PART 1
international treaty law. However, parts of
this document go further by using accepted
international legal standards to develop more
specific and detailed guidance for States in areas
such as legislation, criminal justice responses,
victim detention and victim protection and
support. Recently, the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) released a set of Guidelines on
the Protection of the Rights of Child Victims of
Trafficking, which provide additional guidance
on the specific issue of child victims. The United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has
also issued a set of guidelines that focus on the
relationship between trafficking and asylum.
Important quasi-legal and non-legal instruments
have also been developed at the regional level.
As with their international equivalents, these
instruments often reiterate and expand existing
legal principles and sometimes go beyond what
has been formally agreed between States. In the
latter case, however, they can help to ascertain
the direction in which international law is moving
with respect to a particular issue.
Within Asia, relevant non-treaty instruments
include: the 2004 ASEAN Declaration on
Trafficking in Persons, Particularly Women and
Children; the Memorandum of Understanding
on Cooperation against Trafficking in Persons
adopted in 2004 by the six countries of the
Greater Mekong Subregion; the 2007 ASEAN
Practitioner Guidelines on Effective Criminal
Justice Responses to Trafficking in Persons; and
the 2007 Recommendations on an Effective
Criminal Justice Response to Trafficking in Persons
of the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight
Trafficking (UN.GIFT).
Non-treaty instruments on trafficking that have
been adopted in and/or substantially involve
Africa include: the ECOWAS Declaration on the
Fight against Trafficking in Persons adopted by
the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) in 2001; the ECOWAS Initial Plan
26
of Action against Trafficking in Persons annexed
thereto; and the Ouagadougou Action Plan to
Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially
Women and Children, adopted by the European
Union and African States in 2006. Also in
2006, ECOWAS and the Economic Community
of Central African States (EECAS) adopted a
Multilateral Cooperation Agreement to Combat
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Children, in West and Central Africa.
The European institutions have been particularly
active on trafficking and related issues, and
major non-treaty instruments include the Brussels
Declaration on Preventing and Combating
Trafficking in Human Beings, adopted by
the European Conference on Preventing and
Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in 2002;
the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe’s Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in
Human Beings, agreed in 2003; the EU Council
Directive of 29 April 2004 on residence permits
issued to victims of trafficking who cooperate with
authorities;11 and the EU Plan on Best Practices,
Standards and Procedures for Combating and
Preventing Trafficking in Human Beings, adopted
in 2005.
In the Americas, the Organization of American
States (OAS) has adopted several soft-law
instruments directly relevant to trafficking,12
including the OAS Recommendations on
Council Directive 2004/81/EC of 29 April 2004 on the
residence permit issued to third-country nationals who are
victims of trafficking in human beings or who have been
the subject of an action to facilitate illegal immigration,
who cooperate with the competent authorities [2004] OJ L
261 [Hereinafter: EU Council Directive of 29 April 2004].
11
For example, Organization of American States (OAS),
Fighting the Crime of Trafficking in Persons, adopted at
the fourth plenary session, 7 June 2005, AG/RES. 2118
(XXXV-O/05); OAS, Hemispheric Cooperation Efforts to
Combat Trafficking in Persons and Second Meeting of
National Authorities on Trafficking in Persons, adopted at
the fourth plenary session, 5 June 2007, AG/RES. 2348
(XXXVII O/07).
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RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
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