TRATTA DELLE BIANCHE

TRAFFIC IN WOMEN. – The recruitment of women, carried out through violence, deception, threats, or economic inducements, and their transportation from one region to another—especially from one country to another—with a view to prostitution.

I. NATURE OF THE PHENOMENON

It is a kind of trafficking in prostitution (q.v.) and an intermediary activity serving another’s lust for the sake of profit, akin to procuring (q.v.), from which it is distinguished by the added element of transportation to a different region or country. Since this trade, conducted clandestinely and by methods resembling those used in the slave trade that transferred Negroes from the African to the American continent (q.V. SLAVERY), has taken the name of trafficking.

In antiquity, there was the trade in female slaves, who, besides domestic service, were also used to satisfy the lust of their masters; in the pagan Renaissance, the trade in Moorish or Muslim slaves; today, the trade in so-called “white slaves” (though not excluding women of other races), which is often intertwined with illicit trafficking in narcotics, jewels, and espionage.

This trade has buyers, importers, agents, exploiters, procuresses, and pimps. As early as the 18th century, Santelli wrote that procuresses “often leave the cities and go into the villages and towns of the Kingdom, buying girls and then selling them in the cities like beasts at a fair to whoever offers the most” (G. Sannelli, *Ragioni cattoliche, legali e politiche in difesa delle repubbliche rovinate dall’insolentito meretricio*, Naples 1739, p. 29). The advances of international commerce have also left their mark on the trafficking in women, which today is often directed by international “gangsters”; it forms an international network, albeit clandestine, with recruitment centers in large cities, especially major ports, and one of its largest outlets in Latin America.

The most common means of recruitment is the offer of well-paid positions and employment, advertised in newspapers for “stars” for cinema, governesses, teachers, domestic servants, readers, etc., abroad, or the action of agents who, with insinuating manners and promises, secure commitments that gradually reveal their true nature at the most opportune moment to prevent any reaction. There are also specialized employment agencies, disguised under various labels such as clubs, commercial agencies, etc. Among the causes of the trafficking in women, in addition to greed and moral corruption, immigration and the surplus of men separated from their families must be cited for certain countries.

II. SUPPRESSION OF THE PHENOMENON

Trafficking in women reached enormous proportions in the last century, provoking the reaction of all decent people. Thus arose “The National Vigilance Association,” which at a congress in London (1890) laid the foundations for joint action, giving rise to the “International Abolitionist Federation,” which, aiming at the abolition of legal vice, uncovered many iniquities, fostered agreements among governments, and organized meetings and congresses. At the first diplomatic conference against trafficking in women (Paris, 15 July 1902), governments were urged to improve their legislation regarding the suppression of this crime and to align it with what the conference had resolved to put an end to the scandalous traffic. As a result of this conference, a first agreement was signed in Paris (18 May 1904). The second international conference was also held in Paris on 4 May 1910. When the League of Nations was established, by express sanitary provision in its covenant (Art. 23), this international body was entrusted with general oversight of agreements relating to the trafficking of women and children. At the first assembly of the League of Nations (15 Dec. 1920), an international conference was convened, held in Geneva (30 June–5 July 1921) with the participation of 34 States, including Italy. The resolutions adopted were examined at the second assembly of the League of Nations and led to the formulation of an international convention for the suppression of trafficking in women (30 Sept. 1921), ratified by 50 States. Another international convention, under the aegis of the League of Nations, was concluded on 11 Oct. 1933. The recruitment even of consenting women was prohibited before the age of 21; and even for those older, any recruitment carried out through fraud, blackmail, violence, etc., was forbidden. A permanent committee on the trafficking of women and children was also established (1921). Subsequently, due to a recrudescence of the problem caused by the war and its aftermath, the new United Nations Organization (q.v.), the UNO, took a keen interest in the issue, reviving a project elaborated by the League of Nations in 1937 and appropriately supplementing II. Amendments were thus made to the International Agreements of 18 May 1904 and 4 May 1910, with the Protocol approved by the UN General Assembly on 3 Dec. 1948, and to the agreements of 30 Sept. 1921 and 11 Oct. 1933 with another Protocol, approved by the same Assembly on 20 Oct. 1947. Finally, during its fourth session held in New York (2 Dec. 1949), the UN General Assembly approved a Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons, to be subscribed to by all member and non-member States at the invitation of the UN, which not only strengthens and coordinates previous measures for suppressing trafficking in women but also proposes the abolition, in States where it still exists, of the regulation of prostitution (cf. the text of the convention in *Justitia*, 5 [1952], pp. 208–12).

III. THE CRIME OF TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN IN ITALIAN PENAL LAW

In Italy, the Geneva Convention of 1921 was given executive force by Royal Decree No. 2479 of 31 Oct. 1923. At present, the Italian Penal Code addresses the crime of trafficking in women in Articles 535–537, imposing imprisonment from six months to three years and a fine of not less than 3,000 lire on those who facilitate or engage in this sordid trade involving minors or adults suffering from mental infirmity or physical deficiency, with aggravated penalties in certain specified circumstances (Art. 535). For the crime to be constituted, it suffices that the perpetrator knows that the victim, upon going abroad, is destined for prostitution. If deception or violence is involved, the victim may be a woman of any age, and the penalty of imprisonment is increased to a maximum of five years, with the fine raised to a maximum of 5,000 lire. The crimes envisaged in Articles 536–537 are punishable even when committed by a citizen abroad (Art. 537). At the Ministry of the Interior (Directorate-General of Public Security), a Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Women has been established, with duties of information gathering, investigation, oversight of women’s employment agencies, and suppression of the phenomenon. A national committee against trafficking in women had been active in Italy since 1901, based in Rome. International associations aimed at the protection and rescue of young women, and thus at vigilance and aid in various circumstances from the most trivial to the most serious, include the *Union internationale des amies de la jeune fille* (whose apostle was the Englishman William Coote) and the *Association catholique internationale des œuvres pour la protection de la jeune fille*, both based in Switzerland, the former in Nuzhhat and the latter in Fribourg.

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