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FERENC ÍRK
"Law, including penal law is not or cannot be forced to adopt radical changes except
in the case of natural, historical and political cataclysm; in all other cases it strives to
develop organically, in a way that can be supported dogmatically although there may
be exceptions from this.” In his view, the reason behind it is that “although the way
European countries think about penal law goes back to common Roman and Medieval
roots, has common concepts and institutions, these are embedded in the history,
culture and traditions as well as the state administrational, political and institutional
conditions of the given country and also in the level of economic development and the
religious differences, which firmly hold the law together.”
In international law, the exploitation of labour (or more exactly of the workforce)
seldom appears as a separate legal concept. As Miklös Hollan discusses in detail
in his study’ which contains a review of the European penal codes, this behaviour
is mainly present as the goal of human trafficking. He puts it in this way:
‘At the beginning of the 20th century (and at the middle of it) and also in our days
the scope of the goal of mainstream human trafficking can be illustrated with two
intersecting sets. The expansion of the scope is clearly shown by the fact that human
trafficking can be committed not only to for the purpose of prostitution but other sexual
acts and the exploitation of labour”?
By analysing the facts that have become known in this topic, the criminologist has
come to the conclusion that within the context of political and economic power,
penal law can address the flaws present at a systemic level in societies to a limited
27 Farkas, The limitations EU criminal law, 113.
28 Hollán, Miklós, The foundations of measures taken against human trafficking through
national penal law in international law and their limitations concerning fundamental
right, [Az emberkereskedelem elleni nemzeti büntetőjogi fellépés nemzetközi jogi alapjai
es alapjogi korlatail OTKA PD No, 73641, 2013, invitation of proposals for postdoctoral
scholarship. http://real.mtak.hu/12338/1/73641_ZJ1.pdf.
29 Foramoredetailed discussion ofthetopic, see Hollán, Miklós: Human Trafficking, Punishable
cases of exploitation and the limits of regulations of penal law [Emberkereskedelem.
A kizsákmányolás büntetendő esetei és a büntetőjogi szabalyozas hatarai], Budapest,
HVG-ORAC Lap- és Könyvkiadó, 2012. For international criticism summarising the
advantageous and disadvantageous characteristics in the application of the law — with
special regard to the treatment of the victims of prostitution and forced labour in relation
to human trafficking - see, for example Egyesült Államok Külügyminisztériuma, Jelentés
az emberkereskedelemröl — 2019, 20 June 2019, https://hu.usembassy.gov/wp-content/
uploads/sites/232/tip2019_hu.pdf, also U.S. Department of State, 2019 Trafficking in
Persons Report, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (June 2019), https://
www-.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report/; and also Gyuräcz: Legal and
pedagogical protection, 75-94.
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