Victims' ability to receive help and escape their traffickers is wholly
dependent upon law enforcement officials identifying individuals as
victims.4" The field of human trafficking is specialized, and without
comprehensive training law enforcement officials are frequently unequipped to identify human trafficking victims.47 This is emphatically
the case with boys who are victims of trafficking, because public
conception of the "iconic victim" does not include males.48 The lack of
awareness about males being trafficked makes it "increasingly attractive
to criminal networks" that specialize in trafficking of boys.49 Law
enforcement officials are frequently the first to encounter trafficking
victims, and the victim's ability to escape is highly contingent upon law
enforcement recognizing them as victims." To this end, the Palermo
Protocol requires:
State Parties shall provide or strengthen training for law
enforcement, immigration and other relevant officials in the
prevention of trafficking in persons. The training should focus on
methods used in preventing such trafficking, prosecuting the
traffickers and protecting the rights of the victims ... . [T]raining
should also take into account the need to consider human rights
and child- and gender-sensitive issues.