| In 2016,a group of reports on the Thai shrimp industry won the Pulitzer Prize for public service awards,which revealed the widespread human trafficking in the Thai shrimp industry over the years and described the tragic experiences of victims of human trafficking.The human trafficking is once again presented to the eyes of the international community.Victims come from a number of countries,including Cambodia,Laos and Thailand,and these victims may also be taken to the Indonesian waters for shrimp fishing.In addition to Thailand,transnational human trafficking has occurred in many other countries over the world.This phenomenon has also attracted the attention of the International Criminal Court.In addition,there is serious human trafficking in Libya,which is a situation ruled by the ICC.In 2016,OTP said that it should pay attention to human trafficking when choosing cases for investigation.In2017,OPT said considering the serious circumstances in Libya,which has made the situation worse,the OPT was considering to investigate the human trafficking in Libya.So,it is a question that whether it is possible to assume international criminal responsibility.The first problem which should be resolved is the misunderstanding of human trafficking.There are some views that confuse human trafficking with exploitation,and some other opinions confuse it with smuggling and slave trade.In fact,the purpose of Human Trafficking Protocol is to regulate human trafficking,whichhappens before exploitation,and under the protocol,the parties do not have obligation to forbid exploitation.Besides,smuggling always bases on the will of stowaways,which is different from human trafficking.And the purpose of smuggler is the money,however,the goal of smuggler is exploitation.When talking about the slave trade,the victims are always treated like a merchandise,but the smuggler often focus on the value which comes from exploitation.So,human trafficking is different from exploitation,smuggling and slave trade.The second problem is whether human trafficking violates customary international law and whether there is any customary international law about the definition of human trafficking.In fact,most countries of the world have considered human trafficking as a crime,including China,France,German,British and so on.Besides,until 2019,there are 173 parties of Human Trafficking Protocol,of which 57 have fully adopted the definition in it,and many other countries have identified with the type of definition in the protocol.Moreover,many countries have expressed the desire to combat human trafficking at the UN General Assembly and the national conferences.As a result,we can reach the conclusion that human trafficking violates customary international law and the definition of human trafficking in the protocol has been the customary international law.The third problem is whether human trafficking may constitute crime against humanity,and the most important issue is the relationship between human trafficking and other inhuman acts.Other inhuman acts are acts of similar character intentionally causing great suffering,or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.As mentioned above,human trafficking violates the customary international law,and the acts of human trafficking may limit personal freedom and deprive the right to a standard,which violates the basic human rights.Besides,the restrictions on personal freedom,poor living conditions and lack of medical conditions can cause serious harm to the victims.Furthermore,taking into account the transnational nature of human trafficking,the large number of victims involved ant the fact that the State may be involved in human trafficking,human trafficking can also fulfill the requirements of contextual elements of crime against humanity.After all the analysis above,it can be found that transnational human trafficking is jointly regulated by statute law and customary international law in international criminal law,and it can be tried by ICC in the name of crimes against humanity. |
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