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

The OP II to the CRC, other than refi ning the defi nition of traffi cking in Article 2, in
Article 3 establishes that a wide range of offences 246 shall be made offences under national
penal law. Articles 4 and 5 establish that jurisdiction should be made extraterritorial.
This is obviously most important since in most cases, international justice does not have
jurisdiction over these crimes and thus national law and the prin ciples of extraterritoriality
are crucial to combat traffi ckers. The OP II also addresses the issues of protecting
child victims recog nising their vulnerability but including as an important aspect that
the views and concerns of the child are taken into consideration and that the child be
informed of her or his rights. 247 Further it is ensured that States are under an obligation
to protect the child victim and her or his family from retaliation, which in many cases is
most relevant. 248 Measures such as personnel training and special treatment in criminal
procedures are also included. It is signifi cant that prevention using awareness raising and
the edu cation and social integration of victims are imposed on States. 249 This ensures a
holistic approach to the problem and thus avoids focusing exclusively on the criminal
aspect. It underlines that children should be at the centre of any actions against traffi cking
and that it is necessary to take all aspects of this crime into con sideration. In Article 10
addressing root causes and international co-operation is ensured. This is important since
international co-operation very often is mentioned in terms of international crime prevention
and investigation. It is noteworthy that States “shall” implement these measures.
It is much welcome that this provision is drafted in an imperative manner.
As mentioned above the ILO Conventions 29 and 105 on Forced Labour and 138 on
Minimum age for Admission to Labour and 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour are all
relevant in the fi ght against traffi cking. 250 C29 defi nes forced labour and C105 specifi es
that forced labour can never be used for the purpose of economic development, discrimination
or punishment or labour discipline.
The importance of employment rights such as the right to join unions and in general a
well monitored labour market is of importance in the fi ght against traffi cking – a point
on which the Protocol is silent, but one should never forget that a certain aspect of international
law is not necessarily covered only by one exclusive instrument and that there is
no reason to repeat in every treaty what is already valid law.
246 In the context of sale of children as defi ned in Art 2.: (i) Offering, delivering or accepting, by whatever
means, a child for the purpose of: a. Sexual exploitation of the child; b. Transfer of organs of the
child for profi t; c. Engagement of the child in forced labour; (ii) Improperly inducing consent, as an
intermediary, for the adoption of a child in violation of applicable inter national legal instruments on
adoption; (b) Offering, obtaining, procuring or providing a child for child prostitution, as defi ned in
Article 2; (c) Producing, distributing, disseminating, importing, exporting, offering, selling or possessing
for the above purposes child pornography as defi ned in article 2.
247 Art. 8.
248 Art. 8.1(f).
249 Art. 9.
250 See Touzenis, K.: Migrant Children’s Human Rights. IOM International Migration Law Series N 15.
IOM 2008.
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