complaint relates to a refugee, the mission should co-ordinate any possible follow-up action with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. 5.10 TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS The United Nations has defined trafficking as:45 “(a) 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 exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. “(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used. “(c) 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. “(d) Child means any person under the age of eighteen years of age.” In the OSCE area, the most visible form of trafficking in human beings is trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation, i.e., forced prostitution. Part of the reason behind this phenomenon can be found in the effects of the conflict, post-conflict, and political and economic transition that has characterized Central and Eastern Europe over the past decade. In a majority of these countries, women have had to bear the biggest burden of the economic transition. Discrimination against women and the fact that women and children are more dependent on welfare services such as health care and childcare have exacerbated their situation. As a result, many, especially young, women try to find a better life outside of their home countries, which makes them a vulnerable group for exploitation by traffickers. 45 Article 3, United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Chil- dren, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, December 2000 (The Palermo Protocol). 57 5