La Strada Documentation Center

From Protection to Prosecution – A Strategic Approach. Background Paper

Document number
1459
Date
2008
Title
From Protection to Prosecution – A Strategic Approach. Background Paper
Author/publisher
Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations (UN)
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Meeting Documentation/Conference Reports,
Keywords
UN GIFT, United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, The Vienna Forum to fight Human Trafficking
Summary
Successful prosecutionswith maximum enforcement of the law can act to prevent and deter human trafficking.In order to achieve successful prosecutions, evidence and testimony from thetrafficked victim/s is often necessary during the criminal justice proceedings. However,victims of trafficking are exposed to intimidations and various other risks and are oftenafraid of cooperating with criminal justice. Responding to human trafficking thereforerequires a balanced approach that is based on enforcing the law against the traffickersand protecting the human rights of trafficked victims. Protection and support measuresfor trafficked victims are not only necessary to respond to the violations of the victimsrights, but also to support the law enforcement response to human trafficking.Adequate laws should be in place to punish the traffickers and victim protection andsupport measures should be implemented under national policy responses to humantrafficking to respond to the exploitation suffered by trafficked victims.
Related documents