On the fifteenth of November, 2000, the United Nations
General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime, which was meant "[t]o
promote cooperation among States Parties" in order to "to prevent
and combat trafficking in persons" more effectively.' Along with
that Convention are three protocols-additional instruments
meant to supplement the original-that cover trafficking in
persons, smuggling, and illicit firearms, which were also opened
for signature.6 The trafficking in persons protocol is entitled the
"Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United
Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime."'
So as to emphasize the quest to challenge organized crime, the UN originally opened the Conventions and its Protocols for
signature in Palermo, Italy, the heartland of the Sicilian mafia.
Since then, the anti-trafficking protocol has come to be known as
the Palermo Protocol.'