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ENG0625
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2018
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Trafficking in Human Beings and Smuggling of Migrants in ACP Countries: Key Challenges and Ways Forward

Trafficking in human beings (THB) and smuggling of migrants (SoM), two distinct but often interrelated phenomena, occur on a global scale. Searching for a way out of economic inequalities, environmental crises, armed conflict, political instability and persecution, and in view of tightening border controls and restricted options for legal migration, migrants are driven to seek the services of smugglers. At the same time, a globalized economy fosters demand for diverse types of exploitation, which also makes migrants vulnerable to traffickers. Both THB and SoM are billion-dollar businesses that exact high human costs. This is illustrated by the many migrants dying while being smuggled along increasingly dangerous migration routes, and by the millions of trafficking victims trapped in exploitative situations worldwide. The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States are increasingly stepping up to address THB and SoM. However, they face challenges in developing the necessary holistic, long-term interventions that combine law enforcement with a rights-based, victim-centred approach and with prevention efforts that are linked to development and offer realistic, practical alternatives to irregular migration. This ACP-EU Migration Action publication analyses these challenges and provides recommendations to tackle the difficulties that ACP countries face in relation to THB and SoM.

  • The ACP-EU Migration Action
  • Acknowledgements
  • Background to the report
  • Objective of the report
  • Executive summary
  • Abbreviations
  • Methodology

    Section I
    • Introduction
    • Applications for technical assistance through the Action
    • Overview of trafficking in persons in ACP regions
    • Overview of migrant smuggling in ACP regions
    • THB and SoM in the EU
    • Overview of current initiatives
  • Section II
  • Key issues facing ACP States in combating trafficking in
  • human beings and migrant smuggling
    • A. Legal and policy framework
      • A1. International standards for anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling
      • legislation
      • A2. National Strategies and Action Plans
      • A3. Comprehensive legislative and policy framework
      • Cross-cutting Issue 1: Gender, age, cultural and social norms
    • B. Implementation of law and policy
      • B1. Legal awareness among stakeholders
      • B2. Investigations, prosecutions and convictions
      • B3. Primary governance concerns
      • Cross-cutting Issue 2: Stakeholder capacity-building
      • Cross-cutting Issue 3: Resource constraints
    • C. Effective border management and tracking illicit financial flows
      • C1. Border management
      • C2. Tracking illicit financial flows
    • D. National and cross-border cooperation and coordination
      • D1. National cooperation
      • D2. Cooperation between national level and local actors
      • D3. Cooperation between governments and CSOs
      • D4. Cross-border cooperation
      • D5. Regional and international cooperation
    • E. Victim protection and assistance
      • E1. Victims’ rights to assistance and protection
      • E2. Gender, age and other characteristics of vulnerability
      • E3. Cultural and social norms
      • Cross-cutting Issue 4: Human rights protection for victims of trafficking, vulnerable and smuggled migrants
    • F. Prevention and awareness-raising
      • F1. Public awareness-raising
      • F2. Realistic alternatives to migration
      • F3. Addressing demand
    • G. Data collection, management and sharing
  • Section III
  • Recommendations
  • Conclusions of the report
  • Section IV
  • Country fiches
  • Bibliography
  • Glossary
  • Annex 1: Status of signature/ratification of UNTOC and its Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols in ACP States