Human trafficking needs to be tackled with adequate legal measures and policies

Women and girls are the most affected by human trafficking and between 12.3 million and 27 million people are currently estimated to be enslaved and trafficked under promises of a better life, but forced into prostitution, manual labour, domestic servitude or begging .

The so called “3P” paradigm – prevention, protection, and prosecution – was set to serve as the fundamental framework to develop international partnerships and policies of intervention to combat the new forms of slavery. The U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons employs diplomatic, economic, political, legal, and cultural tools to advance the “3P”. This paradigm is outlined in the Trafficking in persons protocol of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA, 2000).
From the legal point of view, the traditional views considering the trafficking in persons simply as cases of illegal migration for quick and simple prosecution and conviction should give way to more specific legal measures for tackling the phenomenon. At national level it would be necessary to adopt more specific legal tools and prosecutorial skills with more sophisticated law enforcement apparatus and reform the judicial systems.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

In South East Asia, one of the most affected region by the phenomenon, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in occasion of the 18th Summit hold in May in Jakarta, has decided to strengthen the cooperation among its member states and further develop the work on practical measures to help combat people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related transnational crimes initiated with the Bali process together with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Bali Process is co-chaired by the Governments of Indonesia and Australia.

Further information:
Asean - Bali Process Ministers Endorse Regional Framework for Tackling People Smuggling Bali, Indonesia, 30 March 2011
Trafficking in persons - reports archive by the State Deparment - USA
Bali process website
Article on the Voices of Asia website
humantrafficking.org