ILO focuses on trafficking from a human rights and labour exploitation perspective. In June 1999, at the International Labour Conference, the ILO's members (Gov'ts, Employers and Workers Groups) unanimously voted in favour of Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour - including trafficking. Within the framework of this Convention, as well as other relevant international instruments, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO-IPEC (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour) - together with the Gender Promotion Programme (GENPROM) - embarked on a Greater Mekong Sub-Regional project to combat trafficking in children and women.

In preparation for this project, ILO-IPEC worked closely with key stakeholders within the countries of the Sub-Region in 1998 and 1999. Research about the situation of trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region was conducted and ILO-IPEC also reviewed its own national programmes in Thailand and Cambodia in order to identify good practices and lessons learned that are relevant to the project. The research findings and lessons learned were presented during a Mekong Sub-Regional consultation in Bangkok in July 1998. Participants included prominent persons from government institutions, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academia from Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam. The valuable inputs of the participants and the results of the consultation formed the basis for a project proposal that was futher elaborated during missions to all five countries in March and April 1999. During this time, contacts with key government institutions, IGOs and NGOs in all five countries were elaborated and priorities set. The outcome of these many discussions with key stakeholders within the Sub-Region is the current Mekong Sub-Regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women. The South-east Asia office of the Department for International Development (DFID) of the Government of the United Kingdom committed funds to this project. Pilot interventions were implemented from 2000 to early 2003, while in 2003 the project embarked on another five-year phase in which past experiences and lessons learned form the basis of future interventions.