LAW AND POLICY
Trafficking in women can
encompass a number of illegal actions, including abuses of the individual
victim’s human rights, transnational criminal activities, illegal immigration
and violations of labor standards. Both international law and national laws
may apply to trafficking cases.
Because of the increase
in trafficking cases worldwide, most of which involve multiple border crossings,
consistent international standards are crucial to effectively prosecute traffickers
and protect trafficking victims. At the same time, national or domestic law
plays an important role in combating trafficking since local law enforcement
agencies are often the first to encounter trafficking victims. Regional legal
and human rights institutions, such as the Council of Europe and the European
Union, have also recognized a need to harmonize existing anti-trafficking
laws and policies across borders and within the region, ensuring that national
laws and regional policies are consistent.
This section of the Stop
Violence Against Women website provides an overview
of anti-trafficking law and policy at the international and regional levels,
focused on the European human rights system as well as examples of domestic
legislation aimed at combating trafficking in women. It is important to recognize
the distinction, at the international level, between legally binding documents,
such as treaties, and non-binding documents, such as resolutions and declarations.
This section of the site discusses both sets of materials in the context of
anti-trafficking policy, since together they form international standards
against which advocates can measure the progress made by national institutions
to combat trafficking. This section of the site also includes a discussion
of specific legal and policy measures that governments can take in order to
address the problem of trafficking within their borders.
The intention of this section
of the site is to provide an overview of international law and policy on trafficking,
so that advocates can measures compliance with these standards in their own
countries. The analysis of how to translate these international standards
into domestic legislation aims to assist advocates in improving national mechanisms
for the protection of trafficked persons and the prosecution of traffickers.
The Trafficking: Law and Policy section also includes a list of the documents
referenced in this section as well as other useful legal resources and libraries.
The International Legal