TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS

Trafficking in human beings, also known as slavery in modern times, is a serious crime as well as a violation of fundamental human rights and dignity. The purpose of trafficking is to exploit vulnerable persons for the sole purpose of profit. Every state is affected in some form or form of trafficking in human beings. The term "modern form of slavery" can also be found in the literature and practice of some countries; a term used to raise awareness of what trafficking may look like to people who are uninformed. There are still many myths about trafficking one of them is that trafficking only happens internationally and that the international element of the trafficking offense is qualifying. In fact, although many cases of trafficking in human beings involve an international element, where the victim is taken from one state to another and exploited there, trafficking also occurs within the territory of the same state and is known as "internal trafficking". Trafficking in human beings is a serious crime and above all a violation of dignity and fundamental human rights. Considering it as such, the awareness as well as the attention of the state and the whole society towards the prevention and uncompromising fight against trafficking in human beings has recently increased; hitting on the phenomenon, identifying cases, investigating, prosecuting and bringing to justice all perpetrators of the crime of trafficking in human beings. The UN Protocol to Prevent, Eliminate and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 2000, known as the Palermo Protocol, Article 3 states that: Trafficking in human beings means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, accommodation or support of persons, through threats or by use of force or various forms of coercion, kidnapping, lying, abuse of power or powerlessness, giving or receiving money or benefits, with the intent to gain the consent of any person who has control to any other person, for the needs of exploitation. A number of international documents and conventions constitute the legal basis for the drafting of adequate legislation against trafficking in human beings and the protection of human rights, such as: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and of Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAE), UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.Keywords: trafficking in human beings, victims, international legislation on victims' rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CEDAE