Recent actions at the international level, however, have brought us closer than ever to a baseline definition. In December 2000, a UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime8 was adopted, which for the first time supplied an international, legal definition of the trafficking phenomena. This definition suffers limitations, but does assist in identifying the core characteristics of trafficking.
As a basic framework, this study adopts the UN Trafficking
Protocol's general definition, which identifies trafficking as:
the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring 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 ...
The UN Trafficking Protocol imposes several requirements
that were modified for the purposes of this study. Recognizing that
trafficking can and does occur within a country's borders, cases and
circumstances of internal trafficking were considered to be within the
scope of the project. Further, researchers and investigators examined
trafficking activity regardless of the number or nature of traffickers
identified as participants.
This study was designed to examine trafficking for purposes
of commercial sexual exploitation as it affects both women and
children (female and male). Because of the qualitative differences
between these populations and the separate legal regimes and
protection policies to which each is subject, it was necessary to
formulate further qualifications to the definition of sex trafficking
relative to each group.
Women.
Issues of agency and consent have complicated a clear
definition of the trafficking for sexual exploitation of adult women. A
central inquiry is under what circumstances, if any, can a woman
migrate into a position in the commercial sex industry without being
trafficked.
The UN Trafficking Protocol sets out that "the consent of a
victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation ... shall be
irrelevant where [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 vulnerability11 or of the giving or receiving of payments or
benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another
person] have been used". While exploitation includes "exploitation
of the prostitution of others" and "sexual exploitation", neither of these
terms is defined. This leaves open the possibility that non coerced sex
work should be included under the rubric of "sexual exploitation", but
does not mandate it.
In all of the countries under study, adult prostitution and other
commercial sexual activities are legal. Respectful of the existing legal
framework, the study used a definition of "sexual exploitation" limited
to circumstances where the individual participated in prostitution, the
production of pornographic materials or other remunerated sexual
activities as a result or due to the Protocol defined means of threats,
force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or position
of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person.
This definition includes situations where debt bondage, threats of
exposure to deportation, arrest or other punishment, and other control
mechanisms are used against women to prohibit their leaving.