Enhancing anti-trafficking prevention through targeted, participatory, and multilevel actions

Trafficking in human beings (THB) remains a dynamic and evolving crime closely linked to the phenomena of socio-economic vulnerability, migration, climate change, conflicts and technological developments. Despite the implementation of international and national anti-trafficking legal frameworks, new patterns of exploitation continue to emerge. Vulnerable populations face heightened exposure due to limited access to employment, social protection, information, legal pathways for safe migration, etc.

Prevention is one of the core pillars of anti-trafficking responses under the UN Convention against Organised Crime, but it rarely goes beyond short-term awareness-raising campaigns. Effective prevention requires a holistic, multidisciplinary, and victim-centred approach that addresses both immediate risks and structural root causes. Prevention-focused actions should target different stages of THB – before actual exploitation occurs, disrupting THB while it is happening, and ensuring victims are not re-trafficked through long-term protection and reintegration support. This Policy Brief provides examples of actions under these three segments and offers recommendations on how to achieve effective prevention.

Successful prevention depends on multi-level actions that combine empowerment, protection, and deterrence strategies, ensuring that prevention is integrated across development, migration, labour, and social policies rather than limited to isolated awareness-raising campaigns. The Policy Brief also provides two practical tools and a list of further readings that entail detailed information on different aspects of prevention of THB.