Assessing Criminal Justice and Human Rights Models in the Fight Against Sex Trafficking: A Case Study of the ASEAN Region

This article focuses on how the responses of the States within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter ASEAN) to combating sex trafficking, or trafficking for the purposes of forced prostitution, have evolved over time. In doing so it assesses the effectiveness of these frameworks in addressing the plight of trafficked victims and breaking the vicious cycle of trafficking. Part 2 gives a brief overview of the various criminal law, human rights and multidisciplinary frameworks developed by the international community against sex trafficking. Particular focus is given to the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (hereinafter the 2000 Palermo Protocol against Trafficking) which has a multidisciplinary and victim-centred approach that reflects a change in the international community’s understanding of sex trafficking, not only as a crime, but as a violation of victims’ rights and whose complex push and pull factors necessitate a multidisciplinary approach. Part 3 then examines ASEAN’s approach to combatting sex trafficking, focusing in particular on how the dominant criminal law approach adopted by ASEAN does not adequately protect trafficked victims, nor does it effectively break the cycle of trafficking. Parts 4, 5 and 6 outline and assess the anti-trafficking strategies developed in Malaysia, a country which has in the past fought sex trafficking via a strict criminal law model, and the Philippines, a country which in the past sought to suppress trafficking pursuant to a labour migration framework. It describes how these countries have, in line with international developments, moved towards adopting a more multidisciplinary and victim-centred approach towards combatting sex trafficking.