Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons

 

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 purpose 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.

 

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons 2, Conventions: Chronological Index, Human Rights conventions.