PREAMBLE Trafficking in persons is a grave breach of international human rights law. Trafficking is a global problem: it requires global and regional solutions. The Advisory Council of Jurists recognises that the root causes of trafficking lie in poverty and social injustice, particularly gross gender discrimination. While recognizing the underlying causes, the development of new international laws provides an important step towards combating trafficking in women, men and children. It is against this background that the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Trafficking Protocol) 20002 (described by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as “the universal instrument that addresses all aspects of trafficking in persons”) has now been signed by more than 100 states. 2 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against transnational organized crime on the work of its first to eleventh sessions, UN Doc. A/55/383 (2000), Annex II. 4