Human Trafficking And Child Trafficking

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9. "Human trafficking" was not defined in international, regional, and national laws until the late 2000s when the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (Trafficking Protocol) , and the optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (CRC Protocol) .
10 At the same token, Rwanda enacted the new penal code, which criminalizes trafficking in persons under a variety of articles, mostly contained in Chapter 8. This Chapter 8 prescribes penalties of seven to 10 years’ imprisonment or fines ranging from 5,444,600 to 10,958,120 francs for internal trafficking, and up to 15 years’ imprisonment for transnational trafficking. Child trafficking convictions are subject to a minimum five-year prison term, while slavery convictions carry three- to 12-year prison terms. The Law Relating to the Rights and Protection of the Child outlaws child trafficking, prostitution, and slavery under Article 51.

11. These legal measures have been supplemented by major international and regional policies and programs that reinforce the international legal requirements set forth in the new multilateral treaties . Together, these steps evidence a commitment by the international community to address this modern form of slavery.
12. The important issue is the degree to which these measures have been effective. These new developments, while they reflect something of a renewed focus on human trafficking, have not emerged out of a vacuum. Instead, they build upon - intentionally or not - the historical approach to traff...

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...at ‘pull-factors’ entice the vulnerable and ‘push-factors’, like lack of employment opportunity, propel them across borders. But which of these factors is the most important?
16. Clearly, the answer to this question will vary from country to country, but trafficking is a global phenomenon and it is also worth trying to find a global answer. Viewing this crime from a business perspective requires that we consider the relationship of supply and demand to the driving force of profit. No matter how many victims are rescued, there will always be a steady new supply at the ready. No matter how many criminals are prosecuted, there will always be other opportunists willing to step into their shoes. So long as the supply, demand, and profit remain unchanged, modern-day slavery will continue to flourish. In order to break the chains, we must fundamentally alter this equation.

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