Understanding Human Trafficking

Introduction

Human trafficking has been defined by the United Nations as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons through threats, coercion or deception to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, solely for exploitation. This insidious vice takes the form of forced labour, sex trafficking and debt bondage. Forced labour which is involuntary servitude has been singled out as the most prevalent form of human trafficking in the world. Sex trafficking sector in human trafficking largely involves the exploitation of women and children who are pushed in commercial activities around the world. According to US Department of State, at least 27 million people in the world are living in slavery like conditions and human trafficking remains the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry globally. Consequently human trafficking remains a thorny issue both in local jurisdictions and internationally because it is both an international and transnational crime.

Background

As global problem, it affects the lives of millions of people around the world and takes away their dignity as human beings. For the traffickers, it’s a lucrative business that earns them millions of dollars every year despite the egregious violation of human rights of subjects of the trade. As at 2005, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that about 2.5 million people were victims of human trafficking at any given time and the profits amounted to approximately 32 billion dollars in a year. Today, at least 24.9 million people are victims of human trafficking around the world. According to Human Rights First, out of $150 billion earned from human trafficking every year, $99 billion is attributed to commercial sexual exploitation. In 2019 ILO reported that the number of people in modern day slavery in the world is hard to verify and it ranges between 20 million and 40 million. The nature of human trafficking as a crime is such

US Department of State. Trafficking In Persons Report 2019
ibid
“Human Trafficking by the Numbers.” Human Rights First. Accessed December 24, 2019. https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers.
“Forced Labor, Modern Slavery, and Human Trafficking.” International Labor Organization. Accessed December 24, 2019. http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm. “Monitoring Target 16.2 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.” United Nations Office on Drug and Crime. Accessed December 24, 2019. https://www.unodc.org/documents/research/UNODC-DNR_research_brief.pdf

that it is quite hard to assess its full scope and as a result there are many cases that go undetected.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been working to educate people around the world about the perils of drug abuse and consolidating international response to drug related crimes, illicit drug production and human trafficking. After its first report in 2006, UNODC launched its Global Report on Trafficking in Persons in 2019. This new report offers a new perspective on crimes including trafficking in persons which has been gathered from 155 countries. The Report notes that while there is a tremendous increase in the number of countries that have implemented the UN Protocol against Trafficking in Persons, there are still countries that lack the necessary legal instruments to deal with the crime. It also notes that the number of convictions is rising steadily but this is only in a few countries. Notably, the report noted that sexual exploitation was by far the most common form of human trafficking at 79 percent followed by forced labour at 18 percent. In essence, the above report shows that there is still a lot to be done in combating human trafficking

Risk factors for Human Trafficking

Political Instability

There are special factors that contribute to human trafficking and it is these that the human traffickers exploit to get their victims. Civil unrest, militarism and wars displace people and interfered not only with their daily life but also their source of income. Majorly, women and children will find themselves vulnerable to human traffickers who lure them with promises of a new life and well-paying jobs. The war in Syria has displaced many people and pushed others to move to neighbouring countries as well as Europe in search of a better and peaceful life. Amidst these, human traffickers have been reaping big by using the desperate situation to convince Syrians to move to other countries like the United States and United Kingdom where they are forced into commercial sex business and involuntary servitude. Other countries like Libya, Central

Vandenhole W, Türkelli GE, Lembrechts S, Prevention of Abduction, Sale and Trafficking. In Children’s Rights (2019) Edward Elgar Publishing.

Africa Republic, DR Congo and Eritrea are hotspots for human trafficking as highlighted by the Trafficking in Persons Report presumably because political instability.

Poverty is one of the root causes of human trafficking. Many victims become vulnerable because they want to move to a place where they can prosper financially. The lure of easy money and good life baits many people living in poverty to accept such offers from trafficking in the belief that they will be able to be able to meet the basic needs and more. Unfortunately, upon arrival at the promised destination their movement is restricted and monitored and they may even be held in places that they would never have imagined to be their homes. In particular, it responsible for many cases of child trafficking where children are sold by their parents for money and sometimes in the hope that those children will get a better life away from poverty. Traffickers usually target marginalised people living in poverty, especially indigenous communities who are ready to risk it all to provide for themselves and their families.

Racism and the Legacy of Colonialism

Colonialism and racism have had a far reaching in countries where they were practiced. It contributed to the marginalization of people especially indigenous communities. As a result, such populations had little or no access to basic social amenities thus propagating poverty and strife. Most of them had limited access to employment, education, credit and housing because of barriers placed by the colonizers or governments in place. Because of the above vulnerabilities, such populations are targets for human traffickers who promise jobs and economic advancement at a different place.

Lack of human rights for vulnerable groups

Jobe, Alison, The causes and consequences of re-trafficking: evidence from the IOM Human Trafficking Database. (2010).
Ibid

In many countries, there are communities that are treated differently compared to others. This could be because they are minority in terms of population or religious difference. In most cases where there is no institutionalized human rights regime for such communities, they become vulnerable to trafficking. When law enforcement cannot protect these populations, human rights violations become the norm and a paradise is in the offing for traffickers. The absence of laws outlawing trafficking and anchoring human rights of marginalized groups leads the belief by traffickers that they can get away with almost anything they do in those countries. The plight of Yazidi women has been highlighted by human rights groups and international media both in 2018 and 2019 because of their vulnerability to modern slavery and trafficking. Another example is the situation with the Rohingya Muslim population in Myanmar, India and Bangladesh. This community has not been granted citizenship by any of the three countries hence those that are refuges have become a target for traffickers.

Trafficking in persons has been highlighted by different reports as a very lucrative business that is funded by millions of dollars. Just like any business it is run on the principles of profit and loss so that the players in the sector are always looking to maximise their returns. Although it is an illegal and immoral business, the perpetrators have invested money into it and some people earn a living from the trade. For this reason trafficking in persons is not a vice that can easily die or be halted and it will take a lot of effort to eradicate it, in fact world effort. Industries that use cheap labour promote trafficking and as long as there is demand for that kind of labour it appears that there will always available supply from traffickers. The same applies to commercial sex industry where traffickers are able to make large sums of money from the trade while paying the victims peanuts. Service industries like restaurants and kitchens are common destinations for victims of human traffic this is because of the cheap labour effect on their finances

Social and cultural practices

Wylie, Gillian, and Penelope McRedmond. Human trafficking in Europe: character, causes and consequences. (Springer 2010)
International Organization for Migration. World Migration Report

In many countries, there are practices that form a breeding ground for trafficking. It is quite normal to devalue, abuse and abuse women and children in some countries because it is allowed by their culture. In other communities, forced labour is common phenomenon especially as payment for debt otherwise known as bonded labour. Further, some countries have institutionalized child labour and underage marriages which encourages traffickers to explore such communities for victims. When women are degraded and they lack opportunities of social and economic advancement, they can easily be lured or be acceptable to trafficking for commercial sex jobs.

Human trafficking as an international crime

Human trafficking affects almost all countries in the world. While a country may not be directly involved in terms of having victims and traffickers in their territory, it may be a conduit or passage for this crime. Despite trafficking being both a local and regional issue it has not been officially recognised as an international crime. International Criminal Law is concerned with the criminal responsibility of individuals for serious violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. Generally, international crime consists of various categories including crimes against humanity, crime of aggression, genocide and war crimes. The Statute of the International Criminal Court is a treaty that has been ratified by at least 123 states and is the foundation for punishment of persons who commit grave crimes. In Article 5, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. Further, article 7 of the Statute lists a number of offences that are considered as crimes against humanity and they include enslavement, sexual slavery, and enforced prostitution.

Against this backdrop, trafficking entails all the above elements and could be considered as a crime against humanity. Be that as it may, the current international framework does not clearly provide for the prosecution of trafficking as an international

Ibid n (8
The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.10.IV.6). Available from www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tocta/TOCTA_Report_2010_low_res.pdf
Statute of International Criminal Court (Rome Statute)

crime. In this regard, a trip down the memory lane would be worthwhile at this point. The first conspicuous international initiative to deal with trafficking in the form of slavery was manifested in 1926 when the Slavery Convention of the League of Nations was ratified a number of countries. This convention was the first piece international legislation that out rightly banned slavery. Later in 1949, the UN came up with the United Nations Convention on the Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Exploitation of Prostitution of Others. This would be followed in 1959 by the UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery.

The international quest to stop slavery and related crimes did not stop with the 1959 convention. In 2003, the UN came up with the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. It was also known as the Palermo Protocol and it supplemented the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (TOC). More importantly, the Palermo Protocol has been ratified by at least 169 states giving it a universal underpinning and parties are required to cooperate in the prevention and prosecution of human traffickers.

Undoubtedly, many countries around the world have ratified international conventions outlawing trafficking in persons and enacted legislations for similar effect. However, there is a lot that still remains to be done in order to effectively combat this crime. Internationally, the ICC has not been able to successful prosecute human trafficking offences despite the relevance and enforcement of Article 7 of the Rome Statute. Unsurprisingly, even the Tribunals formed before the ICC like the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) were never successful in the prosecution of human trafficking as a crime against humanity. However, it is indeed clear that the ICC has the jurisdiction to

Shelley Louise, Human trafficking as a form of transnational crime. (2013) Human trafficking. Willan, 128,149
ibid
Winterdyk John, Benjamin Perrin, and Philip Reichel, eds. Human trafficking: Exploring the international nature, concerns, and complexities. (CRC Press, 2011)
Kim Jane, Prosecuting human trafficking as a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute. (2011).Columbia Law School Gender and Sexuality Online (GSL Online)

prosecute crimes against humanity especially those involving enslavement, enforced prostitution, sexual slavery and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity.

Article 25 of the Rome Statute grants the court jurisdiction over individuals who commit crimes against humanity as provided for under article 7. However, there has been a lingering debate whether ICC has jurisdiction over legal and jurisdiction persons in relation to natural person. The prevailing position on this matter is that ICC only deals with individual criminal responsibility situations. Additionally, Article 25 provides that limitation period for criminal actions does not apply to crime for which the court has jurisdiction. Under Article 7, it is stated that for acts to come under the umbrella of crimes against humanity, it must be committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with the knowledge of the attack. This qualification as part of Article 7 raises many issues as to whether trafficking in persons would still be considered as a crime against humanity.

It appears that the most feasible way to prosecute human trafficking is to break it down into enslavement, enforced prosecution and other recognised crimes under Article 7. If this is not done, then it becomes extremely difficult to treat human trafficking as an international crime capable of prosecution. Rather, trafficking is a transnational crime that transcends state boundaries and requires collective efforts including mutual assistance to prosecute successfully. At this point it is necessary to distinguish the transnational nature of human trafficking and the international Criminal Law aspect. The best attempt by the Rome Statute in defining human trafficking is only found in the definition of human enslavement where it makes reference to human trafficking. As a result there are scholars who have argued that human trafficking is an international crime within the jurisdiction of the ICC. If indeed it is, then the big question is why the ICC has not up to date successfully exercised that jurisdiction to combat human trafficking. It follows that this area is hot topic for debate among scholars who hold opposite views regarding the jurisdiction of ICC in human trafficking cases.

The Rome Statute in its definition of slavery adopts the one found in the Slavery Convention which conspicuously uses the word ‘ownership’ and includes the word

trafficking. The presumption here is that by making reference to trafficking, the drafters must have intended to have trafficking as one of the crimes under crimes against humanity. In addition to this, the inclusion of rape and sexual slavery as crimes against humanity could be seen to support the notion that there was an intention to have trafficking as a crime against humanity. Notably, the arguments in support of trafficking as a crime against humanity rely majorly on presumptions on the intention of the drafters because strictly, there is no direct and clear provision in the Rome statute that categorised trafficking as a crime against humanity.

Assuming that human trafficking is envisaged in Article 7, there is one more obstacle to it being construed as crimes against human. The obstacle is in the form of a requirement that a crime against humanity can only be termed as such if it is committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with the knowledge of the attack. In consideration of the above threshold it is clear that trafficking ought to have been conducted against a civilian population, which condition contemplates actions associated with the state or organization. While the condition is relevant for other crimes against humanity like forcible transfer of population it does not help in trafficking cases. Therefore, it means that human trafficking does not in reality qualify to be termed as a crime against humanity but other elements of human trafficking meet the set criteria. There are only two options in dealing with crimes against humanity: prosecuting the elements of trafficking like enslavement as crimes against humanity or lobbying for the addition and definition of trafficking in the Rome Statute as a separate crime against humanity.

As stated above, the Rome statute has a requirement that the crime against humanity in question must have been committed in relation to a State and or ‘organization policy’. Presently, trafficking in persons is mostly perpetrated by organised transnational gangs who are not within the purview of human rights law. For the ICC to effectively exercise its jurisdiction over trafficking, it is important that the definition of organization be reconsidered to include groups and criminal gangs. If this is done it will be possible to include transnational criminal gangs that are actively involved in trafficking. To meet the

Ibid n(16)

requirement of organizational policy, these transnational criminal gangs could be taken as organizations for purposes of the Rome Statute. Interestingly, the requirement of State or organization policy was omitted in the case of Prosecutor v Kunarac where the convicted individuals were held to have enslaved women for purposes of servitude and sexual exploitation.

Taking into account all the above difficulties in the definition and inclusion of trafficking in the Rome Statute, the major concern is the role of national governments in dealing with trafficking as a violation of domestic criminal law. In accordance with the

complementarity principle, state parties are required to take steps to prosecute crimes against humanity and it is only where no action is taken that the ICC would be triggered to exercise its jurisdiction. Nationally, there has been commendable progress in the prosecution of human trafficking cases. In 2008 the Australian High Court made a land mark ruling in a human trafficking case. The case involved one Wei Tang who operated a brothel in Melbourne and was accused of slavery. It was the first case where a person had been successfully been convicted of slavery in Australia.

In 2009 there was another conviction for trafficking in persons contrary to national legislation. In this case the accused person was found guilty of trafficking Thai into Australia for purposes of working as sex workers. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment with a non-parole period of one year and ten months. In the US a man who recruited a 16-year old girl on MySpace and later rented her out as a sex worker was convicted and sentenced 12 years in jail for engaging in sex trafficking of a child. These two from different jurisdictions show that national legal systems have been making efforts to deal with trafficking in persons. However, the challenge with prosecuting traffickers within the national legal framework is that sometimes the crime involves a number of countries either as destinations, transit routes and source for victims. This makes the process of prosecution difficult unless the countries involved have signed treaties authorising mutual assistance and extradition procedures.

Prosecutor v. Kunarac et al., Case No. ‎IT-96-23-T & IT-96-23/1-T
R v Tang [2008] HCA 39, (2008) 237 CLR 1
US v. Marvin Chavelle Epps

International Response to Human Trafficking

In 2000, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) was enacted to facilitate the prevention and combating of trafficking in human beings and protection of its victims. This would later be followed by the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the EU Trafficking Directive, which requires states to take punitive steps like sanctions against legal entities engaged in human trafficking. The above international and regional instruments raises an important perspective on human trafficking, which is the culpability of legal entities that are complicit in human trafficking. The big question here is whether legal entities that thrive on human trafficking in one way or the other can be punished by both national and international courts. Sadly, a report by the European Commission published in 2015 indicates that although its member states have the necessary legislation to prosecute traffickers, only a single conviction was recorded in the 23 Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Being reports. Thus, it appears that the prosecution of legal entities like corporations is quite elusive.

The involvement of legal entities is in trafficking is widespread and can be grouped into a number of categories. The most common involvement is where companies recruit, provide documentation, transfer them to preferred destination and derive profit from the victims’ exploitation. Despite the active involvement of corporations, the UNODC Case Law Database shows that in most cases it is the natural persons who will be prosecuted for trafficking and not the legal entity. In 2012, a court in Denmark convicted two women of recruiting women from Thailand and subjecting them to forced prostitution in their brothel. In Spain, the owner and manager of a night club was convicted for recruiting two Belorussian women and forcing them to work as prostitutes in a brothel as a way of

New York, 15 November 2000, 2225 UNTS 209
Warsaw, 16 May 2005. CETS No.197
Directive 2011/36/UE [2011] OJ L 101/1.
European Commission, Study on Case-Law on Trafficking for the Purpose of Labour Exploitation (Luxembourg, 2015), 83
Rodríguez-López S, Criminal Liability of Legal Persons for Human Trafficking Offences in International and European Law. (2017) Journal of Trafficking and Human Exploitation.95, 114.
UNODC Case Law Database, Hjoerring City Court Judgement 22 August 2012, DNK014.

paying their debt. In the two cases above, it’s only the owners of the companies that were held accountable and not the company itself.

Another facet for involvement of legal entities like corporation in trafficking is through the hiring of trafficked workers from third party suppliers. Sectors that are characterised by seasonal demand for workers are the targets for trafficked victims. Unfortunately, when these businesses are busted the trend has been that the employment agencies that recruit the victims and the brothels, restaurants and farms are never held to account. Instead, the individuals at the helm of these legal entities are usually held liable. What about companies whose products or services are used to facilitate trafficking? How far are they accountable for their actions knowing that they are promoting human trafficking? For instance in the US case, the man who pimped a 16 year old girl was convicted but not the social media platform where he had listed her neither was the tattoo parlour where he took her to have his name tattooed on her arm. It appears that because of the above challenges, the international and the European community took steps to deal with the existing gaps to allow for liability of legal entities.

Both the Palermo Protocol and UNTOC treaty makes reference to liability of legal entities. In particular, Article 10 of UNTOC requires each state party to take necessary measures to establish the liability of legal persons in cases involving participation in serious crimes concerning an organised criminal group. In the same vein ILO Convention concerning Private Employment Agencies addresses the role of employment agencies in human trafficking, which are mostly private companies. Generally, the ILO Convention requires countries to develop a legal framework for dealing with among others companies engaged acting as employment and recruitment agencies and their role in human trafficking. The challenge with the above efforts is that the ILO is not widely ratified and it only applies to registered recruitment agencies, a fact which limits its application and effectiveness in combating trafficking in persons.

UNODC Case Law Database, Cesar et al., ESP003
United States v. Marvin Chavelle Epps, USA046.
Adoption: Geneva, 85th ILC session (19 June 1997)
Rodríguez-López Silvia, Criminal Liability of Legal Persons for Human Trafficking Offences in International and European Law. (2017) Journal of Trafficking and Human Exploitation 95,114.

In the European Union, there has been commendable efforts to bring legal entities within the purview of the European Court for trafficking in persons. The Council of Europe on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and EU Trafficking Directive obligates member states to establish liability for legal entities. In the Carestel case, a Belgian court found both the corporation and subcontractor liable for human trafficking where some foreigners were hired to clean toilets, their movement restricted and paid low salaries. The upshot of the above decision is that it established liability for both the agents and the legal entity, a task that most European member states have not been able to achieve to date. In 2010, the European Court decided a case which could possibly be considered to a landmark one. In the case, Rantsev v Cyprus and Russia, a young woman who was brought to Russia by her father and later moved to Cyprus where she died under mysterious circumstances in her job as a prostitute.

The Court found that trafficking human beings was within the provisions of Article 4 on prohibition of slavery servitude and forced labour. In reaching the final decision the court noted that trafficking in persons is not explicitly covered by the European Convention on Human Rights. Before this case, the Court had only used Article 4 of the Convention in one case in 2005 where an African had been living in servitude in France. More importantly, the Court emphasized the obligation of state parties in combating trafficking in persons. Whereas Russia had breached Article 4 of ECHR by neglecting to investigate the alleged trafficking, Cyprus had failed to establish an effective administrative framework to preclude trafficking and did not take the required measures in the Rantseva’s case. The case represents an important mark in the fight against trafficking in human beings especially in the international context and the obligations of countries in whose borders it is perpetrated.

Prosecutorial Approach and Challenges

Decision of the First Instance Court of Gent, 19th Chamber, on 5 November 2012. Case No. 2012/3925.
Application no. 25965/04
Siliadin v. France (Appl.no. 73316/01)
Stoyanova Vladislava, Article 4 of the ECHR and the obligation of criminalising slavery, servitude, forced labour and human trafficking. (2014) Cambridge J. Int'l & Comp. L. 407.

Since the inception of the ICC in 1998, there has been no known exclusive human trafficking case that has been successfully prosecuted before it. The ICC has jurisdiction to hear and determine international crimes including crimes against humanity. As argued earlier in this paper, the ICC has majorly dealt with other crimes against humanity as listed in Article 7. It has not been able to effectively deal with trafficking as an international crime or as a crime against humanity because the Rome Statute does not effectively define it or address it as a crime on its own. Instead, it addresses other elements of human trafficking like enslavement and enforced prostitution. It follows that the current approach is to prosecute the elements of human trafficking and not the crime itself as a whole. In the national context, there has been little success in most countries despite efforts by the international and regional community to strengthen the legal framework for combating human trafficking.

As discussed above, the definition of human trafficking is not comprehensive enough to allow for successful prosecution of cases at the ICC. Unlike the Rome Statute definition, the Palermo definition is precise and accurate. This inadequacy is not unique to the ICC because even the Tribunals like ICTY and ICTR that came before it have the same challenge that has persisted to date. Apart from the issue of definition, the ICC may only exercise its jurisdiction where the state parties have failed to act. It follows that the ICC is also limited in the exercise of its jurisdiction provided that states prosecute traffickers using their domestic laws on trafficking.

In the exercise of its jurisdiction to deal with crimes against humanity including enslavement and enforced prostitution, the ICC has been dragged back by uncooperative state parties. The ICC operates on the basis of cooperation and support from state parties which provide evidence, investigate the crimes, arrest perpetrators and bring them before the court. It becomes extremely difficult for the ICC to effectively exercise its jurisdiction where a state party is unwilling or has refused to provide the necessary support to the Court. Although not related to human trafficking, the case of

Statute of the International Criminal Court
Siller Nicole, ‘Modern Slavery’ Does International Law Distinguish between Slavery, Enslavement and Trafficking? (2016) Journal of International Criminal Justice. 405

Omar El-Bashir is still pending arrest warrant having been issued but some countries have failed to arrest him and present him before the ICC. The case illustrates the importance of state parties’ cooperation in any case before the ICC. It exposes the weakness of the ICC as an international court dealing with international crimes but lacking enforcement mechanisms.

Additionally, the ICC is limited in terms of resources such that it is unable to carry out investigations and collect evidence in cases that are far away from The Hague.

Sometimes it can be very difficult to access some parts of the world and this impediment has been recorded in ICC investigations of mass crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo and Central Africa. According to a Non-governmental organisation, We are not Weapons of War, the situation in Libya is one that warrants the intervention of the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP). While the OTP is still weighing whether to intervene and prosecute individuals in Libya and other countries for grave crimes against human, reports indicate that Libya has since 2016 been a hot spot for groups involved in migrant smuggling and trafficking business in areas like Bani Walid, Tripoli, Misrata and Al-Zawiyah. According to the OTP Policy Paper on case selection and prioritisation published in 2016, the OTP expressed the desire to bring human traffic cases within the purview of the ICC.

Despite these policy papers and addresses to the Assembly of State Parties on the intention to bring human traffickers to justice before ICC nothing has really been done. It seems that the OTP is all but empty talk about the human trafficking situation in different parts of the world including: Boko haram in Nigeria, ISIS in Syria, militia in Libya and their role in human trafficking. Another challenge to the ability of ICC to deal with these cases is the unwillingness of trafficking victims to come forward and the challenge of protecting victims who have agreed to come forward. This is a problem that has not only affected the prosecution of crimes related to trafficking but also other crimes like war crimes and genocide before the ICC. In essence, there must be

Office of the Prosecutor. 17th session of the Assembly of State Parties Opening Plenary Remarks by Mrs Fatou Bensouda.
Baldwin-Edwards, Martin, and Derek Lutterbeck. "Coping with the Libyan migration crisis.(2019) Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 2241,2257

cooperation from state parties that will facilitate the protection of witnesses against offenders and the carrying out of effective investigations. Apart from stigma, collection of evidence against groups or persons for human trafficking and sexual violence is extremely difficult and this is coupled by the fact the existing laws are not equipped to help victims of these crimes. Take a deeper dive into Rehabilitation Plan and the Desistance Theory with our additional resources.

Conclusion

The upshot of the above discussion is that human trafficking is a big problem both domestically and internationally. However, the risk factors for human trafficking remains unaddressed and the industry appears to be growing year by year. While there are a number of countries that have taken steps to ratify and enact domestic legislations to deal with human trafficking, there is a lot that remains to be done to bring this crime under control. On the international stage, human trafficking is not strictly an international crime under any instrument including the Rome Statute, and even if it were there is no legal framework that effectively supports the prosecution of traffickers. While it can be argued that the ICC has the mandate to deal with human trafficking and other crimes related to it, it is inundated with a plethora of challenges that has rendered almost toothless. In the end, the international community should consider creating a separate provision for human trafficking as an international crime under the Rome Statute and also enhance cooperation among state parties. For now, human trafficking merely remains as transnational crime which can only be dealt with under domestic legislation as demonstrated before.

Bibliography

Cases

Rantsev v Cyprus and Russia Application no. 25965/04

R v Tang [2008] HCA 39, (2008) 237 CLR 1

US v. Marvin Chavelle Epps

Prosecutor v. Kunarac et al., Case No. ‎IT-96-23-T & IT-96-23/1-T

International Instruments

European Court of Human Rights

ILO Convention concerning Private Employment Agencies

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

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

UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery

United Nations Convention on the Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Exploitation of Prostitution of Others

Journals

Aston D, Joshua N, Paranjape VN. Human Trafficking and its Prosecution: Challenges of the ICC. Vinay N., Human Trafficking and Its Prosecution: Challenges of the ICC (2012)

Baldwin-Edwards M, and Derek L, "Coping with the Libyan migration crisis.(2019) Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 2241,2257

Jobe A, The causes and consequences of re-trafficking: evidence from the IOM Human Trafficking Database.

Kim J, Prosecuting human trafficking as a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute. (2011) Columbia Law School Gender and Sexuality Online (GSL Online).

Moran CF, Human trafficking and the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court. (2013) The Age of Human Rights Journal

Rodríguez-López S, Criminal Liability of Legal Persons for Human Trafficking Offences in International and European Law. (2017) Journal of Trafficking and Human Exploitation.95, 114.

Shelley L, Human trafficking as a form of transnational crime. (2013) Human trafficking. Willan, 128,149

Siller N, ‘Modern Slavery’ Does International Law Distinguish between Slavery, Enslavement and Trafficking? (2016) Journal of International Criminal Justice. 405

Stoyanova V, Article 4 of the ECHR and the obligation of criminalising slavery, servitude, forced labour and human trafficking. (2014) Cambridge J. Int'l & Comp. L. 407.

UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children (2017) Sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography, and other child sexual abuse material; and trafficking in persons, especially women and children. Report A/72/164.

van der Wilt H, Expanding Criminal Responsibility in Transnational and International Organised Crime. (2016) Groningen Journal of International Law.1, 9

Vandenhole W, Türkelli GE, Lembrechts S, Prevention of Abduction, Sale and Trafficking. In Children’s Rights (2019) Edward Elgar Publishing.

Books

Winterdyk J, Perrin B, Reichel P, editors. Human trafficking: Exploring the international nature, concerns, and complexities. (CRC Press 2011)

Wylie G, and Penelope McRedmond. Human trafficking in Europe: character, causes and consequences. (Springer 2010)

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