La Strada Documentation Center

Addressing the Demand side of Trafficking

Document number
3047
Date
2012
Title
Addressing the Demand side of Trafficking
Author/publisher
Phil Marshall
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
human trafficking, exploitation, human rights, prevention, demand, sexual exploitation, forced labour
Summary
This paper briefly raises some issues around the demand side of trafficking, initially focusing on demand relating to exploitative labour practices and then discussing issues around demand contributing to exploitation for sexual purposes. It is very much an opinion piece, intended to promote discussion.
The demand side of trafficking has started to attract more attention in recent times, perhaps due to the lack of evidence for success of prevention programmes that focus on what is often called the supply-side – reducing the number of people that are vulnerable to being trafficked. This lack of progress on the supply side is hardly surprising given the size of the potential supply pool, that is the number of potential migrants who, in the absence of effective protection, are vulnerable to being exploited.