Due diligence and trafficking in persons 2015, para. 37

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Paragraph text: Due diligence in human rights has tended to be quite State-centric. However, increasingly in human rights, due diligence also shapes or influences the activities of inter-State and non-State entities. The transnational nature of human trafficking means that in practice States often cannot meet their due diligence obligations to prevent, investigate and punish trafficking, and assist victims, without cooperating with other countries, whether through existing mechanisms (e.g., mutual legal assistance or extradition agreements or cooperative arrangements mandated by the United Nations Trafficking Protocol and the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime) or through new forms of cooperation that are developed to address the demands of due diligence in a specific trafficking situation. The territorial and extraterritorial application of human rights - including the due diligence principle - means that in some cases States may have concurrent, and potentially overlapping obligations of due diligence for trafficking in persons. In such cases, States should utilize all means available to coordinate and cooperate in anti-trafficking efforts in ways that are also consistent with their other obligations of international cooperation (e.g., under the United Nations Trafficking Protocol and the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime).

Body: Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children

Topic(s)

Person(s) affected