DEFINITIONS — Forms of Trafficking under International Law

Trafficking in Persons

Traf­fick­ing in per­sons shall mean 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. (Unit­ed Nations Pro­to­col to Pre­vent, Sup­press and Pun­ish Traf­fick­ing in Per­sons, Espe­cial­ly Women and Chil­dren, sup­ple­ment­ing the Unit­ed Nations Con­ven­tion against Transna­tion­al Orga­nized Crime—2000)

Slavery

The sta­tus or con­di­tion of a per­son over whom any or all of the pow­ers attach­ing to the right of own­er­ship are exer­cised. (Slav­ery, Servi­tude, Forced Labour and Sim­i­lar Insti­tu­tions and Prac­tices Con­ven­tion —1926)

Enslavement

The exer­cise of any or all of the pow­ers attach­ing to the right of own­er­ship over a per­son and includes the exer­cise of such pow­er in the course of traf­fick­ing in per­sons, in par­tic­u­lar women and chil­dren. (Rome Statute of the Inter­na­tion­al Crim­i­nal Court—2002)

Practices Similar to Slavery

The act of con­vey­ing or attempt­ing to con­vey slaves from one coun­try to anoth­er by what­ev­er means of trans­port, or of being acces­so­ry there­to; the act of muti­lat­ing, brand­ing or oth­er­wise mark­ing a slave or a per­son of servile sta­tus in order to indi­cate his sta­tus, or as a pun­ish­ment, or for any oth­er rea­son, or of being acces­so­ry there­to. (Sup­ple­men­tary

Con­ven­tion on the Abo­li­tion of Slav­ery, the Slave Trade, and Insti­tu­tions and Prac­tices Sim­i­lar to Slavery—1956)

Servitude

The sta­tus or con­di­tion of depen­den­cy of a per­son who is unlaw­ful­ly com­pelled or coerced by anoth­er to ren­der any ser­vice to the same per­son or to oth­ers and who has no rea­son­able alter­na­tive but to per­form the ser­vice. Servi­tude shall include domes­tic ser­vice and debt bondage. (Ear­ly draft of the Unit­ed Nations Pro­to­col to Pre­vent, Sup­press and Punish

Traf­fick­ing in Per­sons, Espe­cial­ly Women and Children—2000)

Slave Trade

All acts involved in the cap­ture, acqui­si­tion or dis­pos­al of a per­son with intent to reduce him to slav­ery; all acts involved in the acqui­si­tion of a slave with a view to sell­ing or exchang­ing him; all acts of dis­pos­al by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged, and, in gen­er­al, every act of trade or trans­port in slaves.

(Slav­ery, Servi­tude, Forced Labour and Sim­i­lar Insti­tu­tions and Prac­tices Convention—1926)

Debt Bondage

The sta­tus or con­di­tion aris­ing from a pledge by a debtor of his per­son­al ser­vices or of those of a per­son under his con­trol as secu­ri­ty for a debt, if the val­ue of those ser­vices as rea­son­ably assessed is not applied towards the liq­ui­da­tion of the debt or the length and nature of those ser­vices are not respec­tive­ly lim­it­ed and defined.

(Sup­ple­men­tary Con­ven­tion on the Abo­li­tion of Slav­ery, the Slave Trade, and Insti­tu­tions and Prac­tices Sim­i­lar to Slavery—1956)

Forced Labor

All work or ser­vice which is exact­ed from any per­son under the men­ace of any penal­ty and for which the said per­son has not offered him­self vol­un­tar­i­ly. (Inter­na­tion­al Labour Organ­i­sa­tion Con­ven­tion con­cern­ing Forced or Com­pul­so­ry Labour—1932)

Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons

1. Sex traf­fick­ing in which a com­mer­cial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coer­cion, or in which the per­son induced to per­form such act has not attained 18 years of age; or
2. The recruit­ment, har­bor­ing, trans­porta­tion, pro­vi­sion, or obtain­ing of a per­son for labor or ser­vices, through the use of force, fraud, or coer­cion for the pur­pose of sub­jec­tion to invol­un­tary servi­tude, peon­age, debt bondage, or slav­ery. [Sec. 103(8)]

Sex Trafficking

The recruit­ment, har­bor­ing, trans­porta­tion, pro­vi­sion, or obtain­ing of a per­son for the pur­pose of a com­mer­cial sex act [Sec. 103(9)]

Commercial Sex Act

Any sex act on account of which any­thing of val­ue is giv­en to or received by any per­son [Sec. 103(3)]

Involuntary Servitude

A con­di­tion of servi­tude induced by means of:

1. Any scheme, plan, or pat­tern intend­ed to cause a per­son to believe that, if the per­son did not enter into or con­tin­ue in such con­di­tion, that per­son or anoth­er per­son would suf­fer seri­ous harm or phys­i­cal restraint; or
2. The abuse or threat­ened abuse of the legal process [Sec. 103(5)]

Debt Bondage

The sta­tus or con­di­tion of a debtor aris­ing from a pledge by the debtor of his or her per­son­al ser­vices or of those of a per­son under his or her con­trol as a secu­ri­ty for debt, if the val­ue of those ser­vices as rea­son­ably assessed is not applied toward the liq­ui­da­tion of the debt or the length and nature of those ser­vices are not respec­tive­ly lim­it­ed and defined. [Sec. 103(4)]

Coercion

1. Threats of seri­ous harm to or phys­i­cal restraint against any person;
2. Any scheme, plan, or pat­tern intend­ed to cause a per­son to believe that fail­ure to per­form an act would result in seri­ous harm to or phys­i­cal restraint against any per­son; or
3. The abuse or threat­ened abuse of the legal process. [Sec. 103(2)]

VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING BILL OF RIGHTS

Vic­tims of Traf­fick­ing in Per­sons Are to Be Treat­ed with Dig­ni­ty, Fair­ness, Com­pas­sion and Respect for Human Rights

BENEFITS WHICH SHOULD BE GRANTED TO VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING

Vic­tims of Traf­fick­ing in Per­sons Are to Be Treat­ed with Dig­ni­ty, Fair­ness, Com­pas­sion and Respect for Human Rights

THE THREE Rs

The out­lined mea­sures are not exhaus­tive, but rather illus­tra­tive of the most impor­tant mea­sures that must be tak­en to com­bat traf­fick­ing in persons

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS AND SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS

THE THREE EXES

PROTECTION OF VICTIMS

PROSTITUTION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

CHILD SEX TOURISM UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

UNITED STATES LAW ON CHILD SEX TOURISM

MARRIAGE UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

U.S. INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGE BROKER REGULATION ACT OF 2005

Vio­lence Against Women and Depart­ment of Jus­tice Reau­tho­riza­tion Act of 2005

SLAVERY UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

STRATEGIES TO COMBAT CORRUPTION