Vital Voices: advocacy and service work of NGOs in the fight against human trafficking.

• Author: Perkins, Wenchi Yu
• Position: NGOWatch

Human trafficking is one of today's most egregious human rights violations. Traffickers prey on the most vulnerable members of society: people burdened with poverty, disabilities and discrimination. Trafficking in persons refers to the illegal trade or "sale" of human beings for sexual exploitation or forced labour through abduction, the use or threat of force, deception and fraud. It knows no gender, race, age, or even boundaries (due to globalization).

According to the Trafficking in Persons Report of the United States State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 are traded annually across international borders; most of the victims are women and girls. The number is even more horrific after factoring in domestic trafficking, that is, trading within country borders. However, despite its massive scale, human trafficking still remains unknown to many. This increasingly lucrative industry is often associated with organized crime, hence in 2000 the international community created the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which supplements the Convention.

For the first time in a legal document, the Protocol specifically defines and criminalizes trafficking in persons. It also urges States to assist and protect victims of trafficking, for example, by stopping their deportation and allowing their repatriation, strengthening border controls and improving the integrity and security of identification documents. Furthermore, States are also urged to try to prevent such trafficking by pursuing research, public awareness campaigns, as well as social and economic initiatives that decrease the vulnerability of victims. In addition to the Protocol, individual countries also have passed anti-trafficking legislation or revised existing immigration and criminal laws since the mid-1990s in an effort to counter this modern-day slavery.

Although many people are unfamiliar with this issue, the anti-trafficking movement is growing, thanks to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that conduct local, national and international lobbying and advocacy. From grass-roots organizations which identify victims and provide direct services to advocacy organizations that lobby for anti-trafficking laws and build civil society capacity through networking, training, information-sharing and public awareness campaigns, NGOs are driving the global...