The Human Rights Essay Award is an annual award sponsored by the Academy aimed at encouraging the production of academic articles in the field of international human rights law. The 2025 theme was Human Trafficking and Human Rights, allowing participants the flexibility to explore a wide range of issues related to the topic. As expected, this year’s essays covered a diverse array of subjects—from the recognition of an independent right not to be trafficked to the provocative proposal of classifying human trafficking as an independent crime in Non-International Armed Conflicts. We were impressed by the variety of complex and unforeseen perspectives that emerged, reaffirming the importance of selecting human trafficking as the central theme for both the Essay Award and the 30th Inter-American Moot Court Competition.

Yet, the brilliant and vibrant community of legal experts, both in Spanish and English, were brave enough to create extraordinary pieces that hopefully will contribute to the study, prevention and eradication of this heinous and terrible practice that affects millions of people globally. 

The Award-Winning English Essays

The approaches were sophisticated. A good example of that was Sophie Eastwood’s (Ireland) Essay, title “Exploitation at Sea: Legal Vulnerability in the Global Fishing Industry”. Her paper examines the shortcomings of the current maritime jurisdiction regime in protecting fishers' fundamental human rights, particularly in the face of widespread abuses on high seas fishing vessels. With compelling arguments, she highlights how political inaction, and systemic weaknesses have enabled exploitative labor conditions akin to modern slavery. To reverse this situation, the Essay proposed we need to reevaluate the flag State jurisdiction concept as a means of ensuring greater accountability and protection for fishers. Given this unique approach, Sophie was awarded with an Honorable Mention in English. 

Continuing with the same innovative and forward-looking perspective, Nesrine Ben Mahfoudh (Tunisia) submitted an outstanding essay titled “Victim Support and Protection as Human Rights: The Non-Punishment Principle and Compensation for Victims of Human Trafficking.” Her work explores how the development of legal standards often fails to translate into effective implementation. Mahfoudh masterfully identifies key obstacles that hinder the practical application of the non-punishment principle, including issues related to victims' legal residency as a prerequisite for accessing compensation, financial barriers, limited access to adequate legal aid, and procedural challenges such as high evidentiary burdens and prolonged delays by prosecutors that prevent timely judicial resolution. Given Nasrine comprehensive research, she was awarded an Honorable Mention in English. 

International law has always been a construction of unprecedented proposals by those brave enough to find paths to make possible what would have been cataloged as nonsense by more conservative positions. That is exactly what Samira Mathias (India) did in her essay “Preying for Profits: Legal and Philosophical Reasons to Make Human Trafficking a War Crime in NIACs.” Her piece focuses on examining the growing role of human trafficking in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs). She proves that trafficking is increasingly intertwined with the strategies and economies of armed groups, serving as a means to fund operations, recruit personnel, and exert control over populations. Yet, despite its severity, trafficking is not currently classified as an international crime under customary law.

Using the framework established in the Tadić case of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which defines war crimes as serious breaches of IHL that entail individual criminal responsibility, the essay outlines compelling arguments, including how a war crime designation would fill gaps in existing legal frameworks by addressing severe abuses not fully covered by crimes against humanity or other war crimes; emphasizing the profound harm caused by trafficking through the objectification and dehumanization of victims from a feminist point of view; and underscoring the potential benefits of such recognition for the Global South, including strengthening international accountability, expanding universal jurisdiction, and bridging the divide between transnational crimes and international crimes.

The paper is honest enough to acknowledge the problems behind this proposal and finds strategies to circumvent them. In Samira’s words: “There is no evidence of state practice or opinio juris that supports the existence of a war crime of trafficking. Any efforts to criminalize it would have to occur through treaty—either the insertion of provisions through amendment to existing treaties, or the creation of a new convention that aims to systematically dismantle trafficking networks in armed conflicts.” Thus, given her remarkable analysis, her essay was granted the Winning Essay Award in English this year.

The Award-Winning Spanish Essays

Perhaps one of the most tragic migration crises of modern history is attributed to the hundreds of people transiting the dangerous Darién Gap, a jungle between Colombia and Panama that lacks regular transportation routes. Sara Valentina Díaz Figueroa (Colombia), in her essay “El fin de la trata de personas: la prostitución como explotación sexual y factor que incrementa las violencias basadas en género en el ciclo migratorio del Darién,” was one of the few authors to give visibility to such an important crisis. She masterfully explored the convergence between human trafficking and migrant smuggling, driven largely by the absence of safe migration routes. She argues that while debates continue around the legitimacy of sex work, any meaningful discussion must recognize the structural coercion many women face. Consent cannot be considered genuine in such dire conditions. The paper concludes that a regional and participatory approach is necessary. The Darién is just one step in a broader migratory journey through several countries, demanding shared responsibility beyond Panama and Colombia. For her bravery in addressing such a complex issue the way she did, the essay was awarded an Honorable Mention in Spanish.

When human trafficking is committed by the authorities in charge of its prevention rather than smuggler or regular criminals, the institutional response should be even more stronger inasmuch public faith has been betrayed. This premise is a key part of Brianda Trujillo Flórez-Estrada (Dominican Republic) Essay title “De paz a explotación: la operación MINUSTAH y el delito de trata de personas en Haití como violación grave de los derechos humanos”. She uses as her base case the scandal of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) between 2004 and 2007. Following a political crisis in Haiti, the Mission was deployed. Nonetheless, MINUSTAH faced serious allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers, particularly targeting Haitian women and girls in vulnerable situations. These abuses, documented by various reports, highlight a broader issue of sexual violence within UN peacekeeping missions. The persistence of such cases underscores a structural problem that undermines the credibility of international interventions. According Brianda, the link between MINUSTAH and human trafficking was evident due to the coercive exchanges of essential goods for sexual favors, a practice aligning with the definition of trafficking under the Palermo Protocol. In this regard, a key obstacle to accountability is the legal immunity granted to peacekeepers under the Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA), which shifts prosecution responsibilities to troop-contributing countries—many of which fail to act, perpetuating impunity. The Essays concludes affirming the MINUSTAH case illustrates how poorly regulated peacekeeping forces can exacerbate vulnerabilities rather than provide protection. Her paper treated an issue that normally is not addressed with a critic and technical approach, therefore, it was awarded with an Honorable Mention in Spanish.

Sometimes, International Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law are perceived as isolated islands, yet both disciplines are part of the same International Law umbrella. In this context, Yamid Enrique Cotrina Gulfo’s essay (Colombia) titled “La trata de seres humanos como crimen de sistema: de la aquiescencia estatal al reconocimiento del derecho a no ser víctima en el Derecho Penal Internacional” proposes the provocative idea of establishing an individually globally recognized right not to be a victim of trafficking. The paper transitions from an initial, original approach under domestic and international criminal law focused on punishing criminals, but explores the potential advancement of how this is not enough and rather demands institutional collective responsibility from states based on their acquiescence. This development imposes specific positive obligations on states, requiring them to implement preventive, investigative, and reparative measures that go beyond traditional protection frameworks. The analysis of state acquiescence reveals that states' failure to exercise due diligence is not merely administrative negligence but a structural mechanism that catalyzes trafficking. This institutional complicity is manifested in systematic patterns, including tolerance of corruption, restrictive migration policies, and the absence of effective prevention and protection mechanisms. In Yamid’s perspective, the theory of the state's mediated involvement in trafficking, based on its position as a guarantor, offers a crucial analytical framework for understanding the state's responsibility in perpetuating trafficking. This perspective identifies how state acquiescence, through deliberate omissions or systematic tolerance, positions the state as a central actor in facilitating these criminal practices. Taking individual criminal responsibility to a whole new level of international responsibility unveils a connection between the purposes of both international human rights law and international criminal law. Whether this theory is feasible remains unclear, but this paper was complex and, at the same time, easy to understand, earning it a well-deserved Best Essay Award in Spanish.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone involved.

We would first like to express our gratitude to the more than 70 submissions that decided to present their work for this year’s award. Each of them offered unique approaches to relevant topics, and we encourage everyone to continue their important work on these issues. We also invite all attorneys and scholars to prepare and submit their pieces again for consideration in 2026.

The Academy also extends its thanks to all members of this year’s Honor Jury, which included distinguished experts such as Karine Ruel, Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Roza Pati, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Ana Racu, Janie Chuang, María Cecilia Ibáñez, Julio José Rojas-Báez, Carolina Rudnick Vizcarra, Claudia Martin, and Luz Patricia Mejía Guerrero.

By: Gabriel J. Ortiz Crespo