Economic Harship as Coercion Under the Protocol on International Trafficking in Persons by Organized Crime Elements

The focus of this Article is two-fold: (1) to distinguish the situations in which a woman's "choice" is compelled by economic hardship from the limited situations in which a woman chooses prostitution and trafficking in a fully informed and unfettered, and thus, consensual decision; and (2) to demonstrate that decisions compelled by economic hardship as a matter of international law fall within the definition of coercion for sexual offenses generally and sexual trafficking in particular.