The United Nations Defines human trafficking as the “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs” (UN, 2003; as cited in Jones 2007).
The significance of the protocol is that is affords trafficked persons the status of victims even if they are involved in illegal activities. Despite the protocol’s definition and intent, the lack of common and accepted definitional terms continues to create confusion for how governments and NGOs should proceed in the battle against human trafficking, functions and roles of these entities and the increased difficulty in obtaining accurate data regarding trafficked persons.