ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of international protection as it relates to trafficked victims, before analysing some of the challenges in applying the elements of the refugee definition to victims. These include the acts of trafficking, how they relate to the concept of persecution, the issues of the agents and place of persecution, and the grounds on which the nexus with the refugee definition can be established. The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 (Refugee Convention) provides the primary legal framework for international refugee protection. The chapter examines how the key legal components required to trigger entitlement to international protection need to be met. The UNHCR Guidelines recall that the possibility that victims of trafficking may fall within the definition of a refugee, and as such be entitled to international protection, was made implicit in the 'Saving clause' contained in the Palermo Protocol. The notion of vulnerability is often referred to in the context of trafficking.
