RECOMMENDATIONS OF ANNE GALLAGHER FROM HER BACKGROUND
PAPER
We set out below some more detailed recommendations suggested by Anne Gallagher in her
background paper provided to the Council. The Council endorses these recommendations. They
are set out using the headings we have used in our report.
Implementation
•
National Institutions should use their position, resources and authority to provide
governments with information which will enable them to make wise legislative and policy
choices. They can also be influential in shaping and directing a government’s overall
approach to the trafficking issue, in ensuring, for example, that trafficking is perceived and
responded to as a human rights problem and not just as an issue of migration, of public order
or of transnational organized crime.
•
Priority should be given to reviewing relevant domestic laws with a view to identifying gaps
and weaknesses, in particular, with reference to international human rights principles and
standards.
•
The APF could consider, as a body, taking up the suggestion of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights and endorsing or adopting the Recommended Principles and Guidelines as a
framework and reference point for its work and that of its member institutions in this area.
•
In addition to specific anti-trafficking legislation, attention should be paid to laws relating to
immigration, emigration and prostitution.
•
Other possible areas of attention for review would include the issue of extraterritorial
legislation (to facilitate the prosecution of traffickers); birth registration and citizenship
requirements (immediate registration and citizenship at birth in order to ensure that victims,
particularly children, may exercise their right to return to their home countries); and laws
relating to marriage, inheritance and labor conditions.
Enforcement
•
It should be remembered that not all measures designed to prevent trafficking are legal, fair
or successful. Anti-trafficking interventions can sometimes result in violations of basic
human rights including the right to freedom of movement and the prohibition of
discrimination on the basis of race, nationality and sex.
•
National institutions should also monitor and warn against “knee-jerk” reactions from
governments such as a denial of due process rights and draconian penalties for traffickers. A
genuine rights-based approach demands that the human rights of all persons, including those
suspected of trafficking, are respected and upheld.
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