‘Abuse of a position of vulnerability’ as a means of trafficking in persons

The ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (ACTIP), defines trafficking in persons in article 2(a) in line with the international definition provided in article 3(a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Accordingly, the guidance offered below, which was developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and reproduced here with their kind permission, is as relevant to the understanding of ‘abuse of a position of vulnerability’ in the ASEAN region, as it as elsewhere.

This Guidance Note is offered to criminal justice practitioners across the ASEAN region, to support their interpretation and application of ‘abuse of a position of vulnerability’ as a means of trafficking in persons. The ASEAN-Australia Counter-Trafficking Programme would like to thank UNODC for supporting the dissemination of this important guidance in the ASEAN region.

ASEAN-ACT supported the design of this document with the permission of UNODC, and did not alter the original content of the document as developed by UNODC.

The redesign of this document has been funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The views expressed in this publication are the authors’ alone and are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government.

The Guidance Note can be downloaded in Bahasa Indonesian, Burmese, English, Khmer, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese.