Student Law Review Issue 1 | Page 27

the effectives of the Act and illuminates the need for the Act to be implemented. As such the 2011, Act is essential as it provides extensive protection to the victims of human trafficking. In conclusion, the Trafficking in Persons Act, 2011 is an effective, sufficient, adequate Act that can criminalize human traffickers. The main evidence showing that the Act is effective is the fact that it complies with the Protocol by adopting the broad definitions and agreed penalties under the Protocol. The Act must comply with the Protocol because the Act was specifically designed to give effect to it and the fact that the Trafficking in Persons Act did in fact adhere to the Protocol illuminates the Act’s effectiveness. Australia’s Divisions 270 and 271 was employed to further illustrate that the 2011 Act, has little or no weakness unlike that of Australia and would not need any amendments. For instance, one of the penalties for human trafficking under Australia’s Divisional Code was twelve years imprisonment and paralleled the penalty for blackmail, a less serious offence, whereby this would need amendments as the penalty should be higher and comparable to serious offences like kidnapping. However, the 2011 Act complies with the Protocol by establishing the agreed penalty of twenty years imprisonment for those found trafficking persons. However, since the 2011 Act was not enforced, other legislations, being the Children’s Act, Chapter 46:01 and the Sexual Offences Act were employed and compared against the 2011 Act to show the necessity for the implementation of the 2011 Act. The comparison illuminated that under the 2011 Act the definitions were much clearer, the penalties much higher and more importantly, there was protection for human trafficking victims unlike the other legislations. For instance, unlike the Children’s Act, Chapter 46:01, the 2011 Act seek to target every element of human trafficking as section 26 of the 2011 Act criminalises people receiving benefits, knowing that it results from the offence of trafficking children. As a result, the Trafficking in Persons Act if it were to be implemented would be effective as the 2011 Act incorporates several measures to target and severely criminalize human traffickers. 23