The UK’s International Obligations in Human Trafficking Law

The Court of Appeal in R. v Joseph (2017) EWCA Crim 36 helpfully provided a brief summary of the UK’s international obligations – which is quoted below – relating to the definition of human trafficking and the need to provide for the possibility of non-prosecution of trafficking victims charged with a related criminal offence. The most significant international instruments in this area are the Palermo Protocol, the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings and the EU’s Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combatting trafficking in human beings. The UK courts used these international instruments to guide its development of common law (judge-made law) on human trafficking, before the Modern Slavery Act 2015 came into force (see R. v Joseph at para. 20).