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United
Nations Conventions, Agencies and Programmes
on Trafficking in Women and Girl Children
| Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC) |
Structure:
established by the UN Charter as the principal organ, under the authority
of the General Assembly to promote: "a) higher standards of living, full
employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development;
b) solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems;
and international culture and educational cooperation; and c) universal
respect for and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. (www.un.org/Overview/Organs/
ecosoc.html)
Action: consults with NGO's on matters with which the council deals,
coordinates with specialised agencies, calls international conferences
and prepares draft conventions from its subsidiaries to be presented at
the General Assembly; facilitates actions between its subsidiary bodies,
which include the Commission of Human Rights and the Commission on the
Status of Women, seen below, all of which are dealing with the issue of
trafficking.
The
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ):
Structure: reports to the
Economic and Social Council; implementation of policy set up by the
Commission is the responsibility of the Centre for International Crime
Prevention (CICP).
Action: adopted two protocols (draft resolution IV and V) relating
to trafficking in women and girls and migration, both of which concern
the elaborating of a new and efficient legal instrument used to combat
all aspects of transnational crime including illegal trafficking and
transportation of migrants; an ad hoc committee (see below) working
on this instrument was established by the General Assembly. The needs
to be covered by the future instrument are specified in the resolutions,
and it is also stated that they should take into consideration existing
proposals to combat transnational crime which have already been submitted
by the governments of Austria and Italy. (Report of the Secretary General-Trafficking
in Women and Girls)
Office
for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP):
Structure: consists of International
Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and Centre for International Crime Prevention
(CICP);
Action: ODCCP has proposed The Global Programme Against Trafficking
in Human Beings (see below);
Centre
for International Crime Prevention (CICP):
implements anti-trafficking amongst other policies of
the CCPCJ and is the secretariat for the ad-hoc committees related to
the Convention Against Transnational Crime and the plenipotentiary conference
scheduled in Fall 2000 for adoption of conventions and protocols to
the Convention (see below); ·
 Global
Programme Against Trafficking in Human Beings:
Structure:
Carried out by ODCCP, also involving the Interregional Crime and Justice
Research Institute (UNICRI), which is the research arm of the Commission.
Action: " Will bring to foreground the involvement of organised
crime groups in smuggling and human trafficking and promote the development
of effective criminal justice-related responses to it." Project duration
is 36 months with an estimated budget of US$ 6.5 million. (Global Programme
against Trafficking in Human Beings- Outline for Action) ·
The
Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime:
Contains two protocols to the draft convention, one is
concerned with illegal migration and the other with trafficking of women
and children; the protocols were passed in the 7th session of the Commission
on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 21-30 April 1998;
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Draft Protocol IV: Action against illegal trafficking in migrants,
including by sea; emphasised that women and children are particularly
vulnerable to becoming victims of this crime;
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Draft Protocol V: to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons,
especially women and children. Convention and Protocols are supposed
to be completed by the year 2000 and adopted by a plenipotentiary
conference in Fall 2000. (Report of the Secretary General-Trafficking
in Women and Girls)
Ad-Hoc
Committee on the Elaboration of the Convention Against Transnational
Organised Crime:
The drafting group for the Convention has been holding
sessions since January 1999 to enhance the human rights perspective
on these protocols.
Commission
on Human Rights:
Structure: reports to Economic
and Social Council, supervises the majority of the agencies within the
UN working on the issue of trafficking;
Action: adopted resolution 1998/30 on traffic in women and girls,
which contained many of the elements in resolution 52/98 of the General
Assembly; also passed another resolution 1999/40 on traffic in women
and girls which stresses the continued importance of keeping this issue
a priority on the agenda of many UN agencies.
Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
Structure: services all
bodies under the auspices of the Commission on Human Rights; High Commissioner
coordinates human rights throughout the UN system; (Women's Human Rights:
Step by Step)
Action: trafficking programme established in March 1999; internationally
focused on negotiation of the two protocols to the draft Convention
Against Transnational Organised Crime; regionally is undertaking different
activities for example in Kosovo, Sarajevo, Nepal, and with SAARC in
the Asia-Pacific region; stated in June 1999 that trafficking is a high
priority and appointed an advisor on trafficking; contributes to the
UN Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, which also deals with
issues of trafficking.
Human
Rights Committee:
Structure: established to
monitor the implementation of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
and the Protocols to the Covenant in the territories of the States parties,
and reports to ECOSOC;
Action: a Working Group under rule 89 makes recommendations to
the Committee regarding communications under the Optional Protocol,
and Working Group under rule 62 prepares concise lists concerning state
reports to be examined by the Committee;
First Optional Protocol of International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights allows individuals to submit complaints to Human Rights Committee;
Committee submits an annual report to the General Assembly; the committee
is particularly active in area of fighting discrimination against women;
International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR):
States that both women and men who engage in prostitution
should have the same fundamental rights as everyone else, even if this
is often not recognised in practice. Sex Workers and other victims of
trafficking, like everyone else, should not be subjected to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment, they are not to be held in slavery or in servitude
(including debt bondage) and they are not to be required to perform
forced or compulsory labour, nor subjected to arbitrary detention or
unlawful captivity. (Dottridge)
Special
Rapporteur on Violence Against Women:
Structure: thematic Rapporteur
reports to the Commission of Human Rights;
Action: trafficking will be the subject of her main report to
the Human Rights Commission on Human Rights for the year 2000, looking
into modern manifestations of trafficking, causes & consequences, and
propose recommendations for international and national action. (Address
to NGO Seminar on Trafficking in Persons)
Special
Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography:
This Rapporteur was established in 1990 for a one-year
in-depth study on the issues of children in trafficking, prostitution
and pornography, which was consequently extended. Her 1999 report focused
on the trafficking of children, but also included women. Some of her
recommendations include: increased monitoring of hospitals, clinics
and care institutions where abduction of children is common, as well
as the introduction of international and regional registers for adopted
children, and review of legal mechanisms of states to better identify
the guilty parties in the process of child trafficking. (www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/mchildsra.htm)
Subcommission
on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities:
Structure: acts as the main
subsidiary body of the Commission on Human Rights, and has its own Working
Groups and Special Rapporteurs; before 1999, it was named the Sub-Commission
on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights; makes recommendations
to the Commission concerning prevention of discrimination of any kind
relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms and the protection
of racial, national, religious and linguistic minorities.
Action: took note of report from Working Group on Contemporary
Forms of Slavery and adopted a number of recommendations with relation
to trafficking; focuses on the strengthening of monitoring, prosecution,
and punishment of police and government officials who are responsible
for complicity in trafficking and the exploitation of prostitution,
as well as the adoption of policies for active monitoring, prosecution
and punishment of such activities; encourages states to collaborate
with NGOs in the development of national plans of action in accordance
with the 1996 Programme of Action for the Prevention in the Traffic
in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.(www.unhchr.ch)
Working
Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery:
Structure: mandate is to
monitor the existence of slavery and the slave trade in all their practices
and manifestation; it receives information from member states and NGOs
relating to slavery, servitude and forced labour; at each session of
the working group, after it receives these information, it in turn informs
the relevant governments that have been mentioned; submits recommendations
to the subcommission, which in turn submits proposals to the Commission
on Human Rights for authorisation and approval.
Action: proposed the 1996 Programme of Action for the Prevention
of Traffic in Person and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others;
asks governments to explain why they have not ratified the 1949 Convention;
some governments have indicated that they are unwilling to ratify a
convention which is so wide ranging and seeks to ban all forms of recruitment
into prostitution; informally monitors the 1956 Supplementary Slavery
Convention by holding a forum where states and NGOs can discuss slavery
or related practices but it has not developed effective procedures through
which to follow-up conclusions reached and recommendations adopted;
does not have the mandate to make governments report to them and the
lack of a review mechanism has hindered the efficacy of the Working
Group in applying the provisions of the slavery conventions.
1996
Programme of Action for the Prevention of Traffic in Person and the
Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others:
Structure: proposed by the
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery;
Action: contains measures to be taken by governments relating
to law enforcement, rehabilitation, reintegration and education;
1949
Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation
of the Prostitution of Others (Suppression of Traffic Convention):
Structure: there has been
no monitoring body established to follow the progress of its implementation,
however the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery has informally
taken on this responsibility;
Action: currently ratified by 73 of 185 member states; provisions
imply prostitution is so harmful that it should be banned but does not
actually ban it. Offence for a 3rd person to profit from a woman earning
money from prostitution (pimp, agent, rent etc.); there has also been
no treaty-monitoring committee established for this convention as opposed
to most human rights instruments adopted in the last 35 years.
Obliges punishment to persons who:
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Procures, entices, or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another
person even with the consent of that person;
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Exploits the prostitution of another person, even with the consent
of that person;
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Keeps or manages, or knowingly finances or takes part in the financing
of a brothel;
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Knowingly lets or rents a building or other place or any part thereof
for the purpose of the prostitution of others.;
(GAATW Fact Sheet on Trafficking In Women)
Supplementary
Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions
and Practices Similar to Slavery (1956):
The Slavery Convention 1926 has been incorporated into
the 1956 Supplementary Convention. The Parties to the Convention undertake
to communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations copies
of any laws, regulations and administrative measures enacted or put
into effect to implement the provisions of this Convention, however
this is not a requirement. This Convention has no permanent treaty-monitoring
committee and again, like the Suppression of Traffic Convention, the
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery has informally taken
on this responsibilty. (www.antislavery.org/types.htm)
UN
High Commissioner for Refugees
UNHCR does not generally interfere in refugee camps unless
refugee women specifically ask for their intervention. Only refugees
in a UNHCR refugee camp can make complaints. The camps work on providing
basic human rights to refugees, and have even progressed to offering
legal literacy programs. (Women's Human Rights: Step by Step) UNHCR
attempts to make refugee camps bearable and safe, to avoid any other
options for the refugees such as trafficking and forced labour.
Committee
on the Rights of the Child (CRC):
the monitoring body of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, reports to ECOSOC; identifies dangers to the well-being of
the world's children, look for practical answers to specific problems,
mobilize human and financial resources needed to solve them, raise the
public awareness and concern for the protection and promotion of the
rights of the child, commissions special studies on children's rights;
Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC):
was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in
1989, and entered into force in 1990; requires the States to protect
children from "all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse" (article
34); Respect
to Migration: Article 7,1) the right to acquire a nationality (sometimes
a problem when illegal migrant workers have children abroad); also Article
10, 1) right to family reunification which states should deal with in
a positive, humane, and expeditious manner. Article 22, para. 1 a child
seeking refugee status Respect to Trafficking:
Article 11 para.1, State Parties shall take measures to combat the illicit
transfer and non-return of children abroad. Also Article 19 para. 1,
children should be protected from physical or mental violence, injury
or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation
including sexual abuse. Article 34, a child deserves protection from
all forms of sexual exploitation,
States should take measures to prevent :
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a) Inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual
activity
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b) Exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful
sexual practices
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c) Exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and material.
Article
35, States should take appropriate measures to prevent abduction of,
sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form.
There is continuing debate about the definition of trafficking, as well
as whether or not adult prostitution should be tolerated in some circumstances,
however, there is no debate in this respect when it comes to children.
Prostitution and the exploitation of children is not tolerated at this
level. (Weissbrodt & Anti-Slavery International).
An open-ended working group established by the Commission on Human Rights
is having difficulty reaching an agreement on the meaning of such terms
as "sale of children", "child prostitution" and "child pornography"
in its ongoing effort to draft an optional protocol to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child. (Weissbrodt and Anti-Slavery International).
The draft optional protocol aims to prohibit children under the age
of 18 from participating in armed combat. It also quickly addresses
the issue that while in combat and armed conflict situations, children
are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
Committee
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW):
Structure: A treaty-based
committee that reports to ECOSOC;
Action: In article 11 of the Convention (Labour and Employment),
there is no reference to sexual harassment in the workplace and the
Committee tries to compensate for this by passing general recommendation
No. 12 adopted at the 8th session of the committee in 1989. This is
a recommendation "to State parties to include in their reports to the
Committee information against sexual harassment in the workplace." (Fact
Sheet #22) In 1992 the Committee made another recommendation, No.19,
for States to adopt effective legal measures to protect women from workplace
sexual harassment and assault. Many industrialised countries have in
fact, adopted such measures, but these recommendations are not binding
in terms of the treaty. It is also widely admitted and highly criticised
that the protection and guidelines for women in Article 11 are applicable
only to women in formal employment, which would therefore not apply
to the majority of trafficked migrant women.
Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW):
Article 6 requires state parties to "take all appropriate
measures including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in
women and exploitation of prostitution of women." organised marriages
between women from developing countries and foreign nationals are introduced
in CEDAW as a new form of sexual exploitation; takes the Abolition/Decriminalisation
stance aimed primarily against those who profit from exploitation of
women, not the exploited women themselves (Japanese Association of International
Women's Rights); article 11 deals with Employment and Labour Rights
where they state that women have the right to proper health and safety
in their work environment (1-f), as well certain reproductive and maternity
rights; these declarations build upon and consolidate many rights originally
claimed for women by the ILO. (Fact Sheet #22)
Commission
on the Status of Women:
Structure: reports to the
Economic and Social Council, prepares reports and recommendations to
the council on issues promoting women's rights in the political, economic,
civil, social and educational field; develops recommendations and proposals
for action on urgent problems in the field where the objectives are
to further the principle that men and women shall have equal rights.
(Fact Sheet #22)
Action: 42nd session March 1998, adopted agreed conclusions on
4 areas identified by the Beijing Platform for Action; addressed trafficking
in women and girls in this context:
-
encouraged partnerships at all levels for national networks on violence
against women, as resources for shelters and relief support for women
and girls, including programs for rehabilitation and reintegration.
Governments were called on to take responsibility for information
exchange within Interpol, regional law enforcement agencies and national
police forces;
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Specific recommendations relating to research and sex-disaggregated
data collection were also made. Governments were again called upon
to promote research that addresses root factors including external
factors that encourage trafficking of women and girls for prostitution
and other forms of sexual exploitation, by sponsoring community-based
research and national surveys;
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Recommended actions for awareness and attitude change by use of new
information technologies and also steps to prevent technologies such
as the internet, to be used for exploitative purposes;
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Strategies to address trafficking in the girl child by use of preventative
programs and recovery programs for children who have been abused,
considering the recommendation of the Declaration and Agenda for Action
of the 1996 World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation
of Children; governments again called upon to act on law enforcement,
prosecution and punishment for those involved in child pornography
and sex tourism. (Report of Secretary General-Trafficking in Women
and Girls)
Commission may receive communications from inividuals and groups concerning
discrimination against women, however, the committee only takes actions
with regard to group complaints, it only uses individual complaints
for direction in policy advocacy and recognising emerging trends.
International
Labour Organisation (ILO)
Structure: UN Specialised
Agency, deals with trade union rights, child labour, bonded labour,
and other general labour rights;
Action: Devotes considerable efforts to the elimination of child
labour, where commercial sexual exploitation is one of its priority
target groups; established the International Programme on Elimination
of Child Labour (IPEC) which assists partner organizations to address
these issues; considers child trafficking to be a form of forced labour,
violating its Forced Labour Convention (No.29); focuses all of its efforts
against trafficking specifically on children. The ILO has given priority
to ten of its conventions where governments, which have ratified these
conventions, must submit detailed reports every two years, as opposed
to every five years on other ratified conventions. Two of these priority
conventions include No. 29 and No. 105 on the abolition of forced labour.(UN
Road Map)
The ILO's most recent convention, No. 182, Worst Forms of Child Labour
Convention, includes as the worst forms of child labour, "practices
similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt
bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour…" (ILO C182)
International
Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC):
Started in 1992, IPEC is designed to help countries build
up a permanent capacity to address the problem of child labour; works
at the sub-regional, national and provincial levels by supporting local
organizations and creating initiatives; launched a programme in 1997
aimed at fighting the increasing instances of trafficking in children
in ten Asian countries. All of these countries (except China) have ratified
the Forced Labour Convention. Examples of their efforts include: supporting
a preventative programme run by the Daughters' Education Programme in
Northern Thailand, where there is a high incidence of child trafficking
within the country as well as across Thai borders; supporting a programme
for street girls in Kenya by providing them with safe shelter and alternative
forms of employment; and anti-trafficking programmes in the sub-regions
of the Mekong Basin and South Asia. (www.ilo.org)
| Committee
Against Torture (CAT) |
Structure: reports
to the General Assembly, a monitoring body for the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
started in 1988.
Action: gives private individuals, in certain circumstances, the
right to submit a complaint which are examined in closed meetings; (article
22) monitors the progress of committed State Parties to the Convention
for their commitment to resolutions which include those that can be linked
to the issue of trafficking.
Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(1984)
Torture is defined in Article 1 of the Convention as
"any act by which severe pain or suffering whether physical or mental,
is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining
from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him
for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having
committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for
any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering
is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence
of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity."
Article 3 states that a State cannot expel, return or extradite a person
to another state where there may be reason to believe that the person
is in danger of being subjected to torture. The qualifications in article
3 to decide whether or not there is such a danger, "competent authorities
shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where
applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern
of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights." (Fact Sheet
#17) Therefore, State Parties have a responsibility to ensure that migrant
workers and people in general are not in danger of being traffficked
en route to a job, and that those jobs do not inflict suffering or pain
of any kind, such as forced or bonded labour or forced prostitution.
Also, State Parties have a responsibility under Article 6 to take any
perpetrators of into custody or take other legal measures to ensure
that the person is properly prosecuted.
There is no direct connection between trafficking and this convention,
however it can indirectly linked through the new areas of trafficking
explored by the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
(CCPJ) and CAT's definition of torture. The CCPJ (see above) has taken
on the issue of trafficking in full force because of the obvious involvement
of organised crime in this illegal process. According to Sietske Altink's
book, Stolen Lives, gangs cannot exist without certain aspects
characteristic of organised crime, "they work with corrupt authorities,
launder money, have contacts in both legitimate areas and the underworld
and form a hierarchy in which there is a division of labour." (Altink,
4) Therefore, there is involvement of authorities and officials in the
process of trafficking in women which is major activity of most organised
crime groups. Furthermore, if any person suffers any of the anguish
described under the above definition of torture, it should be considered
an act recognisable under the Convention because the act of suffering
is technically done under the supervision of persons in an official
capacity. This argument is also in line with the working definition
of trafficking provided by GAATW (Global Alliance Against Trafficking
in Women) which includes, " all acts involved in the recruitment and/or
transportation of a person within and across national borders for work
or services by means of violence or threat of violence, abuse of authority
of a dominant person, debt-bondage, deception or other forms of coercion."
(Batis Center for Women and GAATW) This is an area that can be further
developed and explored.
Works
Cited
Altink, Sietske, Stolen Lives: Trading Women into
Sex and Slavery, Scarlet Press, Harrington Press, 1995.
Batis
Center for Women and GAATW, National Training on Trafficking in Women
and Children, Manila, May 28-31, 1998.
Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: A Commentary,
Japanese Association of International Women's Rights ed., Shogakusya,
Tokyo, 1992.
Coomaraswamy,
Radhika, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Address to NGO
Seminar on Trafficking in Persons, Geneva, 21-22 June.
Dottridge,
Mike, Director of Anti-Slavery International, excerpt from speech "International
Instruments Against Traffic in Persons- When the "Excellent" is the
Enemy of the "Good", given at the NGO Consultation with UN/IGOs on Trafficking
in Persons, Prostitution and the Global Sex Industry, 21-22 June 1999,
Geneva.
GAATW
Fact Sheet on Trafficking In Women
Global
Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings- outline for action
Human
Rights: Fact Sheets #10, 22, 17, 12
International
Labour Organisation Convention 182- Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention,
1999.
Report
of Secretary General-Trafficking in Women and Girls, 53rd session General
Assembly, 21 September 1998.
Weissbrodt,
David and Anti-Slavery International, Consolidation and Review of
the Convention on Slavery.
Women's
Human Rights: step by step, Women, Law and Development International,
1997.
Women's
Rights in the UN, International Service for Human Rights, H.R. Series
#3, 1995.
Websites
www.un.org/Overview/Organs/ecosoc.html
(Economic and Social Council Homepage)
www.antislavery.org/types.htm
www.ilo.org/public/english/90ipec/publ/expls-98/exampl13.htm
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/mchildsra.htm
www.uncjin.org (UN Crime and Justice
Information Network Homepage)
www.amnesty-usa.org/ainews/international/children.html
www.unhchr.ch (UN High Commissioner
on Human Rights Homepage) .
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