What Is Trafficking in Women?

Finding a Common Definition for Trafficking The problem of trafficking in women has been addressed at the international, regional and national levels. Before the creation of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, in October 2000, international treaties referred to trafficking without defining or clarifying whether trafficking includes all forms of sex work. For example, Article 6 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women states "All Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women." There was little agreement in the international community about how trafficking should be defined. In early treaties, trafficking was often synonymous with the trade in women for prostitution. Later, the term "trafficking" was also used to describe the smuggling of male and female migrants over borders for economic gain. In the late 1990s, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) pointed out that "despite divergent definitions, there is a growing agreement that the problem of 'trafficking in human beings' involves two key elements: recruitment/transport and forced labor or slavery-like practices (actual or attempted) ... Moreover, most experts agree that trafficking should be defined as involving deception or coercion of some kind." The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children is the first international consensus definition of the problem. The Protocol defines "trafficking in persons" as follows: 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. Exploitation shall include, 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. The Protocol also explains that "the consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation . . . shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth [above] are established" or where the victim is a child. The Interpretive Notes (Travaux Prparatories) to the Protocol clarify that a person in a "position of vulnerability" refers to "any situation in which the person involved has no real and acceptable alternative but to submit to the abuse involved." The Protocol also explains that there will be no defense of "consent" when a vulnerable person is exploited through trafficking. Finally, the Interpretive Notes are explicit that the Protocol deliberately does not define the terms "'exploitation of the prostitution of others" or "other forms of sexual exploitation," leaving individual State Parties to define these terms according to national law. During the drafting stage,

much debate surrounded how the Protocol would address the issue of work in the commercial sex industry, and the language in the document represents a consensus that enabled the Protocol to be widely ratified. Since the adoption of the Protocol, this consensus definition has become the basis for the definition of trafficking in other documents. The European Union Council Framework Decision of 19 July 2002 on combating trafficking in human beings adopts a definition similar to the Protocol, while the 2004 Model State Anti-Trafficking Criminal Statute (Note: Section 225 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 recommends a new model state statute be promulgated.) builds on the U.N. definition to specify the types of behaviors that constitute trafficking. It is helpful for NGOs that engage in preventive and rehabilitative work with women, children and communities to be able to identify common characteristics of trafficking. Amnesty International has identified several such characteristics, which may be useful to advocates who are working to address the problem:

Women constitute a large proportion of the overall number of people trafficked, that is
transferred within or across national borders from their place of habitual residence;

The illicit movement of women takes place at the hands of "traffickers," loosely defined as
people profiteering from organizing, carrying out or otherwise facilitating the illicit transit of persons;

The majority of trafficked women find themselves trapped in debt bondage, servitude or
slavery-like conditions as a result of being trafficked;

One of the forces driving trafficking in women is demand for their employment - be it
"voluntary" or "coerced" - in the sex industry;

Any of the women trafficked for work in the sex industry are subjected to human rights abuses
directly resulting from being trafficked;

There is evidence that the fewest trafficking-related human rights abuses occur at the women's
places of habitual residence, while such abuses often commence at transit locations, and they become more prevalent at the final destination;

Trafficking in women reaps huge financial profits for the traffickers and has, therefore, seen an
ever-increasing involvement on the part of international organized crime. Trafficking in Women: Causes and Risk Factors
last updated September 1, 2005

The various factors that contribute to trafficking are sometimes categorized as "supply side" factors, such as the feminization of poverty, and "demand side" factors, such as weak border controls in destination countries. Frequently, it is a combination of these factors that pushes

women and girls into situations in which they are exploited and become victims of trafficking. Effective strategies to eliminate trafficking necessarily involve addressing multiple contributing factors. While this analysis is useful in explaining the complex nature of trafficking, the factors that play a role in trafficking are actually interdependent and interconnected. Some factors, such as military conflict, do not fit neatly into either the "demand" or "supply" side of trafficking, but nevertheless have contributed to this problem in some regions. For example, internal conflicts force people to leave their home country, which may encourage trafficking across borders. At the same time, an increase in military personnel in a specific region also increases the "demand" for women to be brought from outside to work in the commercial sex industry. Effects and Consequences of Trafficking In Women According to the United Nations Population Fund, "perhaps 4 million persons per year" are trafficked. Women who have been trafficked may suffer from serious physical and mental health problems. Physical abuse can result in serious injuries and lasting health problems; trafficking victims may also contract life-threatening diseases, such as HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis. Victims of trafficking may also face serious legal consequences. They may be detained or deported for immigration violations that are the result of being trafficked. Victims may also face prosecution for other criminal offenses that were committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Although trafficking most directly affects individual victims, it also has broader consequences. Trafficking directly affects the societies from which victims are removed, resulting in cultural and economic losses, and threatening public health. Citing Paul Holmes, author of the Regional Anti-Trafficking Law Enforcement Manual for South-Eastern Europe, the United Nations Development Program estimates that trafficking generates at least US$7 billion a year and, after drugs and weapons, has become the third largest criminal business worldwide. These profits may be used to further fund organized crime activities.