It has been widely accepted that trafficking of human beings is a human rights issue. However, it has been difficult to address the human rights aspects of the phenomenon in practice, because a comprehensive analysis of applicable human rights norms and principles has not been fully developed, and therefore the nature of obligations imposed upon States is not entirely clear. The purpose of this book, then, is to establish a human rights framework to promote better understanding of the multi-faceted problems inherent in trafficking of human beings, articulate obligations imposed upon States, and facilitate a holistic approach. The book also contains chapters on case studies at the national, regional, and international levels, thereby combining the theory and practice.

In A Transnational Human Rights Approach to Human Trafficking: Empowering the Powerless, Yoon Jin Shin proposes an innovative approach to empower individuals victimized by human trafficking, one of the most serious human rights challenges in today’s world of globalization and migration. Based on thorough empirical research and extensive comparative studies, Shin illuminates complex realities of migrant individuals experiencing trafficking situations and the problems of the current anti-trafficking regime driven by destination countries’ self-interest in crime and border control. Shin suggests an alternative transnational human rights framework, in which victimized migrants, who have been treated as passive targets of victim-witness protection or immigration regulation, finally attain their true voices as empowered rights-holders and effectively exercise their human, civil, and labor rights. Shin received the 2014-2015 Ambrose Gherini Prize, the highest prize awarded in the field of International Law by Yale Law School, for her doctoral dissertation on which this book is based.

Thanks to recent progress in biotechnology, surrogacy, transplantation of organs and tissues, blood products or stem-cell and gamete banks are now widely used throughout the world. These techniques improve the health and well-being of some human beings using products or functions that come from the body of others. Growth in demand and absence of an appropriate international legal framework have led to the development of a lucrative global trade in which victims are often people living in insecure conditions who have no other ways to survive than to rent or sell part of their body. This growing market, in which parts of the human body are bought and sold with little respect for the human person, displays a kind of dehumanization that looks like a new form of slavery. This book is the result of a collective and multidisciplinary reflection organized by a group of international researchers working in the field of medicine and social sciences. It helps better understand how the emergence of new health industries may contribute to the development of a global medical tourism. It opens new avenues for reflection on technologies that are based on appropriation of parts of the body of others for health purposes, a type of practice that can be metaphorically compared to cannibalism. Are these the fi rst steps towards a proletariat of men- and women-objects considered as a reservoir of products of human origin needed to improve the health or well-being of the better-off? The book raises the issue of the uncontrolled use of medical advances that can sometimes reach the anticipations of dystopian literature and science fiction.

This text analyses the various international legal instruments regulating people trafficking including treaties, 'soft law', and the definition contained in the UN Trafficking Protocol, and argues that trafficking in persons ought rightly to be considered a part of jus cogens.

In the light of the urgent need for cooperative and collaborative action against trafficking, this publication presents examples of promising practice from around the world relating to trafficking interventions. It is hoped that the guidance offered, the practices showcased and the resources recommended in this Toolkit will inspire and assist policymakers, law enforcers, judges, prosecutors, victim service providers and members of civil society in playing their role in the global effort against trafficking in persons. The present edition is an updated and expanded version of the Toolkit published in 2006.

The 2020 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons is the fifth of its kind mandated by the General Assembly through the 2010 United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. It covers more than 130 countries and provides an overview of patterns and flows of trafficking in persons at global, regional and national levels, based primarily on trafficking cases detected between 2017 and 2019. As UNODC has been systematically collecting data on trafficking in persons for more than a decade, trend information is presented for a broad range of indicators.

This book, a companion volume to The International Law of Human Trafficking, presents the first-ever comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the international law of migrant smuggling. The authors call on their direct experience of working with the United Nations to chart the development of new international laws.