The Effectiveness of the Palermo Protocol in Ensuring Access to Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking

Abstract

The Palermo Protocol, officially known as the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, is the most comprehensive international legal instrument in the framework of eradicating human trafficking since its adoption in 2000. Despite more than two decades in operation, the effectiveness of the protocol in ensuring access to substantive justice for victims remains an unresolved academic and practical debate. This study aims to critically analyze the effectiveness of the implementation of the Palermo Protocol using a juridical-normative approach combined with a cross-jurisdictional comparative analysis in ten countries that have ratified the protocol. The research findings indicate that there is a significant structural gap between the protocol's normative mandate and the reality of implementation on the ground, particularly in three dimensions: accessibility of the justice system for victims, protection and compensation mechanisms, and inter-institutional coordination at the national and transnational levels. The criminalization of victims, limited capacity of law enforcement agencies, and the absence of trauma-based healing mechanisms are the main systemic obstacles. The novelty of this study lies in the use of an integrated analytical framework that combines access to justice theory, a gender-based human rights perspective, and comparative institutional analysis that has never been applied holistically in previous studies of the Palermo Protocol. Based on these findings, the study recommends a three-tier reform that includes revising protocols at the international level, strengthening domestic legislation with a victim perspective, and developing a standardized independent oversight mechanism.