Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children is a protocol to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. It is one of the three Palermo protocols, the others being the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and the Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms.
The protocol was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 and entered into force on 25 December 2003. As of July 2025, it has been ratified by 185 parties.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is responsible for implementing the protocol. It offers practical help to states with drafting laws, creating comprehensive national anti-trafficking strategies, and assisting with resources to implement them. In March 2009, UNODC launched the Blue Heart Campaign to fight human trafficking, to raise awareness, and to encourage involvement and inspire action.
The protocol commits ratifying states to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, protecting and assisting victims of trafficking and promoting cooperation among states in order to meet those objectives.

Content of the protocol

The protocol covers the following:

Defining the trafficking in human beings and the scope of "exploitation": to be considered trafficking in persons, a situation must meet three conditions: act, means and purpose
Requiring states to adopt legislation criminalising trafficking as so defined, acting as an accomplice to other traffickers and organizing trafficking by others

In Warsaw on 16 May 2005, the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings was opened for accession. The convention established a Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings which monitors the implementation of the convention through country reports. It has been ratified by 45 European states, while a further one state has signed but not yet ratified it.
Complementary protection is ensured through the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against [Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse].
In addition, the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg has passed judgments involving trafficking in human beings which violated obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights: Siliadin v France, judgment of 26 July 2005, and Rantsev v Cyprus and Russia, judgment of 7 January 2010.
The Council of Europe co-operates closely with the United Nations.