Aspecto temporal

The development of the international law against human trafficking shows that a holistic

approach is sought as an ideal. International anti-trafficking treaties were established beginning in the early 1900s. The 1904 International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic (1904 White Slave Traffic Agreement)125 and the subsequent 1910 International Convention on the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic (1910 White Slave Traffic Convention)126 both limited the scope of the international law regime to trafficking in white women or girls for the purposes of prostitution.127 In the 1904 White Slave Traffic Agreement, the protection of victims was emphasized rather than the prosecution or punishment of perpetrators. However, this was considered ineffective and there was a shift away from the victim-centered approach to the perpetrator-centered approach when the 1910 White Slave Traffic Convention sought to punish procurers128 of victims of human trafficking.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the League of Nations established two anti-trafficking treaties with a perpetrator-centered approach: the 1921 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children (1921 Convention);129 and the 1933 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age (1933 Convention).130 The 1921 Convention called for the prosecution of persons involved in trafficking in women and children,131 and the 1933 Convention called for the punishment of persons who participate in the trafficking in women of full age, regardless of the woman’s consent. The scope of these two treaties remained limited to

trafficking for prostitution but the 1921 Convention recognized the links between migration and

125 _{International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, May 18, 1904, 35 Stat. 1979, 1}

L.N.T.S. 83.

126 _{International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, May 4, 1910, 3 L.N.T.S. 278}

[hereinafter 1910 White Slave Traffic Convention].

127

Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Report on Trafficking in Women, Women's Migration and Violence Against Women, Submitted in Accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1997/44, at 10, delivered to the U.N. Economic & Social Council [ECOSOC] and the Commission on Human Rights, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2000/68 (Feb. 29, 2000); Article 1 of the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, May 18, 1904, 35 Stat. 1979, 1 L.N.T.S. 83.

128 _{Article 1 and Article 2 of the 1910 White Slave Traffic Convention.} 129

International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children, opened for signature Sept. 30, 1921, 9 L.N.T.S. 416 (entered into force June 15, 1922)[hereinafter 1921 Convention].

130 _{International Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Women of Full Age, opened for signature Oct.}

11, 1933, 53 U.N.T.S. 50 (entered into force Aug. 24, 1934).

131

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the risk of migrants being trafficked by calling for the licensing of employment agencies,132 and the protection of women and children who immigrate or emigrate.133

Following World War II, the United Nations attempted to establish an anti-trafficking treaty with a more gender-neutral approach to trafficking: the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949 Trafficking

Convention).134 It identified victims as ‘persons’ rather than ‘women and/or children’. Even so, the scope of the 1949 Trafficking Convention remained squarely on trafficking in persons for the purposes of prostitution, regardless of the consent of the victim. Notably, it sought to criminalize acts associated with prostitution by expanding criminalization to persons who keep, manage, knowingly finance or take part in the financing of brothels, or knowingly let or rent a building or other place for the purpose of the prostitution.135 However, it did not criminalize prostitution itself136 and because of its limited scope on prostitution, the political focus remained on women and children.137

Furthermore, the 1949 Trafficking Convention was generally criticized for: (a) failing to take a human rights or victims’ rights approach,

(b) limiting the scope to prostitution and not addressing trafficking for other purposes for which trafficking was said to be undertaken, such as other sex work, domestic, manual or industrial labour, or marriage, adoption or other intimate relationships,

(c) failing to protect victims or ‘sex workers’ from being prosecuted, and (d) sanctioning the expulsion of victims of trafficking. 138

132

Article 6 of the 1921 Convention.

133 _{Article 6 and Article 7 of the 1921 Convention.}

134 _{Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of}

Others, opened for signature Mar. 21, 1950, 96 U.N.T.S. 273 (entered into force June 25, 1951)[hereinafter 1949 Trafficking Convention].

135 _{Article 2 of the 1949 Trafficking Convention.} 136

Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Report on Trafficking in Women, Women's Migration and Violence Against Women, Submitted in Accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1997/44, at 10, delivered to the U.N. Economic & Social Council [ECOSOC] and the Commission on Human Rights, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2000/68 (Feb. 29, 2000), at para. 22.

137

Alice Edwards, ‘Traffic in Human Beings: At the Intersection of Criminal Justice, Human Rights, Asylum/Migration and Labor’, (2007) 36 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 9, 13.

138

Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Report on Trafficking in Women, Women's Migration and Violence Against Women, Submitted in Accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution

42

Partly in response to these criticisms, the more recent 2000 Trafficking Protocol was established. Its three specific purposes are:

(i) to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying particular attention to women and children;

(ii) to protect and assist the victims of such trafficking, with full respect for their human rights; and

(iii) to promote cooperation among States Parties in order to meet those objectives.139 The Trafficking Protocol is the first international anti-trafficking treaty to explicitly state that the protection of the human rights of trafficking victims is one of its objectives. By doing so, it

incorporates aspects of a victim-centered approach as well as a perpetrator-centered approach to human trafficking. Thus it is clear that the Trafficking Protocol was intended as a holistic

international agreement against human trafficking. This advancement of the international law against trafficking in persons since the early 1900s implies that a holistic approach against trafficking in persons, including children, is sought as an ideal.