FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM
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In order to provide assistance and support to victims of trafficking,
IOM is spreading the awareness that this group of people be primarily
recognized as victims of crime and exploitation, rather than as illegal
migrants.
D. Analysis of the Role of the UN System in Promoting
and Protecting Human Rights.
The UN System has its limitations largely because it is an extremely
large organization with headquarters at Geneva and New York, which
makes inaccessible to many NGOs working at the grass roots level.
However, structures within the UN such as UNIFEM are trying to alleviate
this inaccessibility and promote use of international human rights
machinery, particularly for women in developing countries106. The
operationalisation of human rights from the arena of jurisprudence to
practical application is fraught with difficulties. The UN lacks an
enforcement body, court and policing power to force the government to
adhere to international human rights law. The UN is largely a
recommendatory body that cannot force State Parties to sign a particular
treaty. Further under Article 2(7) of the UN Charter, the UN cannot
interfere in the domestic affairs of a country though human rights
violations generally occurs within the purview of matters related to so
called domestic affairs. Only in extreme cases sanctions are imposed but
evidence shows that no sanctions have yet been applied to prohibit gender
discriminations107. The UN in its sanctioning role is prone to political and
strategic pressures of its members.
Despite all its limitations, the UN system still provides the most
potent force to human rights movement. The monitoring and reporting
procedures can be honed further to provide them teeth in the
implementation of the international human rights law. Governments still
do not like to be criticized and to have their bad practices publicized and
can sometimes be shamed into changing their behaviour. In the
enforcement role of the UN, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and
the International Criminal Court (ICC) can play a vital role. The ICC came
into existence in 2003 to prosecute and try individuals for the crime of
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Included in the
category of crimes against humanity is enslavement, which includes
106
International Services for Human Rights, Women Rights in the UN, Geneva, 1995, p.35 or
www.ishr.ch.
107
GAATW, Human Rights and Trafficking in Persons: A Handbook, Global Alliance Against
Trafficking in Women, Bangkok, Thailand, 2001, p.110.