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

countries with economies in transition and 130,000 in sub-Saharan countries. 3 In reports
providing human traffi cking estimates, the methodology for calculating any estimates
used is rarely given. Reports also often fail to indicate whether estimates are annual
fi gures or cover a period of several years. The quest for numbers alone will not lead to a
greater understanding of human traffi cking practices, and, therefore, the development of
a more effective international response. It is necessary to understand the complexities of
traffi cking as a whole in order to develop more effective responses.
Traffi cking in human beings is an extremely grave offence against the individual. Not
only the process of establishing control over the liberty, freedom of movement and earning
capacity of vulnerable people, but the ways in which such power is established then
maintained, together result in serious violations of the physical and mental integrity of
the victims. Traffi cking in persons is dynamic, adaptable, opportunistic, and like many
other forms of criminal activity, it takes advantage of confl icts, humanitarian disasters
and the vulnerability of people in situations of crisis. It is multidisciplinary and involves
a wide range of actors. 4
In 2000 the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Traffi cking in Persons, especially women and children (Traffi cking Protocol), 5 supplementing
the United Nations Convention against Organized Crime (UNTOC). 6 The Protocol
entered into force on the 25th of December 2003. At the same time the Protocol against
the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea (Smuggling Protocol), supplementing
the United Nations Convention against Trans-national Organized Crime was adopted. 7
The two protocols are also known as the Palermo Protocols, after the city in which they
were adapted. The Convention and the Protocols were negotiated at a series of eleven
meetings of a special intergovernmental Ad-hoc Committee under the auspices of the
UN Crime Commission, which were held in Vienna from January 1999 until October
2000 and more than 100 countries took part.
The Palermo Protocols are framed around a central dichotomy between coerced and
consensual irregular migrants. People who are traffi cked are assumed not to have given
their consent and are considered to be “victims or “survivors,” whereas people who are
smuggled are considered to have willingly engaged in a criminal enterprise. There is also a
gender dimension to these distinctions: those who are smuggled are mostly assumed to be
men, whereas victims of traffi cking are associated with the traditional targets of protective
concern 8 – women and children, which affects protection schemes. The protocols share
several key features. Both require State Parties to criminalize the relevant conduct of traf-
3 ILO: A Global Alliance against Forced Labour, ILO, 2005.
4 UN.GIFT: Human Traffi cking an overview. UN 2008, p. 6.
5 Signatories: 117, Parties: 124 as of February 2009.
6 Entry into Force: 29 September 2003, in accordance with article 38. Registration: 29 September 2003,
No. 39574. Status: Signatories: 147, Parties: 147 as of February 2009.
7 Entry into force: 28 January 2004. Signatories 112; Parties: 116 as of February 2009.
8 Bhabha, J.: Traffi cking, Smuggling, and Human Rights, at
http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?ID=294 (visited September 2008).
8