Trafficking

"Shades of Grey": Spaces In and Beyond Trafficking for Thai Women Involved in Commercial Sexual Labour in Sydney and Singapore

Citation:

Yea, Sallie. 2012. “‘Shades of Grey’: Spaces In and Beyond Trafficking for Thai Women Involved in Commercial Sexual Labour in Sydney and Singapore.” Gender, Place & Culture 19 (1): 42–60. doi:10.1080/0966369X.2011.617906.

Author: Sallie Yea

Abstract:

In this article I explore the migration trajectories of some Thai women trafficked internationally for commercial sexual exploitation, suggesting that many figuratively ‘cross the border’ between coerced and consensual existence in volatile migrant sex industries during the course of their migration experiences, thus complicating debates around the notion of choice in ‘sex’ trafficking. In exploring these women's transitions I seek to understand why women who had either never previously been sex workers or who were sex workers operating without duress, but who were then trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation remain in, or re-enter volatile forms of migrant sex work at a later point under voluntary arrangements. In answering this question I focus on the temporal and spatial aspects of individual women's experiences in migrant sex industries drawing in detail on the narratives of two Thai women trafficked to Sydney, Australia and Singapore. I make some suggestions about methodologies used in trafficking research that can assist in bringing to light some of these complex time–space dimensions of women's experiences through their shifting positions in commercial sexual labour. The article also reflects on the implications of these women's trajectories for the ‘prostitution debate’ as it relates to trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation by suggesting that many trafficked women occupy ambiguous or in-between positions in migrant sex industries, neither easily distinguishable by the label of victim of trafficking or migrant sex worker.

Keywords: sex trafficking, commercial sexual labour, methodologies, migration trajectories, Thailand

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, Gender, Women, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Political Economies, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Slavery, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Thailand

Year: 2012

"Singers" in the Band

"David Goodman has worked for nearly 30 years to document the very challenging subject of prostitution and global sex trafficking in and around U.S. Military bases abroad. “ ‘Singers’ in the Band” exposes an incredibly elaborate and insidious scam that involves three nations, global sex traffickers, bar/club/hotel owners and the U.S. military all as links in a chain that entraps innocent victims.

Prostitution, Gender, and Violence in the Colombian Postconflict Context

Citation:

Olivar, J.M.N., and C.I.P. Sánchez. 2012. “Prostitution, Gender, and Violence in the Colombian Postconflict Context.” In Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: International Law, Local Responses. Sterling: Kumarian Press. https://www.rienner.com/title/Conflict_Related_Sexual_Violence_International_Law_Local_Responses.

Authors: J.M.N. Olivar, C.I.P. Sánchez

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2012

Gender, Globalization, and Violence: Postcolonial Conflict Zones

Citation:

Ponzanesi, Sandra. 2014. Gender, Globalization, and Violence: Postcolonial Conflict Zones. Abingdon: Routledge.

 

Author: Sandra Ponzanesi

Annotation:

Summary:
"This wide-ranging collection of essays elaborates on some of the most pressing issues in contemporary postcolonial society in their transition from conflict and contestation to dialogue and resolution. It explores from new angles questions of violent conflict, forced migration, trafficking and deportation, human rights, citizenship, transitional justice and cosmopolitanism. The volume focuses more specifically on the gendering of violence from a postcolonial perspective as it analyses unique cases that disrupt traditional visions of violence by including the history of empire and colony, and its legacies that continue to influence present-day configurations of gender, race, nationality, class and sexuality. Part One maps out the gendered and racialized contours of conflict zones, from war zones, prisons and refugee camps to peacekeeping missions and humanitarian aid, reframing the field and establishing connections between colonial legacies and postcolonial dynamics. Part Two explores how these conflict zones are played out not just outside but also within Europe, demonstrating that multicultural Europe is fraught with different legacies of violence and postcolonial melancholia. Part Three gives an idea of the kind of future that can be offered to post-conflict societies, defined as contact zones, by exploring opportunities for dialogue, restoration and reconciliation that can be envisaged from a gendered and postcolonial perspective through alternative feminist practices and the work of art and their redemptive power in mobilizing social change or increasing national healing processes. Though strongly anchored in postcolonial critique, the chapters draw from a range of traditions and expertise, including conflict studies, gender theory, visual studies, (new) media theory, sociology, race theory, international security studies and religion studies." (Summary from WorldCat)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Citizenship, Class, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Globalization, Humanitarian Assistance, Justice, Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Race, Peacekeeping, Religion, Sexuality, Trafficking, Violence Regions: Europe

Year: 2014

Between "Victims" and "Criminals": Rescue, Deportation, and Everyday Violence Among Nigerian Migrants

Citation:

Plambech, Sine. 2014. “Between ‘Victims’ and ‘Criminals’: Rescue, Deportation, and Everyday Violence Among Nigerian Migrants.” Social Politics 21 (3): 382–402. doi:10.1093/sp/jxu021.

Author: Sine Plambech

Abstract:

This article is about the lives of Nigerian sex workers after deportation from Europe, as well as the institutions that intervene in their migration trajectories. In Europe, some of these women's situations fit the legal definitions of trafficking, and they were categorized as "victims of human trafficking"; others were categorized as undocumented migrants -- "criminals" guilty of violating immigration laws. Despite the growing political attention devoted to protecting victims of trafficking, I argue that in areas of Nigeria prone to economic insecurity and gender-based violence, the categories of "victim" and "criminal" collapse into, and begin to resemble, one another once on the ground. The need to identify and distinguish groups of migrants from one another illustrates the dilemmas that have arisen in the wake of increasingly restrictive European immigration policies. Furthermore, the return processes create a hierarchical structure in which the violence women experience in the sex industry in Europe is imagined to be worse than the everyday violence they experience at home.

Keywords: sex industry, human trafficking, immigration policy, violence, Gender, Nigeria

Topics: Citizenship, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Forced Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking, Violence Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 2014

Between Rhetoric and Reality: Exploring the Impact of Military Humanitarian Intervention upon Sexual Violence – Post-Conflict Sex Trafficking in Kosovo

Citation:

Godec, Samantha T. “Between Rhetoric and Reality: Exploring the Impact of Military Humanitarian Intervention upon Sexual Violence – Post-Conflict Sex Trafficking in Kosovo.” International Review of the Red Cross 92, no. 877 (March 2010): 235–58. doi:10.1017/S1816383110000159.

Author: Samantha T Godec

Abstract:

Adopting a feminist perspective, this paper analyses the doctrine of humanitarian intervention and its impact on women in recipient states, particularly with regard to sexual violence. By analysing the phenomenon of post-conflict trafficking in Kosovo following the NATO intervention, the author presents a challenge to the ‘feminist hawks’ who have called for military intervention in situations of systematic sexual violence. It is the author’s contention that such intervention would be counterproductive for women’s rights and thus constitute a disproportionate response to sexual violence in terms of the international law governing the use of force. 

 

Annotation:

Godec discusses current critiques of militarized humanitarian intervention and delivery of aid, which do not consider women or a gender analysis of women’s post-intervention experience. This article seeks to analyze the impact of militarized humanitarian intervention in relation to sex trafficking & forced prostitution in Kosovo.  Prior to 1999, Kosovo did not have a thriving sex-industry but within months of the troops, NGO’s, and UNMIK personnel arriving due to the conflict with Serbia, brothels were established around the military bases.  Due to this influx of militarized aid deliverers, Kosovo is now a major destination country for trafficking women & children and the author attributes this to:

1.     Sudden presence of military personnel creating immediate demand for sexual services

2.     Post-intervention of Kosovo sustained the demand & fostered an environment where organized criminal network could reap the profits

3.     Disruption of society & economy resulted in increased numbers of women & girls in need of income thereby creating a supply for the sex industry

4.     Failure of the UNMIK to address the problem of trafficking allowed for a culture of impunity to prevail

In addition to a developing sex industry, the greater the military presence the greater gender-based-violence increased in Kosovo. Godec cautions that the same pattern of international presence and the subsequent outcome on women & girls is arising in conflict areas such as: Kuwait, Afghanistan & Iraq.  As a preventative, Godec calls for gender awareness and education to be brought to peacekeepers and the military.  “The key criterion is whether the benefits of the use of force will outweigh the costs.”

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender Analysis, Humanitarian Assistance, International Law, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarization, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Kosovo

Year: 2010

Human Security and Gender Violence

Citation:

Coomaraswamy, Radhika. 2005. “Human Security and Gender Violence.” Economic and Political Weekly 40 (44-45): 4729–36.

 

Author: Radhika Coomaraswamy

Abstract:

All countries comprising the south Asian region have responded in some measure to the challenges posed by violence against women in the region. However, what remains a matter of concern is the fact that apart from India, none of the other south Asian countries have adopted domestic violence legislation or made the necessary changes to anti-trafficking legislation. Progress to ensure security and a world without violence for women has been slow but its pace especially in the last decade has been heartening. Violence against women, as borne out by research from around the world, can be effectively combated if a healthy partnership prevails between women's groups and the state apparatus.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Society, Domestic Violence, Gender, Women, Girls, Masculinity/ies, Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Asia, South Asia

Year: 2005

Trafficking in Persons: An Issue of Human Security

Citation:

Clark, Michele Anne. 2010. “Trafficking in Persons: An Issue of Human Security.” Journal of Human Development 4 (2): 247–63.

Author: Michele Anne Clark

Abstract:

This paper discusses trafficking in persons within a human security framework by identifying factors that heighten the insecurity of women and children within countries of origin, transit and destination. The author begins by reviewing the definitions in use and assessing the scope of the problem, and describing vulnerable populations and harmful practices. The paper then addresses conditions of vulnerability, including economic conditions, the entrenchment of organized crime, and civil war and unrest. It examines responses to the problem in countries of origin, transit, and destination, and concludes with recommendations for future policy intervention.

Keywords: Trafficking, human security, crime, Gender, children, the Economy, Crisis, Italy

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Trafficking, Human Trafficking

Year: 2010

Pages

© 2024 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.

Subscribe to RSS - Trafficking