Examining the Intersection between Trafficking in Persons and Domestic Violence
- Document number
- 1316
- Date
- 2007
- Title
- Examining the Intersection between Trafficking in Persons and Domestic Violence
- Author/publisher
- Stephen Warnath, Nexus Institute, USAID
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Human trafficking, Violence, Women, Women's rights
- Summary
- This report was commissioned by USAID to review the state of knowledge about the relationship between domestic violence (DV) and trafficking in persons (TIP). This study was conducted as a desk review of the literature covering the countries of the Europe and Eurasia (E&E) region. The scope of the work involved:(1) Examining the prevalence of trafficking victims with prior experience of domestic violence;(2) Describing services and supports that are available for victims of trafficking in persons in each country of the E&E region, highlighting those service providers and shelters that serve both populations or only one; and(3) Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of victim protection programs that assist survivors of both trafficking in persons and domestic violence, exploring types of appropriate victim-centered responses needed to help survivors rebuild their lives, and best practices and lessons learned from domestic violence and trafficking in persons service providers/shelters that do or do not serve both populations. In chapter VI. entitled LOOKING FORWARD: GAPS, ISSUES, AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF WHAT IS NEEDED, the report concludes that: "The problems of both domestic violence and trafficking in persons are serious in the E&E region. Anecdotal information about the links between the two warrants an effort to learn more and to strengthen integrated policy level responses for both simultaneously. It appears from the available information that the crisis of violence and conflict in the family in some cases may, in combination with other factors, set in motion a chain of events that leads to human trafficking. However, this remains only a hypothesis worthy of further detailed inquiry and elaboration and should not be taken as a foregone conclusion. This report has identified and discussed a number of gaps and issues pertaining to the data and analysis available in the literature on possible links between domestic violence and trafficking. It also has highlighted the complexity of attempting to untangle domestic violence as a possible factor contributing to human trafficking vis-à-vis other possible factors in particular cases of human trafficking. It has identified service and response categories for which both victims of DV and victims of trafficking in persons share a common need. At the same time, within these broad service and response categories, there are many questions as to how they may be organized and provided in ways that appropriately serve specific needs that frequently are not exactly aligned across the two populations. Due to the current state of data and analysis that leaves these and other questions unanswered, it is recommended that additional work be undertaken to: 1) strengthen the available data to support future research and understanding to inform policies and programs; and 2) uncover lessons learned and good practices through in-depth interviews with those having experience with providing services to mixed populations of victims of trafficking and victims of domestic violence."
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