FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM 83 The Protocol contains a number of provisions aimed at preventing trafficking - all of which are phrased in UN’s best, programmatic, nonobligatory style207. Despite the attention given to the issue, there is no reference to the acknowledged root causes of trafficking. Also, it fails to take into account the existence of such preventive measures, which are discriminatory against women and other groups and restrain freedom of movement. A non-discrimination clause in the saving provisions cannot rectify this anomaly. On the overall analysis of the Protocol it is brought to the fore that the Protocol does not break new grounds in terms of human rights protection and generally espouses a crime-control approach. But at the same time it represents a significant step forward in the fight against trafficking and related exploitation and acts as a meeting ground for different viewpoints and approaches on the issue. The importance given to State Cooperation in preventing and combating trafficking would go a long way in fighting against the evil of trafficking in persons with the legal regime in place. What is required is moral commitment on the part of State Parties to see to effective implementation of the Protocol. Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (Smuggling of Migrants Protocol) D. Background / Origin The Government of Austria presented the initial proposal for a legal instrument to deal with the smuggling of migrants to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice208. At the same time, the Italian Government, in an attempt to deal with the growing problem of migrant smuggling from Albania, approached the International Maritime Organization (IMO) with a proposal for the issuance of directives regarding trafficking of migrants by sea. Italy subsequently decided to join forces with the Austrians in pushing for the development of a legal instrument against migrant smuggling within the context of the Commission’s work against transnational organized crime.209 208 Letter from the Austraian Permanent Representative to the United Nations to the UN SecretaryGeneral dated 16 Sep 1997 accompanying the Draft International Convention against the Smuggling and Illegal Migrants, UN Doc. A/52/357 (1997). 209 Dimitri V. Lassis, The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its Three Protocols: Development and Outlook (unpublished), p 15.