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UN Protocol
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (Trafficking Protocol), was opened for signature in December 2002.  Together, the Organized Crime Convention and the Trafficking Protocol define signatory countries' obligations on trafficking in women.  The Interpretative Notes to the Trafficking Protocol also set forth government commitments to combat trafficking. The Organized Crime Convention came into force on 29 September 2003.  The Trafficking Protocol received its 40th ratification at the end of September 2003 and entered into force on 25 December 2003.
 
The Trafficking Protocol defines trafficking in persons as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring 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."[1]  Exploitation is defined as "at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.".[2]
 
This definition represents the accepted international consensus that the key element of trafficking is the exploitation of the victim, rather than the movement of victim across borders or "means" by the trafficker involves the victim in trafficking.
 

Learn more about the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.


[1] Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000, http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/dcatoc/final_documents_2/convention_%20traff_eng.pdf
[2] Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Article 3, 2000, http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/dcatoc/final_documents_2/convention_%20traff_eng.pdf