Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. UNODC, as guardian of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and the Protocols thereto, assists States in their efforts to implement the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (Trafficking in Persons Protocol).
What is Human Trafficking?
Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as 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. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
Elements Of Human Trafficking
On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements;
The Act (What is done)
Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons
The Means (How it is done)
Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim
The Purpose (Why it is done)
For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.
To ascertain whether a particular circumstance constitutes trafficking in persons, consider the definition of trafficking in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol and the constituent elements of the offense, as defined by relevant domestic legislation.
Criminalization Of Human Trafficking
The definition contained in article 3 of the Trafficking in Persons Protocol is meant to provide consistency and consensus around the world on the phenomenon of trafficking in persons. Article 5 therefore requires that the conduct set out in article 3 be criminalized in domestic legislation. Domestic legislation does not need to follow the language of the Trafficking in Persons Protocol precisely, but should be adapted in accordance with domestic legal systems to give effect to the concepts contained in the Protocol.
In addition to the criminalization of trafficking, the Trafficking in Persons Protocol requires criminalization also of:
- Attempts to commit a trafficking offence
- Participation as an accomplice in such an offence
- Organizing or directing others to commit trafficking.
National legislation should adopt the broad definition of trafficking prescribed in the Protocol. The legislative definition should be dynamic and flexible so as to empower the legislative framework to respond effectively to trafficking which:
- Occurs both across borders and within a country (not just cross-border)
- Is for a range of exploitative purposes (not just sexual exploitation)
- Victimizes children, women and men (Not just women, or adults, but also men and children)
- Takes place with or without the involvement of organized crime groups.
The Bangla equivalent of the word trafficking is pachar. It has a mild connotation which means transfer from one place to another. If the term pachar is used in reference to women and children in Bangla the phrase nari o shishu pachar means illegal transfer of women and children from one place to another Trafficking which is a serious problem and is considered a violation of human rights, is yet to be internalized emotionally by society at large in Bangladesh and also in other South Asian countries. Trafficking in women consists of all acts involved in the procurement, transportation, forced movement, and/or selling and buying of women within and/or across border by fraudulent means, deception, coercion, direct and /or indirect threats, abuse of authority, for the purpose of placing a woman against her will without her consent in exploitative and abusive situations such as forced prostitution, forced marriage, bonded and forced labour begging organ trade etc. Trafficking in children consists of all acts involved in the procurement, transportation, forced movement, and/or selling and buying of children within and or across border by fraudulent means, deception, coercion, direct and or indirect threats, abuse of authority for the purpose of placing a child against her/his will without her consent in exploitative and abusive situations such as commercial sexual abuse, forced marriage, bonded and forced labour, begging, camel jockeying and other sports, organ trade etc. Trafficking of persons into bonded sweatshop labour, forced marriage, forced prostitutions, domestic servitude, and other kinds of work is a global phenomenon that takes place within countries and regions and on a transcontinental scale. Trafficking in women is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world with an estimated one to two million young women being trafficked annually for the purpose of forced labour, domestic servitude, or sexual exploitation. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that, in 1995, about 500,000 women were trafficked to the countries of the European Union from poorer regions of the world. So, it is not a problem of developing countries alone.
Definition of Human Trafficking
Trafficking in persons has different connotations to different people. There is no denying the fact that conceptual clarity with regard to trafficking is essential to launch a targeted response to the problem as well as to prevent the enactment of counter trafficking laws and programmes that violate other human rights of women and children.
However, the definition of human trafficking confronts with a crisis of varying perceptions in different times, different places and different jurisdictions. The associated purposes, causes and the processes of trafficking strongly influence the process of conceptualizing the act of trafficking which in turn affects the adoption of universally acceptable definition.
At present, the widely agreed upon and endorsed definition of trafficking is the UN Protocol to Prevent. Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 2000 which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000. The UN Protocol defines trafficking in the following way:
“Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, either by the threat or use of abduction, force, fraud, deception or coercion, or by giving or receiving of unlawful payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person with the aim of submitting them to any form of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at the minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or others forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”
The definition establishes that –
- In the process of recruitment for trafficking various criminal offences such as threat, use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or taking advantage of the position of vulnerability are resorted to.
- Persons recruited for trafficking are transported or transferred both inside or outside of a country.
- In the process of trafficking, the victims are transferred from one person to another person or sold more than once.
- In order to subjugate or establish absolute control over the victims, various physical or mental torture are inflicted on them.
- Human Trafficking is an organized crime.
- Trafficking in persons is a corrosive form of violation of human rights of the victims.
- Inhuman exploitative situation in which the victims are employed includes, at minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal organs.
- the trade (buying, selling, import, sending abroad) of human beings for the purpose of achieving private gain or placing or holding the victim in an exploitative situation
- involving the trafficked victims for prostitution and other improper purpose, such as forced or coerced labour, servitude, slavery or sexual exploitation.
Distinction Between Trafficking And Safe Migration
The two parallel concepts, trafficking and safe migration are very often misunderstood. Some stakeholders do define both the terms in such a way very much intermingling with each other, so that a clear difference between them cannot be drawn. But in fact they are separate and do not have objective similarities.
In the report of 2004 on Counter Trafficking Framework prepared by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, it is mentioned that “Migration is the movement of People from one place to another in order to take up employment, establish residence or to avoid persecution. Ideally, migration occurs when a migrant makes the decision to migrate freely for reasons of personal convenience and without the intervention of an external compelling factor. However it may not be so simple to confine the process of migration to this definition. Each individual migrant has widely different reasons for choosing to migrate and external factors such as poverty, unemployment or disaster may compel a person to migrate. Migration therefore can be taken as a board concept encompassing nearly all aspects mobility. Trafficking is a subset of the broad category where there are particular vulnerabilities and circumstances that lead to the outcome of exploitation or harm. In the same report a well designed distinction is maintained between the two categorically, those are:
Trafficked persons are deceived or deceived or forced to move whereas migrants are not usually deceived or forced to leave his or her place of residence.
Trafficking is a development- retarding phenomenon, whereas migration is an integral component of economic development.
Trafficking is viewed as an anti- social and morally degrading heinous event that violates human rights and laws. However migration is widely considered as a process that enhances social progress in both the origin and destination countries that can be an empowering process. Exploitation, profit and illegality are all central to the idea of trafficking in persons, which is certainly not the case in migration.
Substantially it can be stated that migration is a right whereas trafficking is a crime. At the initial stage both start with the hope of economic emancipation, but the end of a course determines its nature. Trafficking in general always includes a substantive element that is, “cross border”. In this way international criminality is a significant malice component of trafficking cases.
How is the Trafficking Problem Internalized
The Bangla equivalent of the word trafficking is pachar. It has a mild connotation, which means transfer from one place to another. If the term pachar is used in reference to women and children, in Bangla the phrase nari o shishu pachar means illegal transfer of women and children from one place to another. Trafficking, which is a serious problem and is considered a violation of human rights, is yet to be internalized emotionally by society at large in Bangladesh and also in other South Asian countries.
The term itself does not capture the total implications for an adolescent girl to be abducted and taken to a brothel; threatened, beaten, and raped; and forced to submit to having sex with men, seven days a week, for several years until she eventually becomes ill which may sometime result in death.
The crux of the issue is that civil society in Bangladesh has yet to internalize the mind-set that ‘trafficking’ is as bad as hatta (murder), dharshan (rape), or chintai (mugging). When one hears or reads news about trafficking, it does not create the same reaction as other criminal activities, such as rape, murder, or mugging. Newspapers are replete with news of rape and murder, but there are few reports on trafficking of women and children.