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Trafficking

Relevant Laws and Guidlines

The following are laws and regulations relevant to the prevention and persecution of child sex trafficking worldwide. The most relevant articles are excerpted, click on the links to view the full texts.

Convention on the Rights of the Child (full text)

Article 34

States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:

  1. The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
  2. The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
  3. The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.

Article 35

States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form .

(See also Articles 19, 32(1), 37)


Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography (full text)

Article 1

States parties shall prohibit the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography as provided for by the present protocol.

Article 2

For the purposes of the present Protocol:

  • Sale of children means ant act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration;
  • Child prostitution means the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration;
  • Child pornography means any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes.

Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (full text)

Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (full text)

Article 3: Use of Terms

For the purposes of this Protocol:

  1. "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 slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs;
  2. The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered "trafficking in persons" even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article’
  3. "Child" shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.

The Code of Conduct for protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism (full text)

Suppliers of tourism services adopting the code commit themselves to implement the following six criteria:

  1. To establish an ethical policy regarding commercial sexual exploitation of children.
  2. To train the personnel in the country of origin and travel destinations.
  3. To introduce a clause in contracts with suppliers, stating a common repudiation of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
  4. To provide information to travelers by means of catalogues, brochures, in-flight films, ticket-slips, home pages, etc.
  5. To provide information to local "key persons" at the destinations.
  6. To report annually

Global Codes of Ethics for Tourism (full text)

Article 2, Section 3: The exploitation of human beings in any form, particularly sexual, especially when applied to children, conflicts with the fundamental aims of tourism and is the negation of tourism; as such, in accordance with international law, it should be energetically combated with the cooperation of all the States concerned and penalized without concession by the national legislation of both the countries visited and the countries of the perpetrators of these acts, even when they are carried out abroad;

ILO Convention 182: The Worst Forms of Child Labour (full text)

Article 2

For the purposes of this Convention, the term child shall apply to all persons under the age of 18.

Article 3

For the purposes of this Convention, the term the worst forms of child labour comprises:

  1. all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
  2. the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;

NATO Policy on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (full text)

1. This NATO policy takes into account the universal condemnation of the crime of trafficking in human beings and reiterates that it constitutes a serious abuse of human rights, especially affecting women and children. It is a transnational problem, requiring concerted multilateral action if it is to be defeated. Trafficking in human beings, affects countries of origin, countries of transit and countries of destination. This modern day slave trade fuels corruption and organised crime. It has the potential to weaken and destabilise fragile governments and runs counter to the goals of NATO-led efforts especially in South Eastern Europe. A zero-tolerance policy regarding trafficking in human beings by NATO forces and staff, combined with education and training, is required.

Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors (full text)

Article 2

This Convention shall apply to any minor who is habitually resident in a State Party or is

located in a State Party at the time when an act of international traffic occurs in respect of him or her.

For the purpose of the present Convention:

  1. "Minor" means any human being below the age of eighteen.
  2. "International traffic in minors" means the abduction, removal or retention, or attempted abduction, removal or retention, of a minor for unlawful purposes or by unlawful means.
  3. "Unlawful purpose" includes, among others, prostitution, sexual exploitation, servitude or any other purpose unlawful in either the State of the minor's habitual residence or the State Party where the minor is located.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking (full text)

MN Legislation on Sex Tourism: HF 2859 of the 84th Legislative Session (full text)

1.8 Subd. 3a. Facilitates sex tourism. "Facilitates sex tourism" means, for the purpose
1.9 of commercial advantage or private financial gain, arranges, induces, procures, or
1.10 facilitates the travel of a person knowing that the person intends to travel or is traveling
1.11 in interstate commerce or foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (full text)

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000: Trafficking in Persons Report (full text)