Research Guide to Human Trafficking and Labor Migration

Compiled by Wei Luo, August 2010

This research guide is prepared for Human Trafficking and Labor Migration Seminar taught by Prof. Karen Tokaz, at Washington University School of Law. This guide is not exhaustive. Rather, it is intended to serve as a starting point for the students who take this Seminar to conduct a comprehensive research on issues surrounding this topic.

Contents

Research Guide to Human Trafficking and Labor Migration

I.International Law

1.UN Convention

2.Other International Treaties: Slavery, Slavery-Like Practices and Forced Labor

II.United States Anti-human Trafficking Laws

1.Federal Legislations

2.States Legislations

3.Federal Case Law

4.Federal Administrative Regulations

III.Secondary Sources

1.For Books:

2.For Law Review Articles:

IV.Related Websites

1.UNODC on human trafficking and migrant smuggling

2.Other Organizations and Initiatives

I.International Law

1.UN Convention

TheUnited Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000, is the main international instrument in the fight against transnational organized crime. It opened for signature by Member States at a High-level Political Conference convened for that purpose in Palermo, Italy, on 12-15 December 2000 and entered into force on 29 September 2003. The Convention is further supplemented by three Protocols, which target specific areas and manifestations of organized crime: the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition. Countries must become parties to the Convention itself before they can become parties to any of the Protocols.

Article 3, paragraph (a) of theProtocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Personsdefines Trafficking in Persons asthe 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. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs

2.Other International Treaties: Slavery, Slavery-Like Practices and Forced Labor

  • Slavery Convention
  • Protocol amending the Slavery Convention signed at Geneva on 25 September 1926
  • Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery
  • Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)
  • Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)
  • Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
  • Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

II.United States Anti-human Trafficking Laws

1.Federal Legislations

Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) 2000, codified in 18 USCA §§1589, 1590, 1592(c),1962, etc.

Public Law 106-386, enacted October 28, 2000, created a two-tiered definition of trafficking which included severe forms of trafficking in persons and sex trafficking. Annual reports on trafficking as part of the State Department Country reports on Human Rights were also provided with this law. This law included severe punishments, including up to life imprisonment, and the possibility of severe economic sanctions for those persons convicted of operating trafficking enterprises within the U.S. This act (TVPA) defined and classified human trafficking into two main categories: sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

  • Sex trafficking involves the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person forced to perform such an act is under the age of eighteen years old.
  • Labor trafficking is defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery. Such violations might include domestic services, manufacturing, construction, migrant laboring and other services obtained through subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.

Trafficking Victims Prevention Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) 2003

Public Law 108-193, enacted December 19, 2003, reauthorized appropriations for fiscal years 2004 and 2005. This law created a Special Watch List to keep pressure on countries of various Tiers in the trafficking report and added new criteria for the State Department to consider in drafting the trafficking in person report, including evaluating progress from year to year. Human trafficking crime predicated offenses for RICO charges and victims are now allowed to sue their traffickers in U.S. courts. This law required that U.S. Government contracts, relating to international affairs, contain clauses authorizing termination by the United States if the contractor engages in human trafficking or procures commercial sexual services while the contract is in force. This law also requires that the administration inform travelers, of selected locations, about U.S. laws against sex tourism.

Trafficking Victims Prevention Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) 2005

Public Law 109-164, enacted January 10, 2006, provides U.S. courts jurisdiction over federal government employees and contractors for trafficking offenses committed abroad. It has enhanced specified U.S. efforts to combat trafficking in persons, including the prevention of such activities by international peacekeepers. This law requires the Attorney General to study and report to Congress on the prevalence of severe forms of trafficking and sex trafficking in the U.S., and the approach to combat these crimes by law enforcement. This law is also directed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate acts of: (1) severe forms of trafficking in persons other than domestic trafficking in persons; and (2) domestic trafficking in persons

William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008

The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 7311), passed both the House and the Senate on December 10, 2008. The President signed it into law on December 23, 2008, P.L. 110-457, 122 Stat. 5044 (2008). The Act enhances federal efforts to combat both international and domestic traffic in human beings. The bill directs the President to create a system to monitor anti-trafficking efforts and programs at the federal level. There are a number of important expansions to the criminal provisions included in the Act. For example, prosecutors no longer have to prove that a defendant knew the victim was a minor; they just need to show that a defendant had a "reasonable opportunity to observe" the victim. In addition, the standard of proof is lowered to "reckless disregard" for traffickers or defendants who come into contact with victims forced to engage in commercial sex acts.

2.States Legislations

Many states have enacted statutes to criminalizing human trafficking. Missouri: HB 1487 (2004), codified in Missouri Revised Statute Chapter 566, makes changes to the laws regarding crimes against person, establishing: a class A felony of sexual trafficking of a child; class B felonies of abusing an individual through forced labor and of trafficking for either forced labor or sexual exploitation; and a class D felony of contributing to human trafficking through the misuse of documentation.

For a list of other state laws, please check Fact Sheet on State Anti-Trafficking Lawsby National Institute on State Policy – A Program of the Center for Women Policy Studies (September 2006) at

* For the updated list of federal and state legislations on anti-human trafficking please check

3.Federal Case Law

As of 8/27/2010, there were about 34 cases reported on the federal case law database on Westlaw and about 37 federal cases on Lexis. Since Westlaw has developed “human trafficking”.

As Westlaw has not developed descriptive indexing terms or key numbers for “human trafficking” nor as Lexis for its core terms, one of the best ways to search federal cases is run a search of “trafficking victims protection act" on the all federal cases databases on either Westlaw or Lexis.

4.Federal Administrative Regulations

CFR index:

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Generally,2 C.F.R. § 175.5 et seq.
Aliens, crime victims,28 C.F.R. § 1100.25 et seq.
Federal acquisition regulations,48 C.F.R. § 22.1700 et seq.

SLAVERY, for “forced labor”

Aliens,
Crime victims, admissions,8 C.F.R. § 214.14
Trafficking, persons,8 C.F.R. § 214.11
Crime victims,28 C.F.R. § 1100.25 et seq.
Federal acquisition regulations,48 C.F.R. § 22.1700 et seq.
Child labor,48 C.F.R. § 22.1500 et seq.

III.Secondary Sources

1.For Books:

Both law library and the main library of Washington University collect many titles on this topic. To see what our libraries have on this topic, please go to and enter the subject searches of “human trafficking” or “forced labor”.

2.For Law Review Articles:

Search the following online legal periodical indexes by subjects or keywords.

Index / Subjects
Index to Legal Periodicals / sex trafficking, human smuggling, slavery, forced labor
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals / Slavery, forced labor, etc
LegalTrack / Human smuggling, sexual exploitation, forced labor

IV.Related Websites

1.UNODC on human trafficking and migrant smuggling

2.Other Organizations and Initiatives

Amnesty International USA

Anti-Slavery International

Boat People SOS

Breaking Free based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Campus Coalition Against Trafficking (CCAT)

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

Center for Women Policy Studies

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)

Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST)

Ending Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes

Florida Freedom Partnership

Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center

Forced Migration Online

Free the Slaves

Freedom Network USA

Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) based in New York, USA

Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)

Global Fund for Women

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Legal Momentum – The Immigrant Women Program

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights – Stop Violence Against Women (a project by MN Advocates for Human Rights)

Network of Sex Work Projects

POPPY Project based in London, UK

Safe Horizons

Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) based in San Francisco, California, USA

The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking - under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)

The Emancipation Network

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (Resource Center)

The Paul & Lisa Program based in Connecticut

The Polaris Project

The Protection Project

U.S. Women Without Borders

United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC)

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

United States Department of Justice (USDOJ): National Institute of Justice

Women Watch

Worker’s Rights Law Center

World Health Organization (WHO)

Youth Advocate Program International (YAPI)

National Sexual Violence Resource Center

Tahirih Justice Center

United States Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women

Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking

Tapestri

National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)