1.1.1 Traf­fick­ing in per­sons refers to the process through which indi­vid­u­als are placed or main­tained in an exploita­tive sit­u­a­tion for eco­nom­ic gain. Traf­fick­ing is a lucra­tive, world­wide crim­i­nal activ­i­ty and can occur with­in a State or may involve move­ment across bor­ders. Women, men and chil­dren are traf­ficked for a range of pur­pos­es: slav­ery-like prac­tices, includ­ing forced labour in fac­to­ries, farms and pri­vate house­holds; organ removal; sex­u­al exploita­tion; and forced mar­riage. No State, operator1 or route is beyond the reach of traf­fick­ing in per­sons, regard­less of geo­graph­i­cal loca­tion or a State’s lev­el of eco­nom­ic development.

1.1.2 Avi­a­tion is one of the modes of trans­porta­tion uti­lized by traf­fick­ers. It is the respon­si­bil­i­ty of States, through their law enforce­ment author­i­ties (i.e. air­port police or oth­er enti­ty com­pe­tent to exer­cise crim­i­nal juris­dic­tion in accor­dance with nation­al law), immi­gra­tion and asy­lum author­i­ties, and oper­a­tors to ensure that traf­fick­ers do not mis­use the avi­a­tion indus­try to deny the free­dom of oth­ers. Cab­in crew mem­bers are in a unique sit­u­a­tion where they can observe pas­sen­gers over a cer­tain peri­od of time, thus allow­ing them to use their skills of obser­va­tion to iden­ti­fy a poten­tial vic­tim of traf­fick­ing and they are well placed to report any sus­pi­cions to the flight crew and to the rel­e­vant State author­i­ties. Infor­ma­tion from crew reports assists States and oper­a­tors to iden­ti­fy and respond to cas­es of traf­fick­ing in per­sons. There­fore, all oper­a­tors should pro­vide train­ing on iden­ti­fy­ing and respond­ing to traf­fick­ing in per­sons, includ­ing train­ing on cor­rect report­ing pro­ce­dures for their cab­in crew mem­bers, flight crew mem­bers and oth­er per­son­nel in direct con­tact with the trav­el­ling pub­lic. The Office of the Unit­ed Nations High Com­mis­sion­er for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Inter­na­tion­al Civ­il Avi­a­tion Orga­ni­za­tion (ICAO), rec­og­niz­ing the impor­tant role avi­a­tion plays in com­bat­ing traf­fick­ing in per­sons, worked in col­lab­o­ra­tion to devel­op the Guide­lines for Train­ing Cab­in Crew on Iden­ti­fy­ing and Respond­ing to Traf­fick­ing in Per­sons (Cir­cu­lar 352).

1.1.3 States should take mea­sures to ensure that pro­ce­dures are in place to com­bat traf­fick­ing in per­sons in avi­a­tion, includ­ing clear report­ing sys­tems and rel­e­vant com­pe­tent author­i­ties’ points of con­tact for air­port and air­craft oper­a­tors’ per­son­nel. The imple­men­ta­tion of a sim­pli­fied and stan­dard­ized report­ing pro­ce­dure ben­e­fits both States and oper­a­tors, in unit­ing forces and work­ing togeth­er to com­bat traf­fick­ing in persons.