| Key Developments and Resources Archive | ||
Standards and Guidelines Resources |
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Standards / Guidelines |
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Criminal Justice Responses to Trafficking in Persons: ASEAN Practitioner Guidelines Identifying basic principles and good practices for an effective response to trafficking in persons provides a roadmap for practitioners and policy makers as to what must be done to bring anti-trafficking programs into compliance with minimum international standards. Common standards also provide an important foundation for cooperation between countries in the prosecution of trafficking in persons cases. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), through the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC), has created a set of Practitioner Guidelines which reflect regional priorities and policies in providing just such a roadmap. These Guidelines were developed with reference to generally accepted international law and practice1 and through discussions with practitioners and policy makers from all of the ASEAN Member States. Following extensive discussion and consideration by Member States, the guidelines were finalised by the ASEAN Ad-Hoc Working Group on Trafficking in Persons. The ASEAN Practitioner Guidelines were formally adopted by all ten ASEAN Member States at the ASEAN Senior Officials annual meeting on Transnational Crime in June 2007. The overall objective of the ASEAN Practitioner Guidelines is to assist criminal justice agencies in ASEAN Member States to secure justice for victims and end impunity for traffickers. The Practitioner Guidelines focus on the prosecution and adjudication of TIP cases and are organized around two broad themes: Evidential Matters and International Cooperation. First, the Guidelines address the following Evidential Matters:
The official version of the ASEAN Practitioner Guideline are available here in English. The guidelines are also available in Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese. |
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Guiding Principles on Memoranda of Understanding Between Key Stakeholders and Law Enforcement Agencies on Counter-Trafficking Cooperation These Guiding Principles were developed by the Expert Group Initiative on Stakeholder Cooperation with Law Enforcement implemented by IOM Vienna, authored by Julia Planitzer and published by the UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), March 2009. The Guiding Principles ‘intend to serve as a practical tool that will help stakeholders when developing counter-trafficking agreements’.2 There are two main sections in this publication: Cooperation between law enforcement agencies and specialised service providers and Details of cooperation procedure. Within these sections there are general and specific principles to guide law enforcement, including specialised service providers and labour inspectors. The publication also includes a “checklist” that outlines the ‘components of a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) and the principles of cooperation for each identified stakeholder’3 as well as a collection of the existing practices included or referred to in developing the Guiding Principles. A number of the MoUs that are cited in the publication are available in the Annex. These guidelines are available online from the publications section of the UN.GIFT website: http://www.ungift.org/ungift/knowledge/publications.html or the IOM Vienna website: http://www.iomvienna.at |
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Guidelines for Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have developed a set of guidelines which provide additional guidance on the specific issue of child victims of trafficking.4 The Guidelines for Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking ‘set out standards for good practice with respect to protection of and assistance to trafficked children’5 from their identification through to their recovery and integration. These guidelines are the result of broad consultation at national and regional levels and build upon previously developed regional guidelines, including the Guidelines for Protection of the Rights of Child Victims of Trafficking in South Eastern Europe, and a version of the guidelines adapted to the West African context. They are based on international human rights instruments and draw on conventions, comments from the Committee on the Rights of the Child and relevant guidelines (such as the Inter-agency Guiding Principles on Unaccompanied and Separated Children). These guidelines are available online from the UNICEF website: http://www.childtrafficking.org/eng/publication.html (pdf document: http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/0610-Unicef_Victims_Guidelines_en.pdf ) |
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| The UNICEF Guidelines for Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking have been adapted to the South East Asian regional context in two sets of guidelines: Proposed Guidelines for the Protection of the Rights of Trafficked Children in Southeast Asia and the ASEAN Guidelines for the Protection of the Rights of Trafficked Children in South East Asia Asia ACTs Against Child Trafficking facilitated the drafting process of the Proposed Guidelines for the Protection of the Rights of Trafficked Children in Southeast Asia which involved non-governmental organisations and government representatives from several Southeast Asian countries. These proposed guidelines were presented to ASEAN Senior Officials on Social Welfare and Development at their 4th Senior Officials Meeting held in Myanmar, December 2006. The changes proposed at this meeting are reflected in the ASEAN Guidelines for the Protection of the Rights of Trafficked Children in South East Asia. Asia ACTs Against Child Trafficking has published a comparative analysis of the two versions of the guidelines: Protecting the Rights and Dignity of the Trafficked Child in South East Asia: Asia ACTs Against Child Trafficking. To access this publication online click here. |
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Resources |
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Strategic Information Response Network (SIREN)6 |
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Synopsis: "This article highlights developments in the criminal justice response to human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) over the last three years. Developments in the strengthening of the legal framework, criminal justice institutions and in support provided to victims are highlighted while acknowledging that progress has been uneven across the region. Many obstacles remain and more needs to be done to ensure that recent developments result in real change where it matters: better protected and supported victims; more and better quality prosecutions that are in accordance with international criminal justice standards; greater levels of cooperation between the GMS counties; and a donor community that is facilitating and supporting such changes." |
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| ARTIP Study - Detention of Trafficked Persons in Shelters: A Legal and Policy Analysis |  |
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| In countries around the world it is common practice for victims of trafficking who have been “rescued” or who have escaped from situations of exploitation to be placed and detained in public or private shelters. The term “detention”, as used in this context, refers to a very specific situation in which the individual concerned is unable to leave the facility if and when she or he chooses to. In some cases, shelter detention is a short-term measure that may be prompted by concerns about victim wellbeing or safety. In the most egregious situations, victims can be effectively imprisoned in such shelters for months or even years. This Study considers the international legal aspects of victim detention in shelters and weighs up the common justifications for such detention from a legal, policy and practical perspective. It is based on desk research of shelter practices in a number of countries and also on more direct exposure to shelters through field based research undertaken principally in South East Asia. The Study concludes that routine detention of victims or suspected victims of trafficking in public or private shelters violates a number of fundamental principles of international law and should therefore to be considered, prima facie, unlawful. Failure of the State to act to prevent unlawful victim detention by public or private agencies invokes the international legal responsibility of that State. This study is available here in English, Khmer and Thai. |
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________ United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (February 2009) This report is the result of an ambitious ‘study on the state of the world’s response to the crime of human trafficking’7 which was conducted by UNODC in 2007-2008. The report begins by identifying human trafficking trends, patterns and flows at the global and regional levels and then proffers a number of recommendations for the way forward in international monitoring of trafficking trends, patters and flows. The discussion and recommendations are drawn from analysis of data gathered on 155 countries’ criminal justice responses to trafficking. The country profiles document information on four key areas: institutional framework, criminal justice response, services provided to victims and additional information (information is not available under all four headings for all countries). Each country’s individual profile (including statistical data) is included in the report. This report is available online from the UNODC website: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html |
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________ United Nations Regional Thematic Working Group on International Migration, including Human Trafficking, Situation Report on International Migration in East and South-East Asia, (International Organisation for Migration, 2008) This report identifies migration trends in 16 Asian countries and assesses their socio-economic impact. There are very few (if any in the English language) research reports that look at intra-regional migrant movement and trends in Asia and South-East Asia. The report has three parts: The first part is a report on the migration situation in each country. The second addresses seven thematic issues, including migration policies and regional cooperation, labour migration, remittances and gender. And the third is a list of recommendations that are divided into six areas: Policy coherence and enhanced governance, Protection of the Rights of Migrants, Stemming Irregular Migration, Migration for Development, Data and Research, Regional and International Cooperation). Trafficking in persons is an aspect of migration and is addressed in this situation report. One of the report’s key findings is that most migration in the Asian region is irregular (noting that migrant numbers (regular and irregular) are estimates because accurate migration statistics or figures are not available). Migrants who use informal or irregular channels to migrate are more vulnerable to traffickers. This report is available online from the IOM website: www.iom.int/ |
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| 1 See further Anne Gallagher and Paul Holmes, ‘Developing an Effective Criminal Justice Response to Trafficking in Persons: Lessons from the Front Line’, 18 International Criminal Justice Review (2008). 2 Pier Rossi-Longhi, ‘Forward’, in the United Nations Regional Thematic Working Group on International Migration, including Human Trafficking, Situation Report on International Migration in East and South-East Asia, (International Organisation for Migration, 2008), p. 5. 3 United Nations Regional Thematic Working Group on International Migration, including Human Trafficking, Situation Report on International Migration in East and South-East Asia, (International Organisation for Migration, 2008), p. 16. 4 See further, UNICEF, Guidelines on the Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking, Technical Notes, September 2006, available at http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/0610-Unicef_Victims_Guidelines_en.pdf 5 UNICEF, Guidelines on the Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking, Technical Notes, September 2006, p. 7., available at http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/0610-Unicef_Victims_Guidelines_en.pdf 6 SIREN is an initiative sponsored by the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP). 7 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (UNODC, 2009), available at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/global-report-on-trafficking-in-persons.html |
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