Human trafficking

• Author: Marion Walsh
• Position: Executive Director, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
• Pages: 104-129

Judicial Studies Institute Journal [2009:1

104

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

MARION WALSH *

WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING?

Trafficking in human beings is a gross violation of human

rights, a modern form of slavery and an extremely profitable

business for organised crime.

Governments first agreed on an international definition of

trafficking in persons in 2000, in the United Nations Protocol to

Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially

Women and Children, which supplements the United Nations

Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (commonly

known as the Palermo Protocol). Article 3(a) of the Protocol

provides:

“Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment,

transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons,

by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of

coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse

of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or

receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a

person having control over another person, for the purpose

of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum,

the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of

sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or

practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of

organs.

This definition has three distinct elements, which must be

fulfilled for a situation to be one of trafficking – there must be an

act, a means and a purpose. The act can be issues such as the

recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of

persons. The act must be done by a means such as the threat or

use of force or other forms of coercion; abduction; fraud;

deception, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the

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* Executive Director, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, Department of Justice,

Equality and Law Reform.

2009] Human Trafficking 105

giving or receiving of payments, and it must be for the purpose of

exploitation. The exploitation will include, at a minimum,

exploitation for the purposes of prostitution or other forms of

sexual exploitation; exploitation for forced labour, slavery or

similar practices; or exploitation for the purposes of organ

removal.

The consent of the victim is irrelevant when any of the

means outlined above have been used. Furthermore, in the case of

children, defined as anyone under 18 years of age, actions taken

for the purpose of exploitation constitute trafficking even where

the means have not been used. There is no requirement that a

person must have crossed a border for trafficking to take place –

it can and does take place within national borders.

Example of Labour Exploitation (not a real case)1

Felipe and Consuelo, an illiterate married couple, aged in

their early 20s, living in a rural village in Brazil, where

they do occasional physical jobs and subsistence

agricultural work. Their house and surrounding land was

given to them by Felipe’s father as a marriage gift – it had

been the family home where Felipe was born, and had

been brought up. The difficult living conditions they faced

led them to seek employment opportunities elsewhere,

and an acquaintance introduced them to a person named

Juan who had previously worked in Europe. Juan promises

them that he can arrange well-paid jobs for them in

Europe, and he organises their travel documents and travel

arrangements to Ireland, where he says that he has found

work for them. In exchange for this employment,

they agree to pay Juan the sum of US $1,000 in advance,

and another US $8,000 after three months work. As a

guarantee, Juan obtains signed documents that entitle him

to buy their house and land for a sum of US $2,000 within

a month of the default of the US $8,000. As Brazilian

nationals do not require tourist visas for Ireland, Felipe

and Consuelo travel on Brazilian passports and Juan

organises the flight details. On arrival in Dublin, Felipe

and Consuelo are met by someone and are taken by bus to

a factory near Athlone where they are given beds in

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1 Sample case study provided by the International Organisation for Migration

(IOM).