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.
One in every 130 females globally is living in modern slavery. In fact, women and girls account for nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of all victims of modern slavery. Although modern slavery affects everyone, there is no escaping the fact that it...Read More
The number of modern slavery victims in global supply chains today is believed to stand at around 16 million, roughly the same number of enslaved people as during the transatlantic slave trade in the 18th century. While this statistic alone is sugge...Read More
Malaysia’s electronics sector workforce includes hundreds of thousands of foreign migrant workers who come to Malaysia on the promise of a good salary and steady work – an opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families. But ...Read More
This review was conducted as a “scoping study” of two distinct areas of recruitment policy and programming: (1) current government policies and initiatives to improve recruitment standards for low-wage migrant workers; and (2) current non-govern...Read More
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