Description

In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (UN Trafficking Protocol). The Protocol obliged states to criminalise human trafficking, prosecute traffickers, and assist victims. Twenty years later, it is one of the most ratified UN instruments and human trafficking is a major issue of international concern and activism. However, it has also attracted considerable criticism to failing to protect the human rights of trafficked persons and leading to serious human rights violations of trafficked persons and other vulnerable groups.

In 2020, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Protocol, the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women partnered with Sharmila Parmanand to lead a series of conversations about the Protocol and anti-trafficking work more broadly, their successes and failures, and opportunities for improvement.

In this video, Archana Kotecha from Liberty Shared argues that the current anti-trafficking approaches which focus only on prosecuting traffickers are not sufficient. Instead, anti-trafficking measures need to address the root causes which make people vulnerable to trafficking.