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Overview

The Palermo Protocol is the shorthand name for the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, adopted in 2000 as part of the broader UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. It is one of the most influential anti-trafficking legal instruments in the world because it created the first internationally agreed definition of human trafficking.

The Palermo Protocol was constructed alongside the TVPA, both came into effect in the year 2000.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000)

Pros

  1. Created a common framework for trafficking, making international cooperation easier.
  2. Led to significant victim support reforms in many countries (temporary visas, counselling, witness protection mechanisms etc.).
  3. Outlined multiple forms of trafficking, including forced labour, debt bondage, and organ removal.

Cons

  1. Definitions are deliberately vague, leaving room for interpretation.
  2. Focus shifted disproportionately toward sex trafficking, despite labour trafficking generally accounting for the majority of trafficking worldwide.
  3. Merged anti-trafficking with immigration control.
  4. It individualises exploitation rather than addressing structural causes. </aside>

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