Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Abolishing Slavery and its Contemporary Forms

Forms of Slavery
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acquire control over the women or men concerned, and if, once in prostitution, someone else is
profiting from their earnings.
112
75. It is expressly stated in the travaux preparatoires that “the Protocol addresses the exploitation
of prostitution of others and other forms of sexual exploitation only in the context of trafficking in
persons. The terms ‘exploitation of the prostitution of others’ or ‘other forms of sexual exploitation’
are not defined in the [Trafficking] Protocol, which is therefore without prejudice to how States
Parties address prostitution in their respective domestic laws.”
113
The phrase was left undefined
following an inconclusive end to a year-long debate over the meaning of both these phrases.
Although not explicitly defined, “exploitation of the prostitution of others” is the subject of the
Suppression of Traffic Convention (and is addressed in the next chapter); “other forms of sexual
exploitation” is not the subject of another international legal instrument.
114
This phrase may there-
fore refer to pornography and a range of other forms of abuse, such as forced marriage.
76. Hence, the Trafficking Protocol requires States to focus on non-consensual prostitution and
other crimes involving force or coercion, and does not require them to treat all adult participation
in prostitution as trafficking, even if others are receiving money as a result in ways considered to
contravene the Suppression of Traffic Convention. The requirement to treat all adult participation
in prostitution as trafficking has been cited as one reason why the Suppression of Traffic Conven-
tion has been ratified by fewer States than the other United Nations conventions against slavery.
115
Consequently, under the Trafficking Protocol, adults who have migrated to work voluntarily in the
sex industry may not be regarded as having been trafficked. The Trafficking Protocol also addresses
the issue of consent expressly, stating that the consent of a victim of trafficking to the intended
exploitation shall be irrelevant where any type of coercion, deception or intimidation occurs.
116
Accordingly, the alleged consent of a victim of trafficking cannot be used as a defence by those
persons accused of trafficking.
77. The Trafficking Protocol also recognizes that victims of trafficking may be exploited follow-
ing their legal entry into a country.
117
Consequently, whether a person entered a country legally
or illegally is irrelevant to their status as a trafficked person.
78. In order to achieve effective action to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, the Traffick-
ing Protocol declares that it is necessary to implement a comprehensive approach that protects
victims’ internationally recognized human rights.
118
Throughout the Trafficking Protocol, how-
ever, States’ conduct is mandatory concerning the law enforcement provisions, while the protec-
112
As indicated above, however, when children are involved in prostitution the second element of coercion or
deception does not have to be shown. See the section on Trafficking and Children below.
113
Travaux preparatoires, supra note 109, para. 64.
114
See Draft Regulation No. 2000/- on the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons in Kosovo, October 2000, United
Nations document UNMIK/REG/2000/- (suggesting a definition: “sexual exploitation means the participation by a per-
son in prostitution, sexual servitude, or the production of pornographic materials as a result of being subjected to a
threat, deception, coercion, abduction, force, abuse of authority, debt bondage or fraud. Even in the absence of any one
of these factors, where the person participating in prostitution, sexual servitude or the production of pornographic ma-
terials is under the age of 18, sexual exploitation shall be deemed to exist.” The final draft of the Regulation dropped
this definition of exploitation in favour of the Trafficking Protocol’s definition of trafficking (Regulation No. 2001/4 on
the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons in Kosovo, 12 January 2001, United Nations document UNMIK/REG/2001/4). 
115
As of September 2001, the Suppression of Traffic Convention had been ratified by 73 States, while the 1956
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery had been ratified by 119 States (Working Group on Contempo-
rary Forms of Slavery, Review of the Implementation and Follow-up to the Conventions on Slavery, Note by the Secre-
tary-General, United Nations documents E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.2/2001/2 and E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.2/2001/3 (2000) (updated
to September 2001). For example, the Federal Republic of Germany, while welcoming as a matter of principle the ob-
jectives established by the Suppression of Traffic Convention, has not ratified the Convention, objecting that “A direct
penal campaign against prostitution would encourage it to go underground and continue illegally, and would eliminate
existing means of control. The possible occurrence of far more dangerous accompanying phenomena could not be ruled
out.” (Working Group on Slavery, seventh session, annex II, Reports by States which are not parties to the Convention
on the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, United Nations document
E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.2/41 (1981)). 
116
Trafficking Protocol, supra note 28, art. 3(b).
117
Travaux préparatoires, supra note 109, para. 79.
118
Trafficking Protocol, supra note 28, Preamble.

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