Part II Crimes, 4 Slavery and Human Trafficking

Subject(s):

Freedom from slavery or forced labour — Human trafficking — International criminal law, victims

The ‘discovery’ that the commercial trade in human beings still exists has sparked renewed interest in suppression of slave trading and related practices. The size of the problem is difficult to assess but has justified a massive legislative and institutional response. This institutional response turns upon the development of criminalisation of different forms of exploitation of humans, a piecemeal and reactive process. This chapter charts the gradual criminalization of slave trading as a transnational crime. It then examines the evolution of its modern analogue, human trafficking, and the development of the container concept, modern slavery, before dealing with the protection of victims.