On the same day that the human trafficker Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment, many people closely watched the sixth hearing of the House Select Committee on the attack of the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021 (28 June 2022). What, if anything, do these ostensibly varied crimes have in common? Seeking to answer this fundamental question, this article explores the usually under-researched connection between trafficking in persons and the documented decline of liberal democracies worldwide. Globally, democratic societies governed by the rule of law appear to be under assault, and therefore this article explores relevant examples of how human trafficking contributes to the erosion of liberal democracy, in fiction and fact, and from within and without. In other words, this article takes us from ‘Pizzagate’ to profits.
(AIVD) may gather intelligence to protect national security (defensive task) and gather intelligence abroad (offensive task) ('Wet op de inlichtingen-en veiligheidsdiensten (Wiv)' , 2002 Staatsblad, 148 23). The officers of the services have no competence to investigate criminal offences (Article 9 Wiv). 2 The AIVD can provide the police and/or the public prosecution with an Ambtsbericht for the investigation and prosecution of criminal offences (Article 38 Wiv). 3 Lat. 'decision (…) by a judge without requiring all of the parties (…) to be present'. Legal Encyclopedia, Thomson and Gale, 1998. 4 Lat. 'In chambers; in private. A judicial proceeding is said to be heard in camera (…) when all spectators are excluded from the courtroom.' Ibid.
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