Publications
Trafficking in Persons and Refugee Status
ICAT Issue Brief 03, 09/2017
Persons who have been trafficked across an international border, in transit or at destination, may be in need of international protection as refugees on the basis of this experience. Ensuring protection against their refoulement and access to procedures which can determine their refugee status is therefore critical. Despite this, victims of trafficking continue to face barriers in receiving the assistance and protection they need, not only as victims of trafficking, but also as potential refugees. This issue brief clarifies the relationship between refugee status and trafficking in persons across a number of situations and provides recommendations on what States can do to ensure that victims of trafficking have access to international protection as refugees where they need it.
Trafficking in Persons in Humanitarian Crises
ICAT Issue Brief 02, 06/2017
- What makes crisis-affected communities and individuals vulnerable to trafficking in persons?
- How is the humanitarian community responding to trafficking in persons?
- What are the key recommendations?
ICAT submission to the co-facilitators of the high level meeting of the General Assembly on the Appraisal of the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons
Click here to access the document.
A Toolkit for Guidance in Designing and Evaluating Counter-Trafficking Programmes
This document builds on a discussion paper developed by the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons on the current state of evaluation practice in the field of trafficking in persons. It provides an accessible and easily employable set of tools that practitioners can use to put sectoral learning to work and improve their counter-trafficking programmes. These tools are intended to help strengthen programme design, inform planning for evaluation, and engender formative and summative learning. It is hoped that the wide use of such tools will lead to more effective programmes that, together with their evaluation, would contribute to further building the evidence base of “what works” to respond effectively to trafficking in persons.
Part I provides a general overview of counter- trafficking programming design issues, and highlights the value of (a) drawing on behaviour change and good practice and (b) considering the potential for interventions to, negatively, displace rather than reduce trafficking – an important issue for prevention programmes and prosecutorial responses. It provides an overall starting point for the design of counter-trafficking interventions, outlining a series of questions to help map the specifics of individual trafficking patterns and identify the most appropriate set of responses.
Part II elaborates on seven types of counter- trafficking activities. Each section contains (a) a brief discussion of lessons learned; (b) a set of questions aimed at assisting in programme design; and (c) a non-exclusive set of possible indicators for measuring progress in responding to trafficking. These sections are:
- Raising awareness of trafficking risks and responses
- Improving livelihoods as an alternative to risky migration
- Strengthening the legal framework on trafficking in persons
- Building criminal justice capacity to respond to trafficking in persons
- Promptly and accurately identifying and referring trafficked persons
- Providing support and durable solutions for trafficked persons
- Developing national plans of action against trafficking in persons
Pivoting Toward the Evidence: Building Effective Counter-trafficking Responses Using Accumulated Knowledge and a Shared Approach to Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (2016)
While anti-trafficking actors have long recognized the importance of measuring, evaluating and learning (MEL) from the multiple and evolving counter-trafficking efforts, there has not been systematic investment in MEL or a consolidated or shared approach to MEL practices and tools that can be used to inform the anti-trafficking sector more broadly. As a consequence, counter-trafficking programmes do not routinely draw on the significant amount of knowledge accumulated from multiple responses to date. This can limit the potential effectiveness of programmes, as well as the ability of evaluation to identify and report on programme outcomes.
In an effort to reflect more systematically on the state of evaluation in the sector and to develop a way forward, this paper seeks to construct a common framework for aligning goals, defining and assessing progress, and building a robust and shared evidence-base of effective anti-trafficking programmes and practices. It suggests a road map for capturing and using knowledge accumulated in the sector and beyond, guiding and growing effective interventions, monitoring their progress, evaluating their results and compiling evidence of “what works” in countering human trafficking.
What is the Difference between Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants?
ICAT Issue Brief 01, 10/2016
Click here for the Russian version.
Providing Effective Remedies for Victims of Trafficking in Persons (2016)
Despite the high number of ratifications of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (169 States Parties as per July 2016) and the numerous national laws to criminalise human trafficking adopted by States, the number of convictions for human trafficking offences remains low – as does the provision of effective remedies for victims of human trafficking.
The obligation to provide remedies to victims of human rights violations is enshrined in several human rights instruments. With regard to victims of trafficking in persons, a solid international legal framework has developed over the last decade, providing the basis for a common approach to remedies for victims of trafficking in persons, and some sense of minimum standards.
Yet fundamental flaws in practice continue to exist - not least tangible confusion regarding the precise scope and form of remedies that should be available to victims of human trafficking as a distinct group with distinct needs for protection and assistance. The different perspectives informing the debate have thus far been unable to provide comprehensive guidelines to states or other actors on what they are required to do and, additionally, should, on principle, do. Also problematic are the numerous obstacles that practically prevent victims from seeking remedy, including (but not limited to) gender-based discrimination, lack of knowledge of rights, lack of psychological support, and prosecution of victims for status-related offences.
This ICAT issue paper argues that access to remedies for trafficking victims should be a core component of efforts to address human trafficking, and provides illustrative examples of effective remedies and limitations that currently exist in different jurisdictions. Effective access to remedies is important not only for victims' recovery but also for reaffirming their rights and preventing re-victimisation. The paper also looks at the right to effective remedies for victims of human trafficking under international law, the scope of applying effective remedies, the challenges to providing remedies to victims at the national level, and offers practical recommendations to improve access to remedies (including specific recommendations for law and policy-makers, as well as non-State actors) and to facilitate related international cooperation.
Preventing Trafficking in Persons by Addressing Demand (2014)
The paper entitled Preventing Trafficking in Persons by Addressing Demand (the "Demand Paper") is the second in a series of ICAT policy papers. The paper provides guidance to organizations and practitioners by mapping out the dimensions of demand as it relates specifically to trafficking in persons for labour exploitation, as well as by highlighting strategies that can be used to address it.
The International Legal Frameworks concerning Trafficking in Persons (2012)
The first ICAT issue paper, titled the International Legal Frameworks concerning Trafficking in Persons, is the first of a series of ICAT issue papers to be published over the course of 2012-2015. This paper characterizes key related elements of the anti-trafficking response today, highlights assumed features that still require development and recommends a number of prioritized actions to bring to bear provisions and legal obligations from different bodies of law and legal instruments that are relevant to the task of preventing human trafficking, protecting victims, and prosecuting perpetrators.
The Next Decade: Promoting Common Priorities and Greater Coherence in the Fight against Human Trafficking - An Overview Paper (2012)
The ICAT Working Group decided to publish a series of issue papers. Each issue paper will examine one key issue that has been identified and agreed by ICAT member organizations as a critical challenge to be addressed by the international community to succeed in the fight against trafficking in persons in the coming decade.