A/HRC/23/48
4.
Promotion of international cooperation
58.
The importance of bilateral and international cooperation in discouraging the
demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children,
that leads to trafficking has been noted in article 9 of the Trafficking Protocol. As
globalization has increased demand for cheap labour and services and for sex tourism, there
is an increasing need for international cooperation on the part of both State and non-State
actors.
59.
Following the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children in Stockholm in 1996, the efforts in preventing children from being sexually
exploited in holiday resorts focused on measures to be taken by hotels and travel
businesses, rather than simply on public information intended to discourage tourists for
paying for sexual services with children. A Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children
from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism was adopted in 2001 to protect children
from sex tourism for tourism businesses. At the end of 2012, the Code was reportedly being
implemented by over 1,030 companies in 42 countries.
60.
The Third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents,
held in Brazil in November 2008, resulted in the Rio Declaration and Action Plan to
Prevent and Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Child and Adolescents, setting the agenda for
international efforts in that regard.
E.
Lessons learnt and remaining challenges in integrating a human rightsbased approach
1.
Challenges on implementation of existing frameworks
61.
At the global level, the mechanisms to enforce the Protocol obligations under article
9 on the prevention of human trafficking, including discouraging “the demand that fosters
all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children, that leads to
trafficking”, need to be further strengthened. While comparable treaties, such as the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, have
their implementation overseen by a committee – which acts as the most powerful
enforcement body ensuring that the obligations within the conventions are met – there is no
such committee established to govern compliance with the Protocol.
62.
It was highlighted by researchers and experts that migration policies that restrict
access to legal channels of migration, trade policies liberalizing the movement of money,
goods and services but not labour, and the “explosive growth” of the global sex industry are
all contributing to the increase of incidents of trafficking in persons. Due diligence on the
part of States should require action on these wider processes, all of which foster demand
for, and vulnerability to, trafficking.
2.
Labour rights
63.
States are also responsible for implementing appropriate measures to guarantee
internationally recognized labour rights in all categories of workplaces, particularly the
“core labour rights”, which include the two ILO conventions on forced labour, 22 as well as
ILO conventions to guarantee the right to freedom of association and against child labour
22
ILO Conventions Nos. 29 (1930) concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour and 105 (1957)
concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour.
15
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