Strategies against trafficking in human beings ANNA KALBHENN Although sufficient data-based evidence is often lacking, experts agree that trafficking in persons, also referred to as“the new slave trade,” has significant­ly increased in recent years. Nevertheless as the extent of the problem is diffi­cult to assess, there is still a lack of awareness in both countries of origin and destination. Trafficking in persons means, according to the definition provided by the United Nations,“[…] the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” There exists general agreement that adequate steps have to be taken to combat this growing crime at the national, bilateral and multilateral level. Consequently, several declarations of intent have been issued, and national, regional and international programs have followed. Most of these strategies, however, address the problem in terms of its observable effects ra­ther than trying to eliminate the underlying root causes. The present briefing paper will first take a look at possible causes of trafficking. The following overview of strategies adopted so far illustrates how different as­sessments of the problem’s causes lead to different approaches concerning ways to respond to the increasing trend in trafficking. In a concluding section the reader’s attention is drawn to some of the many questions that still remain open.