There has been a flurry of legislative action at the international and regional levels to address the global problem of trafficking in persons, which victimises epidemic-proportions of individuals and generates one of the largest proceeds of organised crime. The harmonisation of national legal responses based on minimum standards around prevention, prosecution, and protection as espoused by those international and regional instruments is a prerequisite for effective and wide cooperation among countries of origin, transit, and destination. However, the reluctance of states to lift to the lofty heights of international consensus the contentious policy issues surrounding trafficking, including prostitution, has resulted in the adoption of rather ambiguous anti-trafficking norms and obligations, which allow states to individually determine what constitutes 'trafficking in persons' within their own jurisdictions. The subsequent divergence in national responses reveals that legal harmonisation has not taken place. The mechanisms of enforcement, which attach directly or indirectly to those international and regional instruments, therefore, have the formidable task of assisting states in the implementation of the substantive content of anti-trafficking norms and obligations through their monitoring and reporting mandates. However, their work remains a neglected area of academic research, compared to writings on the ambiguity of the international anti-trafficking framework. The challenge to international regulation of the trafficking problem, as identified in this thesis, relates on a fundamental level to the systemic limitations of the formal processes of law based on state consent and respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Through a comparative legal analysis of international and European legal responses to sex trafficking in women, this thesis illuminates the main systemic challenges to combating trafficking in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, Romania, and Sweden, and how the work of those enforcement mechanisms remedies some of those challenges.

Human trafficking is an international crime affecting all countries that continues to grow. The crime operates as part of an illicit underground network, starting with traffickers who manipulate, deceive, and exploit victims. Victims are both male and female, but the crime disproportionally affects women more than men. Latin American women are especially vulnerable to being trafficked due to societal and cultural norms that demand they be subordinate. Additionally, these women lack many educational and job opportunities, and face mental and physical abuse at home and in their communities. These factors make them vulnerable, and the traffickers use these vulnerabilities to deceive and exploit them. This report will argue that in order to effectively prevent victimization, women need to be empowered, not only access to education but also job opportunities. Furthermore, a societal transformation needs to occur that gives more value and significance to women, where they are viewed as powerful beings instead of submissive and subordinate human beings. / text

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Florida has the second-highest incidence of human trafficking in the country. Sex trafficking of women into and out of the state of Florida is defined by various terms from international, national and local terms. The United Nations defines sex trafficking in Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime as: "Trafficking in persons: shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation". This study explores the experiences of women who have been trafficked as well as the recruitment strategies by which women are trafficked and to what extent their life changes. This study aims to understand the extent to which local nonprofits in the state of Florida have tackled the issue as well as the international, federal and state government laws are enforced. The findings will provide useful guidelines to help nonprofits in the state of Florida work together to combat the issue as well as be used as an informative research proposal for the community to push stronger legislation and raise more awareness.

This thesis addresses how to combat the offence of human trafficking, with particular emphasis on the development of trafficked victims' rights, their protection and traffickers' convictions. The study analysed legal responses to human trafficking at three levels: international, regional, and national; identifying it as a threefold phenomenon, involving criminal law and human rights. The main purpose was to critically analyse United Arab Emirates legislation against the offence of trafficking, and compare it with United Kingdom legislation. The study comprises five chapters, proceeding from the general background of the phenomenon to the modification of the framework for convicting traffickers in the UAE system. The actual application of criminal law relating to the trafficking offence in the UAE and UK was investigated through case law, as was the protection extended to victims of trafficking. From the literature review, it was discovered that human trafficking is a multi-faceted problem; thus, a comprehensive approach to tackle it is needed. The thesis concludes that, although the UAE and UK have adopted/amended their anti-trafficking legislation, they have yet to create an effective protection framework for its victims. In particular, UAE law fails to convict those who commit the trafficking offence in the period before the exploitation has taken place. This thesis calls for an amendment to UAE law, moving toward development of the conviction issue, by adopting the principle of presumed exploitation or the principle of probable (belief) exploitation.

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The tyrosine kinase receptor Tie-2 is expressed on the surface of endothelial cells and is necessary for angiogenesis and vascular stability. To date, the best characterized ligands for Tie-2 are Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) and Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2). Ang-1 has been identified as the main activating ligand for Tie-2 while the role of Ang-2 has been controversial since its discovery; some studies reported Ang-2 as a Tie-2 antagonist while others described Ang-2 as a Tie-2 agonist. The purpose of this thesis was to understand: (1) how the receptor Tie-2 is regulated by Ang-1 and Ang-2 in endothelial cells, (2) to compare the effects of Ang-1 and Ang-2, and (3) to determine the arrangement and distribution of Tie-2 in endothelial cells. The research presented in this thesis indicates that Tie-2 is arranged in variably sized clusters on the endothelial cell surface. Clusters of Tie-2 were expressed on all surfaces of cells: on the apical plasma membrane, on the tips of microvilli, and on the basolateral plasma membrane. When endothelial cells were stimulated with Ang-1, Tie-2 was rapidly internalized and degraded. Upon Ang-1 stimulation, Tie-2 localized to clathrin-coated pits on all surfaces of endothelial cells indicating that one pathway mediating Tie-2 internalization is through clathrin-coated pits. After activation of Tie-2, Ang-1 dissociates from the endothelial cell surface and accumulates in the surrounding medium. When experiments were repeated with Ang-2, it was discovered that Ang-2 induced all of the same effects on Tie-2 as Ang-1 but at a much reduced level and rate, indicating that Ang-2 likely functions as a partial agonist for Tie-2 in endothelial cells.

TBC1D1 and TBC1D4 are Rab-GTPase Activating Proteins (Rab-GAPs) expressed in insulin-responsive tissues. Both proteins are involved in mechanisms which regulate basal levels of glucose transport and have been identified as targets of insulin and AMP-dependant kinase (AMPK) signalling pathways, which regulate GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane in muscle. We have characterised the C2C12 muscle cell model retrovirally expressing HA-epitope tagged GLUT4 in order to investigate how distinct signalling pathways regulate GLUT4 trafficking. Insulin-stimulation and treatment with the AMPK-activator (AICAR) increased the levels of GLUT4 at the plasma membrane by two-fold in C2C12 myotubes. Insulin-stimulation and activation of AMPK mobilised GLUT4 in to the actively cycling pool. However, our data revealed that insulin-stimulation or AMPK activation resulted in distinct effects on GLUT4 trafficking parameters at steady-state. Insulin increased GLUT4 exocytosis (kex) of this cycling pool. Activation of AMPK inhibited GLUT4 internalisation (ken). The combined effect of insulin-stimulation and AMPK-activation was synergistic and led to increased GLUT4 cell surface levels above those obtained with either treatment alone. Insulin-stimulation and AMPK activation in combination resulted in a partially additive effect on the size of the actively recycling GLUT4 pool and further enhanced kex of this cycling pool. Kinetic studies were performed to measure the effect of TBC1D1 and TBC1D4 knockdown on GLUT4 trafficking in C2C12 myotubes. siRNA-mediated knockdown of TBC1D4 did not affect the basal levels of cell surface GLUT4. Knockdown of TBC1D1 increased cell surface levels of GLUT4 in basal and in insulin-stimulated C2C12 myotubes. The knockdown increased the release of GLUT4 in to the actively recycling pool. By contrast TBC1D1 knockdown did not change the levels of GLUT4 at the plasma membrane that occur in the presence of the AMPK-activator (AICAR). Our results support a model whereby TBC1D1 inactivation by signalling-dependant phosphorylation is required for GLUT4 translocation, but with insulin and AICAR having separate and distinguishable effects on the released GLUT4.