Economic impact of trafficking in human beings

Trafficking - a definition

According to the UN Palermo Protocol, trafficking in human beings means the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation". A major difference between smuggling of persons and trafficking in human beings is that the latter includes an element of coercion, deception and exploitation.

Trafficking and the OSCE

Thousands of people - most of them women and children from less privileged countries - are trafficked each year, generating huge profits for organized criminal networks. Social inequalities, corruption and a demand for various forms of cheap labour in countries of destination facilitate the operation of such networks and devastate national economies. For these reasons, trafficking in human beings challenges all dimensions of OSCE's work: human, politico-military and economic.
Recognizing the negative and destabilizing impact of trafficking throughout the OSCE region, foreign ministers from the 55 OSCE participating States adopted the "Declaration on Trafficking in Human Beings" at the Porto Ministerial Council in December 2002, and recommended that the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities play an increased role in addressing all economic aspects of trafficking.
 

Aim of the seminar

Participants to the seminar will focus on the root causes of trafficking from an economic perspective, and contribute to the formulation of a policy agenda. They will also discuss the impact of trafficking in human beings on national and international economies and explore possibilities for future co-operation.

The seminar aims at complementing the work of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings, the OSCE Informal Group on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women and Anti-Trafficking, as well as other international organizations and NGOs.