The Palermo Protocol: Why It Has Been Ineffective in Reducing Human Sex Trafficking

This paper analyzes why the United Nations’s efforts against human trafficking, specifically regarding the Palermo Protocol, have been ineffective in reducing, or even stagnating, the size of the global human sex trafficking network. It concludes that the broad wording of the Palermo Protocol has created a weak foundation from which individual countries cannot effectively create anti-trafficking legislation. Further, the United Nations’s lack of ability to enforce its legislation, along with the manipulation of self-reported statistics, have made the Palermo Protocol ineffective. This paper also finds that destination countries (countries to which victims are trafficked) bear a large share of the burden to create effective legislation against trafficking. Proposed solutions include holding Palermo Protocol signatory countries accountable to fixing their legislation and criminalizing both prostitution and the purchase of sexual services