- Drafters should ensure that the sex trafficking law contains provisions related to the creation of training programs for law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, child protection officials, immigration and other relevant officials. Training should focus on:
- Relevant international, national and local laws on sex trafficking;
- Methods used in preventing such trafficking;
- Demand;
- Dynamics of trafficking;
- Prosecuting the traffickers; and
- Protecting the rights of the victims, including protecting the victims from the traffickers.
- Training may either be mandatory or not, keeping in mind that unfunded mandates may prove to be more problematic than effective.
- The training should incorporate a human rights perspective and be sensitive to issues of culture, language, gender, race, national origin, and age. Training should encourage cooperation with non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other elements of civil society and be carried out by a coalition of such organizations where possible. Training should emphasize a victim-centered approach, treating trafficking victims as the crime victims they are rather than as criminals.(See: Annotated Guide to the Complete UN Trafficking Protocol, International Human Rights Law Group, Art. 10, 2002; Polaris Project Model Comprehensive State Legislation to Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2.3, 2006; Model Provisions for State Anti-Trafficking Laws, Center for Women and Public Policy, Implementation and Enforcement: Mandatory Training for Law Enforcement Personnel Proposed Language, 5, 2005; State Model Law on Protection for Victims of Human Trafficking, Division F, Section 1, 2005)
Tools:
Anti-trafficking Training Material for Judges and prosecutors in EU Member States and Accession and Candidate Countries, Vienna, Austria: International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), 2006. Available in English. (See also the module on Access to Justice)
Law Enforcement Pocket Card, Office of Refugee Resettlement, United States Department of Health and Human Services. Available in English.
Illustrative Example:
The Moldovan Law on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (2005) contains a provision for training law enforcement and other professionals tasked with preventing and combating human trafficking.
Article 14. Vocational Training and Education of Personnel
(1) The state shall guarantee vocational training and education of employees in law enforcement authorities, migration bodies, and other authorities in the field of preventing and combating trafficking in human beings.
(2) Such vocational training and education of personnel shall be based on the methods of preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, the most advanced techniques for conducting criminal investigation in cases of trafficking in human beings, including trafficking in children, the observance of the rights and interests of victims of trafficking and on the most advanced forms of their protection.
(3) The vocational training and education of personnel shall comprise methods and forms of collaboration of public administration authorities with representations of international and regional organizations in the Republic of Moldova, non-governmental organizations, other institutions and representatives of civil society, as well as methods and forms of cooperation and collaboration of public administration authorities, organizations and institutions of the Republic of Moldova with interested authorities, organizations and institutions of other states and with international and regional organizations.
(See: Moldovan Law on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, 2005)