Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spanish legislation against trafficking in human beings: punitive excess and poor victims assistance

  • Published:
Crime, Law and Social Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The article seeks to provide a perspective of human trafficking as one of the fastest growing criminal activities of the last few years in the area of organised crime and one that affects human beings’ most basic rights. In the main, the response to the problem has been its criminal prosecution, but without tackling the issues of need that underlie this conduct and which the traffickers take advantage of to abuse, assail and exploit the people they traffic. In this context, the evolution of Spanish legislation in terms of the criminalisation of this problem has made it one of the most repressive, although there is no clear evidence of its effectiveness. This punishment, which covers a wide range of criminal conducts, has not however been accompanied by any policies to support and integrate the victims of trafficking, which has led to a large number of victims being subjected to slavery who, in the majority of cases, fall under the control of the trafficking networks again.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Amended by the Protocol signed at Lake Success, New York, on 4 May 1949.

  2. International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children, concluded at Geneva on 30 September 1921 and amended by the Protocol signed at Lake Success, New York, on 12 November 1947. Giving a very brief summary of the guidelines agreed in Geneva, it could be said that the set of measures planned had a dual nature: some were repressive, derived from the obligation of the countries taking part to adopt any measure necessary to discover and punish those who traffic in children, or attempt to traffic or carry out preparatory actions related to trafficking in women and children; and secondly, preventive measures, such as surveillance of employment agencies and offices with a view to protecting women who seek work in other countries, the creation of legislative and administrative measures in the area of emigration and immigration that make it possible to provide support to women and children at the time of their departure, during transit and upon arrival.

  3. This committee was made up of ten representatives of ten countries appointed by the League of Nations Council, together with five advisors from five non-governmental organisations principally dedicated to the fight against this kind of trafficking: International Catholic Association for the Protection of Girls, Jewish Association for the Protection of Girls, and the Federation of the “Amigas de la Joven” Societies, together with the international office in London for the suppression of white slave traffic, and the major international women’s associations.

  4. Report of the Special Body of experts on Traffic in Women and Children (Geneve, 1927).

  5. Commission of Enquiry into Traffic in Women and Children in the East, Report to the Council (Geneva, 1932), 96.

  6. The International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age concluded in Geneva on 11 October 1933 and was amended the Protocol signed at Lake Success, New York, on 12 November 1947.

  7. Draft Convention of 1937 for Suppressing the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. U.N. ESCOR, U.M. Doc E/574 (1947).

  8. Similarly, the year before, Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) established that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4 prohibits slavery and the slave trade in all their forms, and Article 5 recognises that everyone has a right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. According to Article 5, no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Therefore, any form of violence that represents a threat to life, liberty and security of person or which may be interpreted as torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment infringes the principles of this Declaration.

  9. Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others—approved by the General Assembly in its resolution 317 (IV) of December 2 1949, opened for signature at Lake Success, New York, on 21 March 1950. At the same time, the 1949 Geneva Convention relating to the protection of civilians in times of war, and the additional Protocols of 1977 (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, no. 973) established that women would be especially protected against any kind of attack on their honour and, in particular, against rape, forced prostitution and all attacks on their modesty.

  10. Specifically, the International Agreement of 18 May 1904 for the Suppression of White Slave Traffic, the International Convention of 4 May 1910 for the Suppression of White Slave Traffic, the International Convention of 30 September 1921 for the Suppression of Traffic in Women and Children, and the International Convention of 11 October 1933 for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age.

  11. Nevertheless, on 3 May 1958 the European Council had to issue its “Recommandation 161 (3 mai 1958) de l’Assemblée consultative demandant une ratification rapide de la Convention internationale du 2 décembre 1949 pour la répression et l’abolition de la traite des êtres humains et de l’exploitation de la prostitution”, given the small number of countries that had signed up at the time.

  12. Published in the Spanish Official Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE) no. 230, 25 September 1962.

  13. The European Parliament Resolution on Trafficking in Human Beings (a4-0326/95) adopted on 18 January 1996 (OJEC 32/88, 5.2.1996), supplemented by ACP-EU Resolution on the Specific Role of Women in Development Co-operation and Assembly Trafficking in Women, adopted in Windhoek (Namibia) (ref: ACP-EU 1674/96/fin).

  14. In this resolution, human trafficking was described as “the illegal act that directly or indirectly favours the entry or permanence of a citizen from a third country, for the purpose of their exploitation, using deception or any other kind of constriction or abuse of a situation of vulnerability or of administrative illegality”.

  15. The Council of Europe Convention has been signed by 43 European countries and ratified by 26 (including Austria, 12 October 2008, Belgium, 4 April 2009, Denmark, 5 September 2006, France, 1 January 2008, Norway, 17 January 2008, Poland, 17 November 2008, Portugal, 27 February 2008, Turkey, 27 May 2009, United Kingdom, 17 December 2008). Greece, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland has signed but not ratified the Convention.

  16. The Council of Europe Convention has recently been ratified on 2 April 2009 (Instrumento de Ratificación del Convenio del Consejo de Europa sobre la lucha contra la trata de seres humanos (Convenio nº 197 del Consejo de Europa), hecho en Varsovia el 16 de mayo de 2006, Boletín Oficial del Estado, núm. 219 de jueves de 10 de septiembre de 2009, Sección I, 76.453 and seq).

  17. Namely: genocide, terrorism, piracy and airship hijacking, currency counterfeit, prostitution and corruption of minors and disable persons, illegal trafficking on drugs, trafficking in persons or illegal immigration and female genital mutilation. Vid. Article 23.4 Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial and the recent amending act Ley Orgánica 13/2007, de 19 de noviembre, para la persecución extraterritorial del tráfico ilegal o la inmigración clandestina de personas.

  18. A critical approach to Article 318 bis of the Criminal Code in De León Villalba, F.J. (2003). Tráfico de personas e inmigración ilegal. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 244 and seq.

  19. On the interpretation of Article 59 in the context of the protection of the victim, vid. García Arán, M. (2006). Introducción. In M. García Arán, Trata de personas y explotación sexual (pp. 296 et seq). Granada: Edt. Comares.

  20. See De León Villalba, F.J. (2003). Tráfico de personas e inmigración ilegal. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 397 and seq.

  21. Article 117 Real Decreto 2393/2004.

  22. Article 54.4 Real Decreto 2393/2004.

  23. Article 22.4 Criminal Code.

  24. It is not consider as a criminally punishable conduct when the alien tries to enter or to stay illegally in the Spanish territory. This conduct is only relevant in terms of administrative liability which can determine illegal aliens’ deportation. However, Germany (Gesetz über den Aufenthal, die Erwerbstätigkeit und lie Integration von Ausländern im Bundesgebiet), Belgium (Loi de 15 décembre 1980 sur l’acceès au territoire, le séjour, l’établissemente et l’éloignement des étrangeres), France (Ordonnance nº 2004-1248 du 24 novembre 2004 relative á la partie legislative du code de l’entrée et du séjour des ñetrangeres et du droit d’asile, modified through the Loi nº 2006-911 du 24 juliet 2006 relative à l’immigration et à l’integration), Portugal (Decreto-Lei nº 244/98, de 8 de agosto, regulamenta a entrada, permanência, saída e afastamento de estrangeiros do territorio nacional, modified in 2001, 2003 and 2006), and Switzerland (Loi fedérale sur les étrangeres du 16 décembre 2005) provide for prison and fine when the alien enters or stays illegally in their territories.

  25. For an analysis of the transposition and implementation as well as the impact of the Framework Decision of 19 July 2002 on trafficking on human beings in twelve selected Member States, see the result of the following team work performed by academics and researchers members of the European Criminal Law Academic Network: De León Villalba, F.J., Maroto Calatayud, M. & Rodríguez Arias, M.A (2009). Spanish legislation on combating trafficking in human beings. In A. Weyembergh, & V. Santamaría, The evaluation of European Criminal law. The example of the Framework Decision on combating trafficking in human beings (315–335). Belgium: Institud D’etudes Europeennes, Université de Bruxelles.

  26. This last reference to “any other country of the European Union” was added as recently as November 2007, together with a similar change in article 313.1 of the Criminal Code.

  27. France, Germany and Portugal have adopted a classical perspective on the conduct of trafficking in human beings so as this offence does not constitute an autonomous crime but in the way it is connected with sexual or labor exploitation. On the contrary, Italy also offers as the Spanish Criminal Code an autonomous conception of human trafficking.

  28. See judgements of the Supreme Court STS 484/2007, May 29th 2007; STS 1080/2006, November 2nd 2006; STS 1087/2006, November 10th 2006.

  29. Germany, Italy, Portugal and France recognize as an aggravating circumstance if the victim is underage but they do not consider as an aggravating when the victim’s life or integrity have been at risk.

  30. Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Belgium and The Netherlands consider as an aggravating circumstance if the perpetrator belongs to a criminal organization.

  31. France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland distinguish the two offences in their Criminal Code and in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland the definition of smuggling is found in the laws on aliens and, in this sense, entering and staying illegally in their territories is provided with prison and fine. However, the penalties provided are not overly severe (prison terms to 1 to 5 years) and this is why it can be said that the interest being protected is that of the State’s, immigration flows.

  32. This identification of the victim as an immigrant can be also found in the majority of the European countries which shows the wrong understanding of the trafficking in human beings as any national can also be trafficked.

  33. The sanctions for legal persons set forth in Article 129 are: closure of the company, its offices or headquarters, for a period of up to 5 years; judicial winding-up order of the society, association or foundation; stop of the activities of the society, company, foundation or association for a period of up to 5 years; incapacitation to engage in the future in business activities or commercial operation related to those involved in the commission, cover-up or facilitation of the offence; judicial supervision of the company in order to safeguard the rights of workers.

  34. Article 54.1.2 b Criminal Code.

  35. Article 189.

  36. Article 23.4 LOPJ. See also the introduction to Ley 13/2007.

  37. See Judgment of the Supreme Court STS 582/2007, June 21st

  38. Doc. ONU CRC/C/OPSC/ESP/CO/1 October 17 2007.

  39. It is then the author’s opinion that the trafficking in human beings should be replaced in the Spanish Criminal Code among those offences against people’s dignity. I have always been critical about the punitive excess of Spanish legislation on this phenomenon and defended that new treatment since the first Spanish monograph on human trafficking I wrote back in 2003 as it is the ultimate aim of the legislation in trafficking in human beings, the protection of the fundamental rights of the victim, especially dignity. Following this path, a new Criminal Code is today in parliamentary procedure to be passed (Spanish Congress Gazette, Boletín del Congreso de los Diputados, Ser. A, number 52-1, 27 September 2009) containing the treatment I early supported and ratified today.

References

  1. Pérez Cepeda, A. I. (2004). Globalización, tráfico internacional ilícito de personas y derecho penal. Granada: Estudios de Derecho Penal.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Gregory, M. (1908). The suppression of the white slave traffic. Historical sketch of the English section of the movement. London.

  3. García Arán, M. (2006). Introducción. In M. García Arán (Ed.), Trata de personas y explotación sexual. Edt. Comares: Granada.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Díaz y García Conlledo, M. (2007). Protección y expulsión de extranjeros en derecho penal. Madrid: La Ley.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Weyembergh, A., & Santamaría, V. (2009). The evaluation of European criminal law. The example of the framework decision on combating trafficking in human beings. Belgium: Institud D’etudes Europeennes, Université de Bruxelles.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Nieto Martín, A. (2007). La responsabilidad penal de las personas jurídicas: un modelo legislativo. Madrid: IUSTEL.

    Google Scholar 

  7. De León Villalba, F. J. (2003). Tráfico de personas e inmigración ilegal. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Alamo, A. (2007). Protección penal de la dignidad? A propósito de los delitos relativos a la prostitución a la trata de personas para la explotación sexual. Revista Penal, 19.

  9. Askola, H. (2007). Legal responses to trafficking in women for sexual exploitation in the European Union. Oxford: Hart Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Cancio Meliá, M., & Maraver Gómez, M. (2005). Derecho Penal español ante la inmigración: un estudio político-criminal. In E. Bacigalupo & M. Cancio Meliá (Eds.), Derecho penal y política transnacional. Barcelona: Editorial Atelier.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Tiedemann, K. (2002). Wirtschaftsstrafrecht in der Europäischen Union. Köln: Heymann. Spanish edition: Tiedemann, K. (2003). Protección penal de la competencia (trans. Nieto Martín, A.). In K. Tiedemann (Ed.), Eurodelitos. El derecho penal económico en la Unión Europea. Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain

    Francisco Javier De León

Authors
  1. Francisco Javier De León
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francisco Javier De León.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

De León, F.J. Spanish legislation against trafficking in human beings: punitive excess and poor victims assistance. Crime Law Soc Change 54, 381–409 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-010-9263-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-010-9263-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation