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.
This report presents the findings from the Global Business of Forced Labour project. The project investigates the business models of forced labour in global agricultural supply chains. Over two years the project systematically mapped the business ...Read More
Inequality is rampant across the global economy, and the agro-food sector is no exception. At the top, big supermarkets and other corporate food giants dominate global food markets, allowing them to squeeze value from vast supply chains that span the...Read More
The heightened risks of trafficking in the context of climate change are rooted in existing and persistent inequalities, in poverty, in racism, and in discrimination. These heightened risks and vulnerability to exploitation are not inevitable or fix...Read More
The Fondation Scelles, for the third consecutive year, presents the Global Report on the evolution of sexual exploitation throughout the year. This report is an informational tool that aims to be as objective as possible. They find human traffick...Read More
2025 © Copyright, RESPECT International. All Rights Reserved. Website Disclaimer | Privacy Policy
