Based on long-term ethnographic research, including documentary research, qualitative interviews and observations made at a Portuguese shelter for “sex trafficked women,” this paper explores the counter-trafficking apparatus questioning who benefits from it. The discussion explores the contrasts between an institutional commitment to constructing this apparatus and the actuality of procedural efforts purporting to support “trafficking victims.” The author argues that the higher goal of building a countertrafficking apparatus — in itself a political objective — limits the rights of “victims,” making processes that claim to be part of their protection de facto neo-liberal anti-political exercises in reenforcing bureaucratic state power.
Despite the astounding growth in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) crimes over the past twenty years, the general public has little understanding about what it means, how vast the problem is, and how violently children are abused in order to produc...Read More
The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in ...Read More
TraffLab’s Alternative Anti-Trafficking Action Plan (the “Alternative Plan”) provides a labor-based alternative approach to the new Israeli national plan to address human trafficking 2019-2024, published by the Ministry of Justice in January 2...Read More
Migration is not a new phenomenon in India. People have moved across the length and breadth of the country for various reasons, including work. Today, India has a burgeoning urban population, which contributes to about 63% of India’s GDP. A large ...Read More
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