Trafficking in human beings: international and European human rights framework

Trafficking in human beings is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that presents regulatory and policy challenges that touch upon a wide range of disciplines and approaches, including criminal law, human rights, migration, social work, international judicial cooperation etc, with the application of all extending well beyond national borders, due to its transnational nature. This thesis critically assesses existing and emerging trends developed to address trafficking in human beings, regionally -with a focus on Europe- and internationally. It proposes that the human-rights based approach is the appropriate one to comprehensively address the phenomenon and studies how this approach is gaining momentum across international and European legal instruments and human rights judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. To draw conclusions and propose recommendations, it considers the work of regional and international human rights monitoring mechanisms and courts, as well as relevant scholarship that reflects the ongoing debate in theory and practice in relation to the criminological and human rights approaches.