ABSTRACT
People are trafficked for a variety of exploitative purposes, ranging from sexual and labour exploitation to forced criminality, forced begging, and many other lucrative activities. Traffickers increasingly involve their victims in illicit activities, such as holding false documents, theft, pickpocketing, drug smuggling, drug dealing, cannabis cultivation and fraud. Prosecution and detention of victims have a serious detrimental impact on their psychological and physical health, resulting in their re-victimisation and re-traumatisation at the hands of State authorities. The non-punishment provision intends to address exactly this paradox, whereby victims of trafficking are punished for offences committed as a consequence and/or as a result of their trafficking situation, while traffickers and their accomplices are seldom arrested, investigated, prosecuted, or convicted. Over recent years, the international legal framework around the non-punishment provision with regard to victims of trafficking in human beings has been rapidly evolving from a soft law standard to a legally binding rule.
