The gray area in the concept of human trafficking: between the text of the law and the purpose of criminalization

ENThe modern concept of human trafficking as a criminal offense is the result of long-term international efforts to curb the enslavement and exploitation of vulnerable people (primarily for prostitution and forced labor). In this context, the White Slave conventions (1904, 1910), Slavery conventions (1926, 1956), Forced Labor conventions (1930, 1957), and Trafficking convention (1949) should be mentioned. However, the concept of human trafficking was finally formed in international and European Union law only at the beginning of the 21st century. Its content today is determined by the following three legal acts: the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children (2000, hereinafter – the Palermo Protocol); the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005); and the European Union Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (2011). These legal acts, based on international agreements, define trafficking in humans the same way, which leads to the uniform content of national criminal laws. As for the Republic of Lithuania, the concept of human trafficking was transposed into national criminal law identically and implemented in two norms: one criminalizes trafficking in adult victims (Article 147 of the Criminal Code), the other trafficking in children (Article 157 of the Criminal Code). The unified concept of human trafficking undoubtedly represents a big step toward coherence in the fight against modern slavery around the world.The need for such a legal remedy was determined by the fact that the concepts of other known crimes against a person proved powerless against modern slavery, which is usually based not on capture and kidnapping, but on agreements between vulnerable victims and their exploiters. This led to the need for a more effective legal instrument that would cover the so-called “voluntary involvement” of victims in exploitation and allow countries to significantly intensify the fight against the phenomenon known as human trafficking. [p. 19].