SOGOLAS Research Seminar: The Palermo Protocols on Trafficking and Smuggling - Challenges Related to Treaty Interpretation and International Accountability Responses

Presenters: The speakers are Dr Demetra Loizou (UClan Cyprus) and Aleksander Raketski (Chief Officer EIBM R&D, Frontex, Estonian Academy of Security Sciences).

The Palermo Protocols on Trafficking and Smuggling present distinct legal frameworks under international law, particularly in terms of how victims are categorised. While the Trafficking Protocol explicitly recognizes trafficked individuals as victims, the Smuggling Protocol does not extend the same status to smuggled migrants. This distinction has significant implications for protection, prosecution, and international cooperation. This seminar will focus on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) as the primary framework for interpreting the Protocols, focusing on the rules and methods of treaty interpretation as encapsulated in Articles 31 and 32 VCLT. The travaux préparatoires and interpretative notes of the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols reinforce the role accorded to the VCLT, particularly on the matter of reservations. Furthermore, the seminar explores the dispute settlement regime under the Protocols with respect to disputes between States Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the Protocols (in particular Article 15(2) Trafficking Protocol and Article 20(2) Smuggling Protocol), recently invoked by Lithuania in initiating proceedings against Belarus before the ICJ over alleged smuggling of migrants. Reference will be also made to other key developments in the area, such as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (e.g., Rantsev case).

This seminar also aims at providing a comprehensive understanding of the position of Estonia on the role of Frontex - the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, that plays a frontline operational role in implementing many of the principles laid out in the abovementioned international legal instruments. Frontex supports EU member states in detecting and disrupting migrant smuggling and trafficking networks—core objectives of the Palermo Protocols. Its Joint Operations at land and sea borders often involve identifying and referring potential victims of trafficking to appropriate authorities.

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