There now exists a myriad of legal instruments that can be used against traffickers and a genuine desire on the part of many governments to wage war on them. Everywhere, however, there remains a gulf between the rhetoric of the anti-traffickers and the willingness of governments and police forces either to protect and assist those who have been trafficked, or to track down and prosecute their traffickers. Mira has lost her appeal for asylum in the UK, while the Saudi Arabian couple remains free, though their names are known. "We are failing these people, daily and systematically," says Helen Bamber, whose foundation is seeing an increasing number of traumatised and injured victims of trafficking. "We allow them poor legal representation and scant medical attention, and then we send them home, penniless and stigmatised by their experiences, often only to be trafficked again." 

Most significantly, however, the array of protocols, conventions, agreements and laws, together with all the US and locally-funded initiatives, do not seem to be working. If anything, the number of people being trafficked every year is increasing. Traffickers are proving adept at avoiding detection and capture, while victims remain for the most part too afraid of what will happen to themselves and to their families if they agree to act as witnesses. 

Compared to the figures for trafficked people, those for convictions are pitiful. Russia conducted 125 trafficking investigations in 2006. By the end of the year, there had been a mere 13 convictions. In Africa, in the same year, there were just 51 convictions for trafficking-related crimes. Two of the five countries covered by the EU Office to Monitor Trafficking in Persons have not recorded a single conviction. 

Though the Council of Europe's Action Plan includes for the first time a legally binding instrument, with provisions for granting protection to trafficked women and children, giving them some rights to residence in exchange for evidence against traffickers, the fact remains that very few people receive it. And even appearance in court is no guarantee of special treatment. For the most part, women who escape their traffickers, and men who turn to the police for help, continue to be perceived as illegal immigrants and deported, rather than as vulnerable human beings whose rights are being violated.

Faced with the overwhelming failure of so much legislation, there is a growing feeling that there needs to be a change of direction. Andreas Schloenhardt, of the Australian Institute of Criminology, argues that the current system of international criminal law leaves too many loopholes for criminals and allows too many concessions to the protocols' signatories, while the actual enforcement of anti-trafficking measures remains in the hands of individual countries. It is only at a supranational level, using a court modelled on the International Criminal Court, that international law enforcement against traffickers, he suggests, might become more efficient.