Today, La Strada International and GAATW organised a side event at the 26th OSCE Alliance Conference on Trafficking in Persons, “From Criminalisation to Protection: Strengthening the Non-Punishment Principle in Cases of Forced Criminality.” The discussion reinforced a critical reality: despite clear international and regional frameworks, trafficked persons are still being arrested, prosecuted, and convicted for acts they were forced to commit.
This gap between legal standards and practice remains a serious concern, particularly for migrants, asylum seekers, children, and people in irregular situations. Speakers, representing our members LEFO IBF, Hope Now, and the Helen Bamber Foundation, as well as GAATW and the Dutch National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking shared compelling insights from research, legal casework, and frontline practice across Europe and beyond. Their contributions highlighted that the non-punishment principle continues to be applied inconsistently, including in cases where individuals have already been identified as trafficked persons. Key challenges include persistent lack of awareness and training among practitioners; high thresholds and inconsistent application of the non-punishment principle; limited access to quality legal assistance and structural barriers to early identification of victims.
Adequate application of the non-punishment principle requires: a shift away from punitive (migration) approaches toward victim protection; clear legal frameworks and prosecutorial guidance, better monitoring of the application based on more systematic data collection, early and unconditional application of the non-punishment principle and better awareness and better cooperation between police, NGOs, and judicial actors. A strong recommendation was also made by La Strada International to ensure more funding for NGOs to reach and assist victims and monitor the application of the non-punishment provision.
Read also our research on the non-punishment provision, in which we analyse cases where it should have been applied and how it was used in practice, showed that in most cases, the provision was either not applied at all or only partially applied, leaving victims of human trafficking punished for crimes or irregularities directly linked to their exploitation. Access the research here.