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Legislation and international conventions provide tangible opposition to trafficking in persons. Domestic and international instruments have been enacted to prevent and suppress the process of trafficking in persons and related practices such as slavery and servitude.

At the international level, the United Nations Protocol for the Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (the ‘Trafficking in Persons Protocol’), to which Australia is a signatory, entered into force in 2004. This Protocol represents the most comprehensive effort by the international community to target trafficking in persons. Despite being the first instrument which considers trafficking in persons as a distinct issue, the Protocol has been strongly influenced by earlier anti–slavery and ‘white slave traffic’ conventions and treaties. Information is available on this site detailing the development of both the Protocol and the international instruments which preceded it.

In Australia, prior to 1999, slavery and the slave trade were governed by four 19th–century British Imperial Acts, which contained no specific offences relating to trafficking in persons. This changed with the introduction of the Criminal Code Amendment (Slavery and Sexual Servitude) Act 1999 (Cth) which introduced laws criminalizing slavery, sexual servitude and deceptive recruiting for sexual services, but did not specifically address the issue of trafficking in persons. In 2004, the Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons and Debt Bondage) Act 2005 (Cth) was introduced. This legislation created a comprehensive set of offences in respect of transnational and domestic trafficking in persons and debt bondage arrangements. On this site is a detailed description and analysis of these pieces of legislation.

In addition to the Federal legislation, a number of Australian states and territories have laws which criminalise activities associated with trafficking in persons such as sexual servitude and slavery. Relevant laws are identified on this site.