On November 15, 2000, the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol). Twenty years later, with 178 state parties, the Palermo Protocol has reached almost universal ratification. While this is impressive, the actual implementation of the Protocol’s obligation to criminalize all forms of trafficking at the national level is even more notable. Presently, the vast majority of countries in the world criminalize trafficking in persons, as defined under international law. While this paper acknowledges and celebrates this uniformity, it also seeks to highlight some notable gaps in criminal provisions across dozens of countries’ current laws.

Through an unprecedented review of over 300 trafficking and trafficking-related laws spanning 188 countries, this Article identifies three primary definitional inconsistencies that remain. The Article describes these trends, attempts to uncover why they exist, and ultimately explains how they can negatively affect efforts to combat trafficking in persons. By doing so, it provides the vital information necessary to guide policy and legislative reform efforts by international organizations, NGOs, and government stakeholders to achieve global consensus on the definition of trafficking in persons. This definitional consensus will truly complete the groundwork of the modern counter-trafficking in persons movement—it will be the end of the beginning, and the collective fight can continue most effectively, toward the beginning of the end.

Twenty Years After the Passage of the Palermo Protocol: Identifying Common Flaws in Defining Trafficking through the First Global Study of Domestic Anti-Trafficking Laws DOWNLOAD

post

page

attachment

revision

nav_menu_item

custom_css

customize_changeset

oembed_cache

user_request

wp_block

acf-field-group

acf-field

ai1ec_event

National Hotline 2017 Ohio State Report
Graphics & InfographicsPublications

The data in this report represents signals and cases from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017 and is accurate as of July 11, 2018. Cases of trafficking may be ongoing or new information may be revealed to the National Hotline over time. Conseq...Read More

Memorandum of Understanding
Publications

This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aims at creating a cooperation between IndustriALL Global Union and ACT (Action Collaboration Transformation) corporate signatories (“We”) in order to achieve living wages for workers in the global textile a...Read More

Child labour in the fish supply chain on Lake Volta, Ghana: The Torkor model
Publications

This report illustrates an ILO project in Ghana, in which ILO partnered with the General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) of Ghana and the Inland Canoe Fishers’ Association to combat child labour throughout the fish supply chain. ...Read More

Fired, then Robbed: Fashion brands’ complicity in Wage Theft during Covid-19
Publications

The world’s garment workers have been among the hardest hit by the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. Hours and wages have declined for many of those lucky enough to keep their jobs, and millions have been fired outright, as apparel bra...Read More