Definitions

On 6 October 2000 the Special Committee of the United Nations responsible for drawing up the protocol supplementing the United Nations Convention against transnational organised crime, aimed at preventing, suppressing and punishing trafficking in persons, especially women and children: Article 3, adopted the following definition of trafficking.

Use of terms:

a)      '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;

b)      The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used;

c)      The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered 'trafficking in persons' even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article;

d)      'Child' shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.

Supplementing the same Convention a second protocol was elaborated, a protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air: Article 3, Use of terms:

a)      'Smuggling of migrants' shall mean the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident;

b)      'Illegal entry' shall mean crossing borders without complying with the necessary requirements for legal entry into the receiving State;

c)      'Fraudulent travel or identity document' shall mean any travel or identity document :

(i)     that has been falsely made or altered in some material way by anyone other than a person or agency lawfully authorised to make or issue the travel or identity document on behalf of a State; or

(ii)   that has been improperly issued or obtained through misrepresentation, corruption or duress or in any other unlawful manner; or

(iii) that is being used by a person other than the rightful holder;

d)      'Vessel' shall mean any type of water craft, including non-displacement craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, except a warship, naval auxiliary or other vessel owned or operated by a Government and used, for the time being, only on government non-commercial service.

The European Commission in a communication in December 2000 a proposal for a framework decision regarding combating trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children gave the following definition.

Article 1 Offences concerning trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation.

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the recruitment, transportation or transfer of a person, including harbouring and subsequent reception and the exchange of control over him or her is punishable, where the fundamental rights of that person have been and continue to be surpressed for the purpose of exploiting him or her in the production of goods or provision of services in infringement of labour standards governing working conditions, salaries and health and safety, and:

a)      use is made of coercion, force or threats, including abduction, or

b)      use is made of deceit or fraud, or

c)      there is a misuse of authority, influence or pressure, or

d)      there is another form of abuse.

Article 2 Offences concerning trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation

Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the recruitment, transportation or transfer of a person, including harbouring and subsequent reception and the exchange of control over him or her is punishable, where the purpose is to exploit him or her in prostitution or in pornographic performances or in production of pornographic material, and:

a)      use is made of coercion, force or threats, including abduction, or

b)      use is made of deceit or fraud, or

c)      there is a misuse of authority, influence or pressure, or

d)      there is another form of abuse.

 

In the Europol convention of 1995, traffic in human beings is defined as follows:

'Subjection of a person to the real and illegal sway of other persons by using violence or menaces or by abuse of authority or intrigue with a view to exploitation of prostitution, forms of sexual exploitation and assault of minors or trade in abandoned children'.

 

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in "Trafficking in Human Beings: implications for the OSCE", defines trafficking in human beings as:

-         all acts involved in the recruitment, abduction, transport (within or across borders), sale, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons;

-         by the threat or use of force, deception, coercion (including abuse of authority), or debt bondage;

-         for the purpose of placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in involuntary servitude, forced or bonded labour, or in slavery-like conditions,

-         in a community other than the one in which the person lived at the time of the original deception, coercion or debt bondage.

 

As far as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is concerned, trafficking in human beings occurs when:

-         a migrant is illicitly engaged (recruited, kidnapped, sold, etc.) and/or moved, either within national or across international borders;

-         intermediaries (traffickers) during any part of this process obtain economic or other profit by means of deception, coercion and/or other forms of exploitation under conditions that violate the fundamental human rights of migrants.

 

The Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW), the International Human Rights Law Group and the Foundation Against Trafficking in Women (STV), in conjunction with numerous NGOs around the world, have developed a definition based on their long-standing experience in the field:

'Any act or attempt involving the recruitment, transport within or across national boundaries, exchange, sale, transfer, lodging or reception of a person by means of deception, constraint (including the use of force or the abuse of authority) or by means of debt bondage with a view to placing or maintaining the person in question, with or without financial consideration, in a position of servitude (domestic, sexual or reproductive), in forced labour or in conditions analogous to slavery, in a community other than that in which the person lived until the moment the deception, constraint or debt bondage was brought to bear.'