Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, was adopted by the United Nations in Palermo, Italy in 2000. It is also referred to as the Trafficking protocol. It is one of the two Palermo protocols, the other one being the "Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air".

The Trafficking Protocol entered into force on 25 December 2003. By 2006 the protocol had been signed by 117 states, and ratified by 110. [http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crime_cicp_signatures.html]

The protocol falls under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The protocol requires of ratifying states to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, protecting and assisting victims of trafficking and promoting cooperation among states in order to meet those objectives.

Content of the protocol

The protocol covers the following:
*defining the crime of trafficking in human beings; essentially, trafficking is the transport of persons, by means of coercion or deception, for the purpose of exploitation such as forced labor or prostitution:::"Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation."
*facilitating the return and acceptance of children who have been victims of cross-border trafficking, with due regard to their safety;
*prohibiting the trafficking of children for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), exploitative labour practices or the removal of body parts;
*suspending parental rights of parents, caregivers or any other persons who have parental rights in respect of a child should they be found to have trafficked a child;
*ensuring that definitions of trafficking reflect the need for special safeguards and care for children, including appropriate legal protection;
*ensuring that trafficked persons are not punished for any offences or activities related to their having been trafficked, such as prostitution and immigration violations;
*ensuring that victims of trafficking are protected from deportation or return where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that such return would represent a significant security risk to the trafficked person or their family;
*considering temporary or permanent residence in countries of transit or destination for trafficking victims in exchange for testimony against alleged traffickers, or on humanitarian and compassionate grounds;
*providing for proportional criminal penalties to be applied to persons found guilty of trafficking in aggravating circumstances, including offences involving trafficking in children or offences committed or involving complicity by state officials; and,
*providing for the confiscation of the instruments and proceeds of trafficking and related offences to be used for the benefit of trafficked persons.

The convention and the protocol obligate ratifying states to introduce national trafficking legislation.

ee also

*Human trafficking

External links

* [http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/index.html UNODC site]
* [http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/protocoltraffic.htm Wording of protocol]
* [http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CTOC/countrylist-traffickingprotocol.html Ratifications]