scholarly journals Domestic Sex Trafficking of Aboriginal Girls in Canada: Issues and Implications

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupriya Sethi
Keyword(s):  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
Domestic Sex Trafficking

The current discourses on human trafficking in Canada do not take into account domestic trafficking, especially of Aboriginal girls. Notwithstanding the alarmingly high number of missing, murdered and sexually exploited Aboriginal girls, the issue continues to be portrayed more as a problem of prostitution than of sexual exploitation or domestic trafficking. The focus of this study is to examine the issues in sexual exploitation of Aboriginal girls, as identified by the grass root agencies, and to contextualize them within the trafficking framework with the purpose of distinguishing sexual exploitation from sex work. In doing so, the paper will outline root causes that make Aboriginal girls vulnerable to domestic trafficking as well as draw implications for policy analysis.

scholarly journals Sex Trafficking at the Border: An Exploration of Anti-Trafficking Efforts in the Pacific Northwest

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Norfolk ◽  
Helga Hallgrimsdottir
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
Legal Frameworks

The prevalence of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour in the Pacific Northwest has been well documented in recent years. This paper focuses specifically on trafficking for sex work across the British Columbia and Washington State border and seeks to determine whether the border is an effective instrument or tool for the identification and intervention of human trafficking for sex work. We provide an exploration of the legal frameworks and policies on either side of the border and offer an analysis of the cross-border anti-trafficking efforts carried out at the borderlands. The paper concludes that current mechanisms fail to appropriately address and combat the issue of cross-border sex trafficking for several reasons, including the following: a lack of uniform definitions of sex trafficking; the conflation of migrant sex work and sex trafficking, leading to misidentification at the border; and an emphasis on border security measures over victim support. Recommendations for enhanced responses are provided.

scholarly journals ‘Sex Trafficking’ as Epistemic Violence

2019 ◽  
pp. 172-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Chapman-Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Side Effect ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Epistemic Violence ◽  
Academic Researchers

While the American Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (FOSTA) has been heavily criticised by researchers and activists for the harm it inflicts on sex workers, many of these critics nevertheless agree with the Act’s goal of fighting sex trafficking online. This paper, however, argues that in American legal discourse, ‘sex trafficking’ refers not to human trafficking for sexual exploitation, but rather to all forms of sex work. As such, the law’s punitive treatment of sex workers needs to be understood as the law’s purpose, rather than an unfortunate side effect. This paper also demonstrates how the discourse of ‘sex trafficking’ is itself a form of epistemic violence that silences sex workers and leaves them vulnerable to abuse, with FOSTA serving to broaden the scope of this violence. The paper concludes by highlighting ways journalists and academic researchers can avoid becoming complicit in this violence.

scholarly journals The Double-Edged Sword of Health and Safety: COVID-19 and the Policing and Exclusion of Migrant Asian Massage Workers in North America

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Elene Lam ◽  
Elena Shih ◽  
Katherine Chin ◽  
Kate Zen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
The State ◽  
Emergency Relief ◽  
Sexual Services

Migrant Asian massage workers in North America first experienced the impacts of COVID-19 in the final weeks of January 2020, when business dropped drastically due to widespread xenophobic fears that the virus was concentrated in Chinese diasporic communities. The sustained economic devastation, which began at least 8 weeks prior to the first social distancing and shelter in place orders issued in the U.S. and Canada, has been further complicated by a history of aggressive policing of migrant massage workers in the wake of the war against human trafficking. Migrant Asian massage businesses are increasingly policed as locales of potential illicit sex work and human trafficking, as police and anti-trafficking initiatives target migrant Asian massage workers despite the fact that most do not provide sexual services. The scapegoating of migrant Asian massage workers and criminalization of sex work have led to devastating systemic and interpersonal violence, including numerous deportations, arrests, and deaths, most notably the recent murder of eight people at three Atlanta-based spas. The policing of sex workers has historically been mobilized along fears of sexually transmitted disease and infection, and more recently, within the past two decades, around a moral panic against sex trafficking. New racial anxieties around the coronavirus as an Asian disease have been mobilized by the state to further cement the justification of policing Asian migrant workers along the axes of health, migration, and sexual labor. These justifications also solidify discriminatory social welfare regimes that exclude Asian migrant massage workers from accessing services on the basis of the informality and illegality of their work mixed with their precarious citizenship status. This paper draws from ethnographic participant observation and survey data collected by two sex worker organizations that work primarily with massage workers in Toronto and New York City to examine the double-edged sword of policing during the pandemic in the name of anti-trafficking coupled with exclusionary policies regarding emergency relief and social welfare, and its effects on migrant Asian massage workers in North America. Although not all migrant Asian massage workers, including those surveyed in this paper, provide sexual services, they are conflated, targeted, and treated as such by the state and therefore face similar barriers of criminalization, discrimination, and exclusion. This paper recognizes that most migrant Asian massage workers do not identify as sex workers and does not intend to label them as such or reproduce the scapegoating rhetoric used by law enforcement. Rather, it seeks to analyze how exclusionary attitudes and policies towards sex workers are transferred onto migrant Asian massage workers as well whether or not they provide sexual services.

Human Trafficking: Sex Trade

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Bergquist
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Labor Trafficking ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
To Receive

The definition of human trafficking generally includes the commercial exploitation of persons for labor or sex. Although the International Labour Organization estimated in 2012 that exploitation through forced labor trafficking is up to three times more prevalent than forced sexual exploitation, sex trafficking seems to receive greater media and public attention. This article provides a historical context for sex trafficking, some discussion about the political evolution of sex trafficking legislation, current knowledge, and practice.

scholarly journals The Economics of Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Jakobsson ◽  
Andreas Kotsadam
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Commercial Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Human Smuggling ◽  
Economic Literature ◽  
Economics Literature ◽  
International Human ◽  
Country People

This article analyzes the economics of international human trafficking of women for commercial sexual exploitation. It begins with a review of the economics literature on sex trafficking, with particular emphasis on factors that determines which type of country people are trafficked to and where people are trafficked from. It then describes the datasets that have been and can be used in studying trafficking. It also considers some economics papers that work toward integrating the analysis of trafficking to include both sending and receiving countries. It suggests that the economic literature on human smuggling is particularly promising and should be incorporated by economists studying trafficking. The article concludes by highlighting gaps in the economics trafficking literature and outlining possible areas of future research.

scholarly journals A Public Health Approach to Global Child Sex Trafficking

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 481-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Greenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Child Sex Trafficking

Human trafficking and child sex trafficking and sexual exploitation in particular are global public health issues with widespread, lasting impacts on children, families, and communities. Traditionally, human trafficking has been treated as a law enforcement problem with an emphasis on the arrest and prosecution of traffickers. However, use of a public health approach focuses efforts on those impacted by exploitation: trafficked persons, their families, and the population at large. It promotes strategies to build a solid scientific evidence base that allows development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention and intervention efforts, informs policy and program development, and guides international efforts at eradication. This article uses the public health approach to address human trafficking, with a focus on child sex trafficking and exploitation. Recommendations are made for public health professionals to contribute to antitrafficking efforts globally.

Human Trafficking 1: Epidemiology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Macias-Konstantopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Commercial Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Trafficking In Persons ◽  
Debt Bondage ◽  
Domestic Servitude

Trafficking in persons, or human trafficking, is the obtaining of persons by force, fraud, coercion, or other improper means, with the intention of exploiting them for financial gain. According to the US Department of State, the more prominent global forms of human trafficking include forced labor, bonded labor (or debt bondage), forced commercial sexual exploitation (or sex trafficking), involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child sex trafficking, child soldiering, and organ trafficking. In the United States, the forced exploitation of persons in the labor industry (i.e., labor trafficking) and in the commercial sex industry (i.e., sex trafficking) account for the majority of human trafficking cases recognized, reported, investigated, and prosecuted. Women and girls account for 55% (11.4 million) of the global trafficked population, whereas men and boys comprise the difference. Three quarters of trafficked persons are adults, whereas children younger than 18 years represent 26% (5.5 million) of victims. Risk factors that have been associated with increased risk of human trafficking include but are not limited to a childhood history of abuse and neglect; financial insecurity; housing instability associated with homelessness, running away, or being thrown out of the home; kinship placements with distant family members, foster care, and other residential placements; intellectual and learning disabilities; identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ); racial and ethnic minority status; status as an immigrant, migrant worker, and refugee; and involvement in gangs or illicit substance use. Due to the inherently abusive and violent nature of this crime, human trafficking has profound negative implications for the health and well-being of affected persons. This review contains 2 figures, 4 tables and 53 references Key words: commercial sexual exploitation, debt bondage, domestic servitude, forced labor, forced substance use, HIV, modern-day slavery, posttraumatic stress disorder, trafficking in persons 

scholarly journals The Finance of Sex Trafficking and Impact of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-168
Author(s):  
Phoebe Ewen
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Sexual Slavery ◽  
Adults And Children

This paper examines how COVID-19 has impacted the lives of sex workers and how changing circumstances may make them and others even more vulnerable to exploitation into sex trafficking. It explores the perceptions and policies that keep sex workers from receiving the financial support needed to keep them safe at this time. It considers how sex work may be driven further underground, and the implications of this on the security of the workers involved. It also considers how the behaviour of clients may change as a result of the virus, examining the supply and demand drivers of online sexual exploitation of adults and children. This paper also outlines the fluidity of criminal nature, how criminals are adapting to changing circumstances and finding new ways to identify, groom, and exploit victims into sexual slavery. Finally, it analyses the implications that COVID-19 has had on the nature of money laundering and the related effects on the ability of financial institutions to operate as the ‘eyes and ears’ in the fight against global sex trafficking. It concludes with recommendations that can be made to financial institutions and related agencies, to respond rapidly to emerging risks and new trends in sexual exploitation and money laundering.

missional appropriation of human trafficking for the sex-work industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kotze ◽  
Cornelius JP Niemandt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach

This article explores the possibility of the involvement of the ecumenical church in addressing the complex issue of sex trafficking. It is done through a glocal theological theory built on missional theology and social ethics as human trafficking is reinterpreted to be a theological issue which could lead to a life-giving mission. Research takes place within the transformative paradigm using a mixed-methods approach, and the theory and praxis are examined with the fullness of life, human dignity, hope, justice and healing in mind. As a destination for sex trafficking, empirical research was done in Rustenburg, South Africa, among victims and survivors, missional workers and church leaders, and experts in the field. This assisted the investigation into the viability and content of this theory. It is then argued that a missional appropriation based on hope, liberation and justice adds a new dimension to being church and leads to a transformative mission to victims.

scholarly journals The Trafficking Continuum: Service Providers’ Perspectives on Vulnerability, Exploitation, and Trafficking

Affilia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Schwarz ◽  
Daniel Alvord ◽  
Dorothy Daley ◽  
Megha Ramaswamy ◽  
Emily Rauscher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Sex Trafficking ◽  
Kansas City ◽  
Risk Model ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Labor Exploitation ◽  
A Chain

Much of the research on human trafficking focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and protection of survivors after the crime has occurred. Less is known about the social disparities that make someone vulnerable to trafficking. This project examines human trafficking from a preventive focus, using data from a case study of service providers working with at-risk populations in the Kansas City, MO-KS area. The research team conducted 42 in-depth interviews with service providers working in the medical, educational, legal, and social services sectors from 2013 to 2016. Participants identified risk factors that could make someone vulnerable to labor or sexual exploitation. These factors clustered into four key areas: economic insecurity, housing insecurity, education, and migration. The research findings also suggest that human trafficking may be driven by an accumulation of risk factors that move vulnerable persons closer to labor exploitation and sex trafficking, fitting with a chain-of-risk model. We propose a model that reconceives of trafficking as a continuum that includes a range of vulnerabilities, violence, and traumas. In order to address human trafficking, policy makers and advocates need to focus on upstream prevention factors to address vulnerabilities that can lead to sex and labor exploitation.

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