Convention
for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation
of the Prostitution of Others
Approved by
General Assembly resolution 317(IV) of 2 December
1949
entry
into force 25 July 1951, in accordance with article
24
Whereas prostitution and the accompanying evil of the
traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution are incompatible with
the dignity and worth of the human person and endanger the welfare of
the individual, the family and the community, Whereas, with respect to
the suppression of the traffic in women and children, the following
international instruments are in force:
(1)
International Agreement of 18 May 1904 for the Suppression of the White
Slave Traffic, as amended by the Protocol approved by the General
Assembly of the United Nations on 3 December 1948,
(2)
International Convention of 4 May 1910 for the Suppression of the White
Slave Traffic, as amended by the above-mentioned Protocol,
(3)
International Convention of 30 September 1921 for the Suppression of the
Traffic in Women and Children, as amended by the Protocol approved by
the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20 October 1947,
(4)
International Convention of 11 October 1933 for the Suppression of the
Traffic in Women of Full Age, as amended by the aforesaid
Protocol,
Whereas the League of Nations in 1937 prepared a draft
Convention extending the scope of the above-mentioned instruments,
and
Whereas developments since 1937 make feasible the
conclusion of a convention consolidating the above-mentioned instruments
and embodying the substance of the 1937 draft Convention as well as
desirable alterations therein:
Now
therefore
The
Contracting parties
Hereby
agree as hereinafter provided:
Article
1
The Parties
to the present Convention agree to punish any person who, to gratify the
passions of another:
(1)
Procures, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another
person, even with the consent of that person;
(2)
Exploits the prostitution of another person, even with the consent of
that person.
Article
2
The Parties
to the present Convention further agree to punish any person who:
(1) Keeps
or manages, or knowingly finances or takes part in the financing of a
brothel;
(2)
Knowingly lets or rents a building or other place or any part thereof
for the purpose of the prostitution of others.
Article
3
To the
extent permitted by domestic law, attempts to commit any of the offences
referred to in articles 1 and 2, and acts preparatory to the commission
thereof, shall also be punished.
Article
4
To the
extent permitted by domestic law, intentional participation in the acts
referred to in articles 1 and 2 above shall also be punishable.
To the
extent permitted by domestic law, acts of participation shall be treated
as separate offences whenever this is necessary to prevent
impunity.
Article
5
In cases
where injured persons are entitled under domestic law to be parties to
proceedings in respect of any of the offences referred to in the present
Convention, aliens shall be so entitled upon the same terms as
nationals.
Article
6
Each Party
to the present Convention agrees to take all the necessary measures to
repeal or abolish any existing law, regulation or administrative
provision by virtue of which persons who engage in or are suspected of
engaging in prostitution are subject either to special registration or
to the possession of a special document or to any exceptional
requirements for supervision or notification.
Article
7
Previous
convictions pronounced in foreign States for offences referred to in the
present Convention shall, to the extent permitted by domestic law, be
taken into account for the purposes of:
(1)
Establishing recidivism;
(2)
Disqualifying the offender from the exercise of civil rights.
Article
8
The
offences referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the present Convention shall
be regarded as extraditable offences in any extradition treaty which has
been or may hereafter be concluded between any of the Parties to this
Convention.
The Parties
to the present Convention which do not make extradition conditional on
the existence of a treaty shall henceforward recognize the offences
referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the present Convention as cases for
extradition between themselves.
Extradition
shall be granted in accordance with the law of the State to which the
request is made.
Article
9
In States
where the extradition of nationals is not permitted by law, nationals
who have returned to their own State after the commission abroad of any
of the offences referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the present
Convention shall be prosecuted in and punished by the courts of their
own State.
This
provision shall not apply if, in a similar case between the Parties to
the present Convention, the extradition of an alien cannot be
granted.
Article
10
The
provisions of article 9 shall not apply when the person charged with the
offence has been tried in a foreign State and, if convicted, has served
his sentence or had it remitted or reduced in conformity with the laws
of that foreign State.
Article
11
Nothing in
the present Convention shall be interpreted as determining the attitude
of a Party towards the general question of the limits of criminal
jurisdiction under international law.
Article
12
The present
Convention does not affect the principle that the offences to which it
refers shall in each State be defined, prosecuted and punished in
conformity with its domestic law.
Article
13
The Parties
to the present Convention shall be bound to execute letters of request
relating to offences referred to in the Convention in accordance with
their domestic law and practice.
The
transmission of letters of request shall be effected:
(1) By
direct communication between the judicial authorities; or
(2) By
direct communication between the Ministers of Justice of the two States,
or by direct communication from another competent authority of the State
making the request to the Minister of Justice of the State to which the
request is made; or
(3) Through
the diplomatic or consular representative of the State making the
request in the State to which the request is made; this representative
shall send the letters of request direct to the competent judicial
authority or to the authority indicated by the Government of the State
to which the request is made, and shall receive direct from such
authority the papers constituting the execution of the letters of
request.
In cases 1
and 3 a copy of the letters of request shall always be sent to the
superior authority of the State to which application is made.
Unless
otherwise agreed, the letters of request shall be drawn up in the
language of the authority making the request, provided always that the
State to which the request is made may require a translation in its own
language, certified correct by the authority making the request.
Each Party
to the present Convention shall notify to each of the other Parties to
the Convention the method or methods of transmission mentioned above
which it will recognize for the letters of request of the latter
State.
Until such
notification is made by a State, its existing procedure in regard to
letters of request shall remain in force.
Execution
of letters of request shall not give rise to a claim for reimbursement
of charges or expenses of any nature whatever other than expenses of
experts.
Nothing in
the present article shall be construed as an undertaking on the part of
the Parties to the present Convention to adopt in criminal matters any
form or methods of proof contrary to their own domestic laws.
Article
14
Each Party
to the present Convention shall establish or maintain a service charged
with the co-ordination and centralization of the results of the
investigation of offences referred to in the present Convention.
Such
services should compile all information calculated to facilitate the
prevention and punishment of the offences referred to in the present
Convention and should be in close contact with the corresponding
services in other States.
Article
15
To the
extent permitted by domestic law and to the extent to which the
authorities responsible for the services referred to in article 14 may
judge desirable, they shall furnish to the authorities responsible for
the corresponding services in other States the following
information:
(1)
Particulars of any offence referred to in the present Convention or any
attempt to commit such offence;
(2)
Particulars of any search for any prosecution, arrest, conviction,
refusal of admission or expulsion of persons guilty of any of the
offences referred to in the present Convention, the movements of such
persons and any other useful information with regard to them.
The
information so furnished shall include descriptions of the offenders,
their fingerprints, photographs, methods of operation, police records
and records of conviction.
Article
16
The Parties
to the present Convention agree to take or to encourage, through their
public and private educational, health, social, economic and other
related services, measures for the prevention of prostitution and for
the rehabilitation and social adjustment of the victims of prostitution
and of the offences referred to in the present Convention.
Article
17
The Parties
to the present Convention undertake, in connection with immigration and
emigration, to adopt or maintain such measures as are required, in terms
of their obligations under the present Convention, to check the traffic
in persons of either sex for the purpose of prostitution.
In
particular they undertake:
(1) To make
such regulations as are necessary for the protection of immigrants or
emigrants, and in particular, women and children, both at the place of
arrival and departure and while en route;
(2) To
arrange for appropriate publicity warning the public of the dangers of
the aforesaid traffic;
(3) To take
appropriate measures to ensure supervision of railway stations,
airports, seaports and en route, and of other public places, in order to
prevent international traffic in persons for the purpose of
prostitution;
(4) To take
appropriate measures in order that the appropriate authorities be
informed of the arrival of persons who appear, prima facie, to be the
principals and accomplices in or victims of such traffic.
Article
18
The Parties
to the present Convention undertake, in accordance with the conditions
laid down by domestic law, to have declarations taken from aliens who
are prostitutes, in order to establish their identity and civil status
and to discover who has caused them to leave their State. The
information obtained shall be communicated to the authorities of the
State of origin of the said persons with a view to their eventual
repatriation.
Article
19
The Parties
to the present Convention undertake, in accordance with the conditions
laid down by domestic law and without prejudice to prosecution or other
action for violations thereunder and so far as possible:
(1) Pending
the completion of arrangements for the repatriation of destitute victims
of international traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution, to
make suitable provisions for their temporary care and
maintenance;
(2) To
repatriate persons referred to in article 18 who desire to be
repatriated or who may be claimed by persons exercising authority over
them or whose expulsion is ordered in conformity with the law.
Repatriation shall take place only after agreement is reached with the
State of destination as to identity and nationality as well as to the
place and date of arrival at frontiers. Each Party to the present
Convention shall facilitate the passage of such persons through its
territory.
Where the
persons referred to in the preceding paragraph cannot themselves repay
the cost of repatriation and have neither spouse, relatives nor guardian
to pay for them, the cost of repatriation as far as the nearest frontier
or port of embarkation or airport in the direction of the State of
origin shall be borne by the State where they are in residence, and the
cost of the remainder of the journey shall be borne by the State of
origin.
Article
20
The Parties
to the present Convention shall, if they have not already done so, take
the necessary measures for the supervision of employment agencies in
order to prevent persons seeking employment, in particular women and
children, from being exposed to the danger of prostitution.
Article
21
The Parties
to the present Convention shall communicate to the Secretary-General of
the United Nations such laws and regulations as have already been
promulgated in their States, and thereafter annually such laws and
regulations as may be promulgated, relating to the subjects of the
present Convention, as well as all measures taken by them concerning the
application of the Convention. The information received shall be
published periodically by the Secretary-General and sent to all Members
of the United Nations and to non-member States to which the present
Convention is officially communicated in accordance with article
23.
Article
22
If any
dispute shall arise between the Parties to the present Convention
relating to its interpretation or application and if such dispute cannot
be settled by other means, the dispute shall, at the request of any one
of the Parties to the dispute, be referred to the International Court of
Justice.
Article
23
The present
Convention shall be open for signature on behalf of any Member of the
United Nations and also on behalf of any other State to which an
invitation has been addressed by the Economic and Social Council.
The present
Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall
be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The States
mentioned in the first paragraph which have not signed the Convention
may accede to it.
Accession
shall be effected by deposit of an instrument of accession with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
For the
purposes of the present Convention the word "State" shall include all
the colonies and Trust Territories of a State signatory or acceding to
the Convention and all territories for which such State is
internationally responsible.
Article
24
The present
Convention shall come into force on the ninetieth day following the date
of deposit of the second instrument of ratification or accession.
For each
State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the
second instrument of ratification or accession, the Convention shall
enter into force ninety days after the deposit by such State of its
instrument of ratification or accession.
Article
25
After the
expiration of five years from the entry into force of the present
Convention, any Party to the Convention may denounce it by a written
notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations.
Such
denunciation shall take effect for the Party making it one year from the
date upon which it is received by the Secretary-General of the United
Nations.
Article
26
The
Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all Members of the
United Nations and non-member States referred to in article 23:
(a) Of
signatures, ratifications and accessions received in accordance with
article 23;
(b) Of the
date on which the present Convention will come into force in accordance
with article 24;
(c) Of
denunciations received in accordance with article 25.
Article
27
Each Party
to the present Convention undertakes to adopt, in accordance with its
Constitution, the legislative or other measures necessary to ensure the
application of the Convention.
Article
28
The
provisions of the present Convention shall supersede in the relations
between the Parties thereto the provisions of the international
instruments referred to in subparagraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the second
paragraph of the Preamble, each of which shall be deemed to be
terminated when all the Parties thereto shall have become Parties to the
present Convention.
FINAL
PROTOCOL
Nothing in
the present Convention shall be deemed to prejudice any legislation
which ensures, for the enforcement of the provisions for securing the
suppression of the traffic in persons and of the exploitation of others
for purposes of prostitution, stricter conditions than those provided by
the present Convention.
The
provisions of articles 23 to 26 inclusive of the Convention shall apply
to the present Protocol.
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