The development of child trafficking within international law: a socio-legal and archival analysis

Faulkner, E

Abstract

Human trafficking has both a long legal and political history, distinguishing it from many contemporary international legal issues. In 2000, the United Nations (hereafter, UN) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish the Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children (hereafter, the Trafficking Protocol) created the first definition of trafficking by international law. The Trafficking Protocol through Article 3 established three key elements to trafficking, namely the action, means and exploitation. The origins of the Trafficking Protocol’s definition can be traced back to the International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic 1910 (hereafter, the 1910 Convention) which identified the terms ‘abuse of authority’, ‘fraud’, ‘threats’ and ‘violence’ as the means elements. A doctrinal analysis of international instruments serves as a mechanism to shine light upon the evolution or transfer of ideology over a period of time. The parallels between contemporary international legal instruments implemented and their historical counterparts highlighted through a doctrinal analysis illustrate the ahistorical state of contemporary research upon the international law of child trafficking. This research demonstrates the necessity of understanding the historical developments of anti-trafficking law to understand contemporary international law. This chapter grapples with the methodological challenges presented by archival research conducted in the League of Nations Archives, Geneva, in early 2018. The study formed part of a wider inquiry ‘The Historical Evolution of the International Legal Responses to the Trafficking of Children – a Critique’. The broader inquiry sought to demonstrate the untold stories of child trafficking and exploitation within the context of international law during the era of the League of Nations and to draw comparisons between historical and contemporary responses of international law to child trafficking. The archives consulted initially focused upon the Summary of State Responses to the Traffic in Women and Children Committee from 1927 and 1928, in addition to a selection of 53 non-digitised registry files between 1919 and 1924.

• Publication Date: Dec 6, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jun 6, 2023
• Book Title: Pluralising International Legal Scholarship
• ISBN: 9781788976374; 9781788976367
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788976374