Protocol Annotation: This article was a priority for countries of destination at the
negotiations because it requires countries of origin to accept the return of their citizens and
residents. A number of governments do not cooperate with repatriations and so trafficked
persons often are held in detention centers for long periods of time. This article should
improve the situation because all countries that sign the Trafficking Protocol will be obligated
to take back their citizens and permanent residents.
However, the Article does not address the problem of statelessness of trafficked persons.
Some trafficked persons come from communities in which childbirths are not registered and
others travel with false documents. In both situations, the trafficked persons do not have
any legitimate travel documents and may find it very difficult to obtain new ones. As a result,
countries of destination are sometimes faced with the situation in which no government will
accept the trafficked person as a citizen, leaving the person stateless.
The Trafficking Protocol does not provide any guidance on how to handle these situations.
However, trafficked persons are victims of serious crimes and should not be held in
detention simply because they do not have legitimate travel documents, through no fault of
their own. Ideally, countries of destination should treat all stateless trafficked persons in the
same manner as refugees and provide them with a legal means to remain in the country