• human trafficking
• tratta esseri umani
• crimine organizzato trasnazionale
• sfruttamento sessuale
• crimini di genere
• sexual exploitation
• international cooperation
• corti penali internazionali

Trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation is one of the most lucrative and extended criminal activities on earth, which has achieved a transnational dimension and currently touches every country.
Notwithstanding the international efforts made to fight it, States still remain impotent against this developing threat, being unable to face the new forms and methods of this crime.
Because of the continuous evolution of the human trade, stronger links have been made between organized criminal groups and terrorist organizations, which create crime-nets composed by a plurality of knots conducting cross-borders operations.
Therefore, international community must cooperate at different levels to elaborate effective tools to be used against human trafficking and, due to the sexual element of the crime, to protect and assist victims.
This Thesis aims to highlight the necessity for a common international approach, by reviewing the most relevant legal instruments that have been established since the last century, the Conventions signed within the frame of the UN and the judicial response of International Tribunals.