ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of trafficking in persons 1 presents an enormous challenge to global governance. As an indication of the scope of the extent of the problem—just the portion that is not obscured by the clandestine nature in which human trafficking operates—UNODC’s Global Report on Trafficking, 2014 statistics alone included data from 40,177 victims of human trafficking from an identified 124 countries. Although states have generally been slow to respond, a turning point for international recognition of and response to trafficking has been the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in Palermo, Italy (2000). This provided the first substantial international legislative basis for global action against human trafficking, and was followed by the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2003)—which obligated the ratifying states to enact national trafficking legislation and was built upon in 2009 with the International Framework for Action to Implement the Trafficking in Persons Protocol.
