criminalize, investigate and punish conduct which may be included in the wide definition of trafficking (in the Trafficking Protocol 2000), particularly through the prohibition on persons being held in slavery and servitude. The prohibition on slavery is recognized as jus cogens – a fundamental norm of international law. Consequently, even States which have not signed the 1949 Trafficking Convention or the Trafficking Protocol 2000 will nevertheless be bound to uphold the prohibition. While presently this prohibition is (technically) limited to slavery in its classical form, there is considerable argument that it may be extended to slavery-like practices such as trafficking. The Trafficking Protocol 2000, signed by 113 States and ratified by 20 States as of December 2002, has not yet come into force.8 But when this Protocol enters into force it will require, as a matter of international law, State Parties to criminalize, investigate and punish (Articles 4 and 5) “trafficking” as broadly defined (Article 3). Principles 12 and 13 of the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and transmitted to the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) in July 2002 by the High Commissioner, while not legally binding, urge States both to adopt appropriate legislative measures to criminalize and to investigate effectively trafficking and its component acts. The SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (SAARC Convention)9 – signed by all 7 member States but not “States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form.” (d) Convention on Slavery 1926: Article 3. (e) Supplementary Convention on the Elaboration of slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices (f) Similar to Slavery 1956: Article 3. 8 “Trafficking” is defined in Article 3 of the Trafficking Protocol: (a) “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring 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 labor, or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs; (b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used; (c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article; (d) “Child” shall mean any person under eighteen years of age. 9 ‘Trafficking’ is defined in Article I of the SAARC Convention: 12