Criminalization and Prosecution of Human Trafficking in Ethiopia: Assessing the Legal Framework in Light of International Standards

• Author: Z.Sh. Woldemichael
• Position: Jimma University (Jimma, Ethiopia)
• Pages: 110-135

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 3

COMMENTS

CRIMInaLIZaTIon anD PRoSECuTIon oF HuMan TRaFFICKInG

In ETHIoPIa: aSSESSInG THE LEGaL FRaMEwoRK In LIGHT

oF InTERnaTIonaL STanDaRDS

ZELALEM SHIFERAW WOLDEMICHAEL,

Jimma University (Jimma, Ethiopia)

DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2017-4-3-110-135

As is the case in many countries, in Ethiopia human tracking causes multi-dimensional

harmful consequences on individuals. With a view to addressing the problem, in 2012

Ethiopia acceded to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Tracking in Persons,

Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against

Transnational Organized Crime. For the purpose of translating the requirements of the

UN Tracking Protocol into reality, the government has taken various steps including

legislative measures. Proclamation No. 909/2015 (Prevention and Suppression of

Tracking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Proclamation) is the most recent law

adopted to deal with smuggling of migrants and human tracking. The Proclamation

comprises four key aspects: criminalization and prosecution; prevention; protection,

rehabilitation and compensation; and cooperation. This article critically examines

whether the criminalization and prosecution aspect of the Proclamation complies with

international standards.

Keywords: exploitation; human tracking; Tracking and Smuggling Proclamation;

UN Tracking Protocol; vulnerability.

Recommended citation: Zelalem Shiferaw Woldemichael, Criminalization and

Prosecution of Human Tracking in Ethiopia: Assessing the Legal Framework in Light

of International Standards, 4(3) BRICS Law Journal 110–135 (2017).

ZELALEM SHIFERAW WOLDEMICHAEL 111

Introduction

Human trafficking is a growing challenge affecting virtually all countries.1

Between 2010 and 2012, victims of human tracking with 152 dierent citizenships

were identied, according to a 2014 global report produced by the United Nations

Oce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).2 The repor t further noted that at least 510

tracking ows exist worldwide.3 Research conducted in 2006 under the sponsorship

of the U.S. government revealed that approximately 800,000 people are tracked

across national borders annually, excluding the millions tracked within their own

countries.4 Human tracking is a lucrative business for trackers enabling them to

gain an estimated US$32 billion annually.5

Between 1996 and 1997, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence

against Women collected information on violence against women, including

tracking.6 The subsequent report highlighted that because tracking involves

cross-border movement it is an issue that should be addressed by international

standards and consensus.7 It was agreed that adopting an international treaty to

supplement the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime

(UNTOC) is essential for addressing the problem.8 The UN Tracking Protocol is

a response towards that end.

Human tracking is a serious problem in Ethiopia. As the U.S. State Department

in its 2015 report presented, Ethiopia is a source and, to a lesser extent, destination

and transit country for men, women and children subjected to forced labor and sex

tracking.9 On top of this, as the available research on the subject indicates, both

in-country tracking (the tracking of women, children or men from the rural areas

of Ethiopia to the relatively more auent towns and cities) and external tracking

(the tracking of women, children or men from Ethiopia to other states such as

Middle East countries) are prevalent.10

1 UNODC, Global Report on Tracking in Persons (2016), at 5.

2 See id.

3 See id.

4 UNODC, Human Tracking: An Overview (2008), at 6.

5 UNODC, Human Tracking: Organized Crime and the Multibillion Dollar Sale of People (Sep. 4, 2017),

available at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2012/July/human-tracking_-organized-

crime-and-the-multibillion-dollar-sale-of-people.html.

6 The Advocates for Human Rights, Tracking in Women: Law and Policy, Stop Violence against Women,

a Project of the Advocates for Human Rights (Sep. 4, 2017), available at http://www.stopvaw.org/Traf

cking_Law_and_Policy.html.

7 See id.

8 See the last paragraph of the Preamble to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

9 U.S. Department of State, Tracking in Persons Report 2015 – Country Narratives – Ethiopia (2015), at 15.

10 Yoseph Endeshaw et al., Assessment of Tracking in Women and Children in and from Ethiopia

(2010), at 5 (S ep. 4, 2017), available at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1c43/16956c226fa5a14f3c

fee78498d7bc5f4566.pdf.