UNHCR Protection Manual - Related sources

This paper's overall purpose is to identify the current gaps in protection mechanisms for trafficked persons, particularly trafficked children, as well as ways to address these lacunae. The study provides background research and information on three connected issues: i) the protection challenges that arise out of existing state mechanisms for identifying trafficked persons; ii) the establishment of a national referral system that guarantees assessment of the needs for international protection of persons identified as trafficked (including their entitlement to protection against refoulement under international refugee and/or human rights law); and iii) procedures adopted to address the special protection needs of trafficked children.

This paper will examine asylum applications by trafficked persons and those in fear of being trafficked, in four English-speaking trafficking receiving countries, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, in conjunction with the UNHCR Trafficking Guidelines. It will also compare pertinent case law among the four countries.

Although research has taken place regarding the refugee-trafficking nexus, these studies have uniformly concentrated on the trafficking of women who have already been granted refugee status. This paper strives to address this junction from another perspective: that of granting refugee status to trafficked women with a well-founded fear of persecution.