UNODC Database reaches a milestone having publicized Human Trafficking Case Law from more than half the world
UNODC Human Trafficking Case Law Database reached a tremendous milestone, having obtained and made publically available human trafficking cases from over one hundred jurisdictions worldwide. Launched in October 2011 as a global public online tool to collect and disseminate information on human trafficking prosecutions and convictions from all over the world, today, just six years later, the Database includes close to 1500 human trafficking cases from 101 jurisdictions worldwide.
Since its conception, the database has been instrumental in increasing the visibility of successful prosecutions and promoting awareness of the realities of the crime of trafficking in persons worldwide. Its increasing geographical coverage has enabled judges, prosecutors, policymakers, legal practitioners, researchers and other interested parties to consult practices in different jurisdictions, to broaden the knowledge-base of human trafficking crimes and to identify best practice models, which can serve to enhance the effectiveness of domestic and international efforts in combatting this crime.
As a tool, it has been indispensable in UNODC work to prevent and combat human trafficking, and has formed the basis of secondary products, such as the Case Digest on Evidential Issues in Trafficking in Persons cases, which based its analysis of typical evidential issues and patterns on 135 cases from 31 jurisdictions. This latest tool will equip practitioners to seek solutions to typical issues that arise in human trafficking cases, inspired by best practices from all over the world. It is currently available in English, with French upcoming as of 2018.
It is also possible to consult human trafficking-related case law via the SHERLOC portal: a wider UNODC initiative, which includes information on Articles of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto, as well as 14 crime types.
The development of the Case Law Database and the Case Digest was made possible thanks to the support of the U.S. Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (U.S. JTIP).