Strengthening International Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Persons and Protecting Victims of Such Trafficking

A/RES/58/137View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 108 Crime prevention and criminal justice, published in 2004.

What’s in this document?

31 operative paragraphs

Urges Member States to employ a comprehensive approach to combating trafficking in persons, incorporating law enforcement efforts and, where appropriate, the confiscation and seizure of the proceeds of trafficking, the protection of victims and preventive measures, including measures against activities that derive profit from the exploitation of victims of trafficking;

Calls upon Member States to collaborate with a view to preventing trafficking in persons, especially for the purpose of sexual exploitation, through:

Improved technical cooperation to strengthen local and national institutions aimed at preventing trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in countries of origin;

Information campaigns on the techniques and methods of traffickers, programmes of education aimed at prospective targets, as well as vocational training in social skills and assistance in the reintegration of victims of trafficking into society;

A focus on post-conflict regions where patterns of human trafficking are emerging as a new phenomenon and the incorporation of anti-trafficking measures into early intervention;

Recognizes that broad international cooperation between Member States and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations is essential to counter effectively the threat of trafficking in persons;

Urges Member States to take measures to ratify or accede to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,6 the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime7 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography4 and to implement those instruments by, inter alia:

Criminalizing trafficking in persons;

Promoting cooperation among law enforcement authorities in combating trafficking in persons;

Establishing the offence of trafficking in persons as a predicate offence for money-laundering offences;

Invites Member States to adopt measures, in accordance with their domestic law and capacity, inter alia:

To fight sexual exploitation with a view to abolishing it, by prosecuting and punishing those who engage in that activity;

To raise awareness, especially through training, among criminal justice officials and others, as appropriate, of the needs of victims of trafficking and of the crucial role of victims in detecting and prosecuting this crime by, inter alia:

Investigating all cases reported by victims, preventing further victimization and, in general, treating victims with respect;

Treating victims and witnesses with sensitivity throughout criminal judicial proceedings, in accordance with articles 24 and 25 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and article 6, paragraph 2, of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children;

Also invites Member States to adopt measures, in accordance with their domestic law and capacity, inter alia:

To provide assistance and protection to victims of trafficking in persons, including measures to permit victims of trafficking to remain in their territory temporarily or permanently, as appropriate;

To promote the legislative and other measures necessary to establish a wide range of assistance, including legal, psychological, medical and social assistance and, if appropriate, compensation or restitution, to the actual victims of trafficking, subject to the determination of the existence of victimization;

To provide humane treatment for all victims of trafficking, taking into account their age, gender and particular needs, in accordance with article 6, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children;

To assist in the reintegration of victims of trafficking into society;

Further invites Member States, as appropriate, to develop guidelines for the protection of victims of trafficking before, during and after criminal proceedings;

Urges Member States to ensure that measures taken against trafficking in persons, especially women and children, are consistent with internationally recognized principles of non-discrimination and that they respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of victims;

Invites Member States to set up mechanisms for coordination and collaboration between governmental and non-governmental organizations with a view to responding to the immediate needs of victims of trafficking;

Also invites Member States to allocate appropriate resources for victim services, public awareness campaigns and law enforcement activities directed at eliminating trafficking and exploitation and to foster international cooperation, including adequate technical assistance and capacity-building programmes, to improve the ability of Member States to take effective measures against trafficking in persons;

Encourages Member States to examine the role of the exploitation of the prostitution of others in encouraging trafficking in persons;

Also encourages Member States to adopt legislative or other measures to reduce the demand that fosters all forms of trafficking in persons, including by cooperating with non-governmental organizations and civil society and by raising public awareness of how sexual and other forms of exploitation degrade their victims and the related risks of trafficking in persons, especially women and children;

Further encourages Member States to take measures, including raising public awareness, to discourage, especially among men, the demand that fosters sexual exploitation, in accordance with article 9, paragraph 5, of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children;

Encourages Member States to target the link, where appropriate, between trafficking in persons for purposes of sexual and other forms of exploitation and other types of crime;

Encourages the Centre for International Crime Prevention of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue its close cooperation and coordination with relevant international and regional organizations in this area;

Encourages Member States to make voluntary contributions to further strengthen and support the Centre and its Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings, in particular in the area of technical assistance activities;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its fourteenth session on the implementation of the present resolution.

Strengthening International Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Persons and Protecting Victims of Such Trafficking

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

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