Article 9(1) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children states that "State Parties shall establish comprehensive policies, programmes and other measures to prevent and combat trafficking in persons". Such measures include "research, information and mass media campaigns and social and economic initiatives to prevent and combat trafficking in persons" in order "to alleviate the factors that make persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking, such as poverty, underdevelopment and lack of equal opportunity".
It also imposes an obligation on State parties to cooperate with non-government organizations (NGOs), which have a valuable contribution to make. This is recognized in article 9(3), which provides that "[p]olicies, programmes and other measures established in accordance with this article shall, as appropriate, include cooperation with non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other elements of civil society".Article 9(4) refers to the need for bilateral and multilateral cooperation between States (on prevention in the Protocol generally, see Gallagher, 2010, chapter 8).
The sub-pages to this section provide a descriptive overview of the key issues that lecturers might want to cover with their students when teaching on this topic:
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