Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others

A/RES/317(IV)View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, published in 1949.

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Illicit Traffic Prostitution Slavery Treaties (Text)

What’s in this document?

24 operative paragraphs

This extracted fulltext may contain errors or omissions. Please check the source document.

Directs the Secretary-General :

Hereby agree as hereinafter provided:

To include an amount for these services in the budget of the United Nations in the future;

ARTICLE 1

( b) For I 950, to continue this work at approx- The Parties to the present Convention agree to punish any person who, to gratify the passions of imately the same level of expenditure on the part another: of the United :-J ations as in 1949;

Procures, entices or leads away, for purposes of

Requests the Economic and Social Council prostitution, another person, even with the consent of to review the terms of resolution 58 (I), in the that person ; light of the provisions of paragraph 1 above and

Exploits the prostitution of another person, even in the light of the discussions and suggestions with the consent of that person. made in the Third Committee of the General ARTICLE 2 Assembly, and to recommend to the next regular session of the General Assembly any modifications The Parties to the present Convention further which it may consider necessary therein.

agree to punish any person who :

Keeps or manages, or knowingly finances or

takes part in the financing of a brothel;

17 November 1949.

Knowingly lets or rents a building or other place or any part thereof for the purpose of the prostitution

SI 7 (IV). Convention for the Suppresof others.

ARTICLE 3

sion of the Traffic in Persons and To the extent permitted by domestic law, attempts

o.f the Exploitation of the Prostito commit any of the offences referred to in articles

tution of Others 1 and 2, and acts preparatory to the commission thereof, shall also be punished.

The General Assembly ARTICLE 4 Approves the following Convention, and proposes that each Member of the United Nations To the extent permitted by domestic law, intentional participation in the acts referred to in articles and each non-member State which the appropriate organ of the United Nations may invite to <lo so 1 and 2 above shall also be punishable. become a Party thereto.

To the extent permitted by domestic law, acts of participation shall be treated as separate offences

whenever this is necessary to prevent impnnity.

2 December 1949.

ARTICLE 5 Annex In cases where injured persons are entitled under Text of the Convention domestic law to be parties to proceedings in respect of any of the offences referred to in the present PREAMBLE Convention, aliens shall be so entitled upon the same terms as nationals.

Whereas prostitution and the accompanying evil of the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution ARTICLZ 6 are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the Each Party to the present Convention agrees to human person and endanger the welfare of the inditake all the necessary measures to repeal or abolish vidual, the family and the community,

any existing law, regulation or administrative provision by virtue of which persons who engage in or Whereas, with respect to the suppression of the are suspected of engaging in prostitution are subject traffic in women and children, the following international instruments are in force:

either to special registration or to the possession of a special document or to any exceptional requirements I. International Agreement of 18 May 1904 for for supervision or notification. the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic, as amended by the Protocol• approved by the General ARTICLE 7 Assembly of the United Nat ions on 3 December 1948,

Previous convictions pronounced in foreign States

International Convention of 4 Mav 1910 for for offences referred to in the present Convention the Suppression of the White Slave ·Traffic, as shall, to the extent permitted by domestic law, be amended by the above-mentioned Protocol,

taken into account for the purpose of:

International Convention of 30 September 1921

Establishing recidivism; for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and

Disqualifying the offender from the exercise of Children, as amended by the Protocol• approved by the civil rights. General Assembly of the United Nations on 20 October 1947,

ARTICLE 8

International Convention of 11 October 1933 The offences referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full present Convention shall be regarded as extraditable Age, as amended by the aforesaid Protocol,

offences in any extradition treaty which has been or

• See Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly • See Official Records of the second session of the during the second part of its first session, page 93.

General Assembly, Resolutions, page 32.

• See Official Records of the third session uf the Gen- • See League of Nations Official Journal, 18th Year, eral Assembly, Part I, Resolutions, page 165.

No. 12, page 955.

may hereafter be concluded between any of the Parties to this Convention.

The Parties to the present Convention which do not make extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty shall henceforward recognize the offences referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the present Convention as cases for extradition between themselves.

Extradition shall be granted in accordance with the law of the State to which the request is made.

ARTICLE 9 In States where the extradition of nationals is not permitted by law, 'lationals who have returned to their own State after the commission abroad of any of the offences referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the present Convention shall be prosecuted in and punished by the courts of their own State.

This provision shall not apply if, in a similar case between the Parties to the present Convention, the extradition of an alien cannot be granted.

ARTICLE 10 The provisions of article 9 shall not apply when the person charged with the offence has been tried in a foreign State and, if convicted, has served his sentence or had it remitted or reduced in conformity with the laws of that foreign State.

ARTICLE 11 Nothing in the present Convention shall be interpreted as determining the attitude of a Party towards the general question of the limits of criminal jurisdiction under international law.

ARTICLE 12 The present Convention does not affect the principle that the offences to which it refers shall in each State be defined, prosecuted and punished in conformity with its domestic law.

ARTICLE 13 The Parties to the present Convention shall be bound to execute letters of request relating to offences referred to in the Convention in accordance with their domestic law and practice.

The transmission of letters of request shall be effected:

By direct communication between the judicial authorities; or

By direct communication between the Ministers of Justice of the two States, or by direct communication from another competent authority of the State making the request to the Minister of Justice of the State to which the request is made; or

Through the diplomatic or consular representative of the State making the request in the State to which the request is made; this representative shall send the letters of request direct to the competent judicial authority or to the authority indicated by the Government of the State to which the request is made, and shall receive direct from such authority the papers constituting the execution of the letters of request.

In cases 1 and 3 a copy of the letters of request shall always be sent to the superior authority of the State to which ap1,lication is made.

Unless otherwise ag-reed, the letters of request shall be drawn up in the language of the authority making the ~eqne!'J. provided always that the State to w!frj: ·};,_ n,qu<'st i!'- made may require a translation in its ,,,vn l~nguag-c, certified correct by the c1.utlrnrity maLing the- requecil..

Each Party to the present Convention shall notify to each of the other Parties to the Convention the meth'><l or methods of transmission mentioned above which it will recoRnize for the letters of request of the latter St:ite.

Until such notification is made by a State, its existing procedure in regard to letters of request shall remain in force.

Execution of letters of request shall not give rise to a claim for reimbursement of' charges or expenses of any nature whatever other than expenses of experts.

Nothing in the present article shall be construed as an undertaking on the part of the Parties to the present Convention to adopt in criminal matters any form or methods of proof contrary to their own domestic laws.

ARTICLE 14 Each Party to the present Convention shall establish or maintain a service charged with the coordination and centralization of the results of the investigation oi offences referred to in the present Convention.

Such services should compile all information calculated to facilitate the prevention and punishment of the offences referred to in the present Convention and should be in close contact with the corresponding services in other States.

ARTICLE 15 To the extent permitted by domestic law and to the extent to which the authorities responsible for the services referred to in article 14 may judge desirable, they shall furnish to the authorities responsible for the corresponding services in other States the fol!owing information:

Particulars of any offence referred to in the present Convention or any attempt to commit such offence;

Particulars of any search for and any prosecution, arrest, conviction, refusal of admission or expulsion of persons guilty of any of the offences referred to in the present Conve'ltion, the movements of such persons and any other useful information with regarq to them.

The information so furnished shall include descriptions of the offenders, their fingerprints, photographs, methods of operation, police records and records of conviction.

ARTICLE 16 The Parties to the present Convention agree to take or to encourage, through their public and private educational, health, social, economic and other related services, measures for the prevention of prostitution and for the rehabilitation and social adjustment of the victims of prostitution and of the offences referred to in the present Convention.

ARTICLE 17 The Parties to the present Convention undertake, in connexion with immigration and emigration, to adopt or maintain such measures as are required, in terms of their obligations under the present Convention, to check the traffic in persons of either sex for the purpose of prostitution.

In particular they undertake:

To make such regulations as are necessary for the protection of immigrants or emigrants, and in particular, women and children, both at the place of arrival and departure and while en route;

To arrange for appropriate publicity warning the public of the dangers of the aforesaid traffic;

To take appropriate measures to ensure supervision of railway stations, airports, seaports and en route, and of other public places, in order to prevent international traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution;

To take appropriate measures in order that the appropriate authorities be informed of the arrival of persons who appear, prima facie. to be the principals and accomplices in or victims of such traffic.

ARTICLE 18 also on behalf of any other State to which an invitation has been addressed by the Economic and Social The Parties to the present Convention undertake,

Council. in accordance with the conditions laid down by domestic law, to have declarations taken from aliens The present Convention shall be ratified and the who are prostitutes, in order to establish their identity instruments of ratification shall be deposited with and civil status and to discover who has caused them the Secretary-General of the United Nations. to leave their State. The information obtained shall The States mentioned in the first paragraph which be communicated to the authorities of the State of have not signed the Convention may accede to it. origin of the said persons with a view to their eventual repatriation.

Accession shall be effected by deposit of an instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of ARTICLE 19 the United Nations.

The Parties to the present Convention undertake,

For the purposes of the present Convention the in accordance with the conditions laid <lown by word "State" shall include all the colonies and Trust domestic law and without prejudice to prosecution Territories of a State signatory or acceding to the or other action for violations thereunder and so far Convention and all territories for which such State as possible:

is internationally responsible.

Pending the completion of arrangements for the ARTICLE 24 repatriation of destitute victims of international traf- Tbe present Convention shall come into force on fic in persons for the purpose oi prostitution, to make suitable provisions for their temporary care and the ninetieth day following the date of deposit of maintenance ;

the second instrument of ratification or accession.

For each State ratifying or acceding to the Con-

To repatriate persons referred to in article 18 vention after the deposit of the second instrument of who desire to be repatriated or who may be claimed ratification or accession, the Convention shall enter by persons exercising authority over them or whose expulsion is ordered in conformity with the law.

into force ninety days after the deposit by such State Repatriation shall take place only after agreement of its instrument of ratification or accession. is reached with the State of destination as to identity an<l nationality as well as to the place and <late of ARTICLE 25 arrival at frontiers. Each Party to the present Con- After the expiration of five years from the entry vention shall facilitate the passage of such persons into force of the present Convention, any Party to the through its territory.

Convention may denounce it by a written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Where the persons referred to in the preceding paragraph cannot themselves repay the cost of re- Nations. patriation and have neither spouse, relatives nor Such denunciation shall take effect for the Party guardian to pay for them, the cost of repatriation making it one year from the date upon which it is as far as the nearest frontier or port of embarkation received by the Secretary-General of the United or airport in the direction of the State of origin Nations. shall be borne by the State where they are in resi- ARTICLE 26 dence, and the cost of the remainder of the journey shall be borne by the State of origin.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all Members of the United Nations and non- ARTICLE 20 member States referred to in article 23:

The Parties to the present Convention shall, if

Of signatures, ratifications and accessions rethey have not already done so, take the necessary ceived in accordance with article 23; measures for the supervision of employment agencies in order to prevent persons seeking employment, in

( b) 0 f the date on which the present Convention will come into force in accordance with article 24; particular women and children, from being exposed to the dangn of prnstitution.

( c) Of denunciations received in accordance with a1·tide 25.

ARTICLE 21 ARTICLE 27 The Pa,·ties to the present Convention shall com- Each Party to the present Convention undertakes municate to the Secretary-General of the United to adopt, in accordance with its Col16titution, the Nations such laws and regulations as have already le~ islati vc or other measures necessary to ensure the been promulgated in their States, and thereafter application of the Convention. annually such laws and regulations as may be promulgated, relating to the subjects of the present Con- ARTICLE 28 vention, as well as all measures taken bv them concerning the application of the Conventi(;n. The The prov1s1ons of the present Convention shall information received shall be published periodically supersede in the relations between the Parties thereto the provisions of the international instruments reby the Secretary-General an<l sent to all Members ferred to in sub-paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the of the United Nations ancl to non-member States to second paragraph of the Preamble, each of which which the present Conyention is officially communishall be deemed to be termin:ited when all the Parties cated in accordance with article 23.

thereto shall h:ive become Parties to the present ARTICLE 22 Convention.

If any dispute shall arise between the Parties to the present Convention relating to its interpr<:tation Nothing in the present Convention shall be deemed or application and if such dispute cannot he settled to prejudice any legislation which ensures, for the by other means, the dispute shall, at the request of enforcement of the provisions for securing the supany one of the Parties to the dispute, be referred pression of the traffic in persons and of the exploitato the International Court of Justice.

tion of others for purposes of prostitution, stri_ctt·r conditions than those provided by the present 'Con- ARTICLE 23

:. ~:J"q~i...~~-.• ,,.,t .. !tf,P,.-'

3 t6 f'~J~~l"bt The present Convention shall be open for signature s on behalf of any Member of tbe United Nations and the apply to the present Protocol.

FINAL PROTOCOL ~

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents