Global Partners Governance’s (GPG) work is centred around strengthening representative politics. We collaborate with politicians, ministers and civil servants in order to support the quality of representation and enhance political will, which is essential to effect change—especially in the fight against human trafficking.

Our political access gives us the scope to make a direct contribution to the realization of human rights legislation and implementation. We have worked specifically on the SDG Target 8.7 by supporting work on policies to combat modern slavery/human trafficking, evaluating legislation through a human rights lens, as well as by supporting adaptation of international treaties and human rights commitments into domestic legislation. In this article, we will discuss our recent work in Honduras and Sudan to advance the anti-trafficking agenda using a process of post-legislative scrutiny (PLS)[1], which our work has identified as an effective tool to generate political will for implementation of anti-trafficking legislation.

Human Trafficking Legislation in Honduras

In Honduras, GPG worked on a project focused on strengthening effective implementation and congressional oversight of human trafficking legislation, the goal of which was to improve the implementation of the 2012 Law Against Human Trafficking through a process of post-legislative scrutiny in the Honduran Congress.

Honduras has long battled human trafficking within and across its borders. In the last few years, the country has become a source and a transit country for victims of sex trafficking and forced labour. Honduran women and children are exploited both within the country and in neighbouring states, particularly Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize and the United States. The LGTBQI community, indigenous children and those of African-descent are particularly vulnerable groups to exploitation. There has been an increase in trafficking in rural areas in recent years as gang violence spreads from urban centres. In 2012, after years of deliberation, the Honduran Congress passed the Law Against Human Trafficking. This piece of legislation was a great achievement, but implementation remained a challenge due to insufficient funds and lack of political will.

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