involving shifts, flows, overlaps and transitions. An individual can be smuggled one day and trafficked the next. The risks and consequences of misidentification, particularly with regard to the human rights of victims, are discussed at various points throughout this Commentary. 3.3. RELATED LEGAL TERMS 3.2. TRAFFICKING IN CHILDREN Slavery: article 1 of the 1926 Convention on Slavery defines slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the rights of ownership are exercised”.27 The legal definition of a “child” is contained in article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: “a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years…”. International law provides a different definition for trafficking in children. In the case of trafficking in children, it is unnecessary to show that force, deception or any other means were used. It is only necessary to show: (a) An “action” such as recruitment, buying and selling; and (b) That this action was for the specific purpose of exploitation. The definition of trafficking set out above contains a number of terms that are not defined by the instrument in which the definition appears. It is, therefore, necessary to consider these separately. Servitude: both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 4) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 8 (2)) stipulate that no person shall be held in servitude. While not defined in either instrument, the term is generally seen to be broader than slavery, referring to “all conceivable forms of domination and degradation of human beings by human beings”.28 For more on the relationship between trafficking and slavery, see part 1, sections 2.2.3, above, and 4.3, below. 27 In other words, trafficking will exist where the child was subject to some act, such as recruitment or transport, the purpose of which is the exploitation of that child. This definition potentially makes easier to identify child victims of trafficking and their traffickers. However, its breadth may make it difficult to distinguish those who have been trafficked from the broader category of children on the move. Manfred Nowak, UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary, 2nd ed. (2005), p. 99. Note Professor Nowak’s position that debt bondage (defined below) is included within the prohibition on servitude contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. For more on the legal concept of servitude and its use (or non-use) in international law, see Jean Allain, “On the curious disappearance of human servitude from general international law”, Journal of the History of International Law, vol. 11, No. 2 (2009), p. 303. 28 KEY ELEMENT Action Recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons. Purpose Exploitation (including, 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). Box 5: Key elements of the international legal definition of trafficking in children COMMENTARY 35