La Strada Documentation Center

Sex, slaves and citizens: the politics of anti-trafficking

Document number
1969
Date
2009
Title
Sex, slaves and citizens: the politics of anti-trafficking
Author/publisher
Bridget Anderson and Rutvica Andrijasevic
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Human trafficking, Slave Labour, Sexual Exploitation, Slavery, Servitude, Forced Labour, Debt bondage, Labour exploitation, Domestic labour, Slavery-like practices; Agricultural labour; Trafficking process, Recruitment, Transportation, Transit, Transfer, Consent, Palermo protocol; Definition of (trafficking), Root Causes, Risk Groups, Vulnerability, Pull factors, Push factors, Sending/Receiving countries,
Summary
A focus on the evils of trafficking is a way of depoliticising the debate on migration.

Trafficking is in the news. It is on the political agenda, both nationally and internationally. Thousands of individuals, hundreds of groups, dozens of newspapers are determined to stamp it out. This focus on traffi cking consistently refl ects and reinforces deep public concern about prostitution/sex work, and also about immigration, and the abuse and exploitation it so frequently involves. So to challenge the expression, or some of the actions taken as a response to this concern, is akin to saying that one endorses slavery or is against motherhood and apple pie. Traffi cking is a theme that is supposed to bring us all together. But we believe it is necessary to tread the line of challenging motherhood and apple pie while not endorsing slavery, because the moral panic over traffi cking is diverting attention from the structural causes of the abuse of migrant workers.
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