Informing the Malabo Protocol Crime of Human Trafficking by determining the meaning of 'appropriate and effective measures' under Article 4(2)(g) of the Maputo Protocol

Abstract

Human trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboming or receipt of persons for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation in this regard includes forced prostitution or forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.1 Traffickers achieve this by means of intimidation, threat, use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or fraud through offering promises of marriage, employment, education and/or overall better life to the victims.2 The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) under Article 4(2g) sets out that ' appropriate and effective measures' are to be taken to prevent human trafficking, protect the victims of human trafficking and to prosecute the offenders, however what are these 'appropriate and effective measures'? This research paper will aim to establish a robust model that stems from the analysis of international and national legal instruments on human trafficking regarding what could be deemed as 'appropriate and effective measures'. This potential model may also be used to inform the Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights3 (Malabo Protocol), which extends the jurisdiction of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR) to try transnational crimes which includes the crime of human trafficking. In 2011, human trafficking represented an estimated $31.6 billion of international trade per annum.4 In 2014 it was estimated that the industry generates profits of roughly $150 billion per annum. 5 It has been acknowledged as the fastest growing criminal industry in the world6 thus it is time to uphold the claim that slavery is a thing of the past. 7