NGOs; the defi nition of traffi cking.
This is not surprising, as one of the fundamental problems in combating traffi cking until
then had been the lack of international consensus on a defi nition and thus on precisely
which practices should be included as unlawful. Underlying this lack of consensus are
two diametrically opposed views on sex work. One sees all sex work as traffi cking per se.
The other view holds that conditions of (forced) labour in all industries, including the
sex industry, should be addressed. The debate whether prostitution per se is slavery and
therefore equivalent to traffi cking in persons was related most directly and vehemently
to the defi nition of traffi cking in the Protocol, but permeated the whole negotiating
process. 46
45 In a study carried out by The Institute on Race and Justice Northeastern University Boston on law
enforcement and traffi cking in the US it was found that: Local law enforcement perceive human
traffi cking as rare or non-existent in their local communities; however, agencies serving larger
communities are more likely to identify human traffi cking, particularly sex traffi cking as a more
pervasive problem All types of law enforcement agencies, including those serving the smallest
jurisdictions, have investigated at least one case of human traffi cking. Over half of the law enforcement
agencies serving large jurisdictions (with a population of over 250,000) have investigated traffi cking
cases When controlling for size and location of communities, the degree to which law enforcement
is prepared to identify human traffi cking cases is a signifi cant indicator of whether or not they actually
investigate cases Nearly 92 percent of law enforcement agencies reported a connection between
human traffi cking and other criminal networks such as drug traffi cking and prostitution Agencies
that have identifi ed cases of human traffi cking report using pro-active investigative strategies such as
gathering information on human traffi cking indicators during the course of other investigations.
46 Ditmore, M. and Wijers, M: The negotiations on the UN Protocol on Traffi cking in Persons.
p. 78-79.
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