Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman

Front matter

39d31LNOY and the Woman

Myths and Misconceptions Ee about

~ Trafficking and its Victims

PART I: SETTING THE SCENE: TRAFFICKING MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS IN CONTEXT 1 Introduction to Trafficking and the Mainstream

Trafficking Framework Human Trafficking: Concepts and Realities The Myths and Misconceptions Challenged in this Book Analysing Trafficking Through the Lens of Autonomy, Agency and Causality Structure of this Book The Way Forward

2 The Main Agendas and Those Behind Them Academic Discourse: Feminist Debates on Sex Work and Trafficking Government Agendas: Controlling Sex Work and Migration Using Anti-Trafficking Policies The Influence of the UN, Inter-Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations and Donors The Rescue Industry The Media Victim Self-Imagery: The Good Woman, Innocent Victim and Inviolable Man Conclusion

3 Legislative Approaches to Trafficking: The Role of the Law in Challenging or Reinforcing Myths and Misconceptions The Trafficking Protocol and its Problematic Definition of Trafficking Other International and Regional Legal Instruments xi xiii xv

XIX

42 46 viii Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman

Regulating Trafficking, Sex Work and Migration at the National Level Conclusion

Part Ii: Dispelling The Myths And Misconceptions

4 The Coerced Victim of Trafficking Dispelling the Coerced Victim Archetype: Kidnapping, Abduction and the Deception of Victims The ‘Voluntary Victim’: Refining our Understanding of Human Trafficking Conclusion

5 The Uneducated Victim of Trafficking The Archetypal Uneducated Victim and its Origins Contesting the Uneducated Victim Archetype Does Education Impact Trafficking in Other Ways?

Other Variables in the Education Systems Conclusion

6 The Poor Victim of Trafficking Defining Absolute Poverty’s Relationship with Trafficking Relative Poverty and Human Trafficking Conclusion

7 The Female Victim of Trafficking ‘Gender’ Inequality and the Traffic of Women and Girls Human Trafficking and Male Victims The Gendered Nature of Exploitation The Sex of Traffickers The Gendered Nature of Stigma Conclusion

Part Iii: An Alternative Approach To Trafficking

8 The Shortcomings of a Criminal Justice Focus The Criminal Underworld of Sex and Exploitation Elements of the Crime Conclusion

57 64

166 167

Contents

9 The ‘Voluntary’ Victim, Unmet Expectations and Contractual and Labour Rights Redress Turning to Principles from Contract Law: Unmet Expectations, Deception and Redress Legitimate and Non-Legitimate Expectations Labour Laws: Exploitation and Regulating Conditions of Work Conclusion

Conclusion: Towards a More Inclusive, Victim-Centred Framework The Voluntary Victim of Trafficking A New Victim Profile Other Potential Drivers Beyond the Scope of this Book Rising Above Individual Agendas Final Remarks: Trafficking as Failed Migration

Annex 1: Questionnaire Annex 2: Overview of data collected from Ukraine, Vietnam and Ghana

Bibliography Legislation, Case Law, Resolutions and Policy Documents Government Reports and Policy Statements Sources from the United Nations System International Organisation and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Sources Journals, Books and Other Sources News Articles and Opinion Pieces

Index

183 184 185 188 189 190

193 201

207 207 210 212

216 222 252

List of Figures, Maps and Tables

Figures

5.1 Observations on relationship between education and trafficking in Ukraine

7.1. Type of work engaged in overseas

Maps

A2.1 Map of Ukraine highlighting the location of the IOM Rehabilitation Centre Kyiv and NGOs participating in quantitative data collection

A2.2 Map of Ukraine marking locations of face-to-face and email key informant interviews

A2.3 Location of the Centre for Women and Development (CWD), Hanoi

A2.4 Map of Vietnam marking locations of key informant interviews

A2.5 Map of Ghana, marking the capital Accra, location of key informant interviews, as well as Lake Volta, the most commonly documented site of internal trafficking of children into the fishing industry

Tables

4.1 Number of people aware about the respondent’s decision to leave Ukraine

4.2 People involved in arranging the departure of the respondent from Ukraine

5.1 Age up to which the respondents attended school

203 204 xii

6.1 6.2

6.3 6.4

7.1

Household structure of questionnaire respondents

Portion of respondents not earning an income prior to departing Ukraine who left during or immediately after school, college or university completion

Occupation of the respondents prior to departure Occupational group and years of employment for individuals who considered income sufficient to cover their expenses and family contribution

The ‘gendered’ nature of exploitation experienced in destination countries

Number of questionnaires completed and key informant interviews conducted across Ghana, Vietnam and Ukraine Overview of questionnaire data collected from victims of trafficking returned to Ukraine

Overview of questionnaire data collected from victims of trafficking returned to Vietnam

126 130

Acknowledgements

This book has been nothing short of a journey and I owe thanks to several people for their contributions and support.

Thank you to each and every woman and man who so generously offered to participate in my research. I am truly indebted and thankful in particular to the male and female victims who shared with me their experiences on which this book draws. I hope the perspective that I put forward helps to bring about better recognition of and protection for the rights of migrants globally.

Of all the organisations that I have worked with over the years, particular thanks are owed to the International Organisation for Migration, which offered me substantial support in Vietnam and Ukraine. Thank you also to the University of New South Wales, for financial but particularly academic support throughout many years of study at this great institution.

Thanks are owed to several individuals who made valuable contributions to this book: Dr Roberto Barbeito (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos) for his guidance on my methodological design; Dr Anne Gallagher and Dr Ronald Weitzer (George Washington University) for sharing with me their insights that draw on their many years of experience in the field of trafficking; Debbie Budlender for her thorough review and edit of the manuscript; and at Ashgate Publishing, my editors, Kirstin Howgate and Brenda Sharp, for their dedication that helped put my manuscript on the shelf.

A special thanks are owed to my parents, Vije and Rae, and my sisters, Sheila and Vaneeta, for their unconditional support for my human rights pursuits and to Dr Helen Pringle (University of New South Wales) for her invaluable guidance on my scholarship and the countless hours that she was willing to spare me of her already limited time. Thanks are also owed to Dr Geoffrey Brahm Levey (University of New South Wales) who provided thoughtful guidance at numerous points during my research. My thinking on agency and autonomy was challenged and my analysis sharpened due to his work on the topic.

To my daughter, Matilda Noa, who was only in her first few months of life at the time of finalising this book: I hope one day you find this to be an interesting read. May you be driven to make a new and significant contribution to a topic that you love, in whatever field you choose.

Finally, I owe an overwhelming vote of thanks to my partner, José-Miguel. Ideas and projects, even one as big as embarking on a book, have to start somewhere, and in my case, it all began during one of our many debates while preparing a meal. From the moment of conception to getting this book off the printer, he has been my guiding light. There is not a word I have written that he has xiv Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman not read many times over and there was not a moment when he tired of providing me with the emotional and intellectual support needed to get through my field work and to formulate the ideas shared in this book. It is hard to imagine that there is a debate on trafficking that we have not had. No words of thanks are enough. I will be forever indebted.

I remain solely responsible for the interpretations, opinions (and possible mistakes) that appear in this book.

Preface

As an academic and practitioner, it is always confronting when ideas and theories you believe to be correct fall apart the deeper and deeper you investigate. A significant number of the ideas shared in this book are based on many years of study in this field. When I started my research, I intended to examine the factors that shape or limit the choices of women who are trafficked. I had assumed that the mainstream approach to trafficking was an appropriate one and at that stage believed the assumptions that are analysed in this book to be accurate representations of the trafficking phenomenon. The vulnerability of women and girls to being trafficked stirred my interest in the topic. I thought that povertydriven desperation compelled movement across borders. In fact, my research was originally designed to explore the extent to which socio-demographic ‘causes’ such as poverty and low levels of education shape trafficking patterns, as opposed to whether they correlate with trafficking at all. In this sense, I was a supporter of the mainstream trafficking framework that I now critique.

As my research progressed, I realised that what I used to believe about trafficking is the very problem with trafficking discourse. I began to see the distinct lack of methodologically sound evidence to demonstrate that the image of the coerced, naive female victim actually reflects the demographics of victims. I became frustrated with the limited effort made to substantiate these stereotypical claims, leaving these assumptions about trafficking and this image of victims unexamined. I felt concern — particularly given the significant investment of donor resources in anti-trafficking programmes — when these inaccurate images were subsequently reiterated by the most dominant voices (loud, influential keynote speakers at more than one or two anti-trafficking conferences). At the end of the day, this mainstream picture has been deemed an accurate description of the trafficking phenomenon, resulting in a clichéd image of victimhood.

I was not the first to ask, ‘Where are the stories of men and non-sexual exploitation?’ but I certainly felt in the minority when looking for a way to give attention to the active role of the victim in their eventual exploitation. I wanted to find a better way to express the voluntary pursuit of a destiny that sadly ends in exploitative conditions.

I spent time in the field when developing the ideas expressed in this book: in Ukraine from July to September 2009; in Vietnam in 2008 and in October 2009; and finally in Ghana from July to November 2010. I chose these countries, in part, because of my view that among the overwhelming (and arguably excessive) literature on trafficking, there was no truly multi-regional comparative study of the so-called causes. I wanted to ensure that my cross-regional study included both under-researched countries and those countries believed to have some of the xvi Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman highest trafficking prevalence rates in the world. Naturally, I also took into account ethical considerations and what was feasible for me as an individual researcher.

The field research that forms the backdrop to this book involved a steep learning curve. My sex probably meant that female informants were more willing to participate in this research and may also have increased the likelihood that shelters were willing to support my research, particularly when the majority of their victims were females who had suffered sexual exploitation. I was, however, also faced with shelters unwilling to support my research. While I appreciated the ethical reasons behind such decisions, my scepticism about the suitability of many reintegration programmes and the operation of these shelters simultaneously grew. I was also cognisant of the fact that in all three countries I was a foreigner and this would inevitably influence my findings.’

My field experience confirmed some of the biggest concerns that I have with the anti-trafficking sector. I sat through many interviews with experts in the field, hearing the continuous repetition of one or two particular views. As this continued, I was doubtful that these were simply individuals expressing original and independent thoughts. To me, it appeared that the anti-trafficking communities in Vietnam, Ghana and Ukraine — all of which are sufficiently small that there is a large amount of information sharing — were all informed by the same widely-read report, the same piece of research, the same speech, workshop or training.

This was particularly evident in Vietnam and Ukraine and could be explained, in part, by the existence of fairly strong — especially in Ukraine — non-governmental reintegration networks that work together in partnership with the government and international organisations in both countries. While understandable, this repetition of ideas also epitomises one of the main problems with current day anti-trafficking discourse — the lack of original, fresh and challenging thoughts. Paul Bernish, Director of Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Initiatives at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Centre, a museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, has explained this problem succinctly:

I feel a growing sense that modern-day abolitionists (... myself included) are existing in an echo chamber where our thoughts, ideas and suggestions are

1 A small but illuminating incident occurred during my interview with a Ghanaian informant, Judith Dzokoto, then Assistant Director of Migration at the Ghana Immigration Service. Dzokoto recounted how Ghanaian children living abroad in the US, the UK as well as Australia are a status symbol for their Ghanaian parents. While it is reasonable that she would mention the US or UK, both of which have relatively high prevalence of migration from Ghana, the reference to Australia is surprising. Only 0.06 per cent of Australia’s overseas population in 2006 identified as being of Ghanaian origin (Hugo, 2009: Table 7 citing ABS Population Censuses 1986 to 2006). As Australia is not a common destination for Ghanaian migrants, I can only conjecture that the informant was influenced by my own Australian nationality and the fact that I was undertaking my research with an Australian university, as I had explained at the start of the interview. This incident was a significant reminder of the influence researchers may have on the data they collect.

Preface xvii repeated in a continuous loop, with very little that is new or insightful about the issue and what to do about it. (2011)

This notion ofan echo chamber was one of the main drivers behind my research. Myths and misconceptions are frequently left unchallenged because of the limited space for researchers and practitioners working on trafficking to debate outside of this ‘chamber’. Unquestionably, there have been notable shifts in academic discourse since I first started working on human trafficking. However, this book aims to take that trend to a new level and offer a comprehensive challenge to stereotypical, biased and sensationalised portrayals of human trafficking.

Having said this, despite my growing awareness of the complex relationship between gender and trafficking, the majority of my own data discussed in this book has a focus that is limited to the trafficking of women and girls. This may lead some readers to think that I too have followed this stereotypical line of thought. However, this deliberate decision to focus my attention on gender stereotypes concerning female victims not only challenges the female victim archetype but also has important implications for what we know about the trafficking of men.

In addition, throughout the drafting process, as a lawyer and policy advocate, I have felt the need to outline some pragmatic conclusions from this research. For this reason, I have also set out, in the final section of this book, some recommendations for how the realities of trafficking can be formulated into a more appropriate definition, for legal and non-legal purposes.

I hope that after reading this book readers feel that I have achieved what I set out to do, that is, we know more about what should and should not be considered factors that increase the vulnerability of would-be migrants to exploitation. I hope, too, that I have done justice to the diversity of experiences of women and men who suffer trafficking and trafficking-like conditions, offering an approach that enables us to think outside of the ‘mainstream trafficking framework’ and providing a methodologically sound alternative way to understand human trafficking.

RAMONA VIJEYARASA

Series Preface

Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman challenges mainstream representations of human trafficking and the equating of victimhood with uneducated, poor, naive and vulnerable young women and girls who are preyed upon by male traffickers who lure them into sexual exploitation. This well-known image has been reinforced by the media, the entertainment industry, international policy agendas and even academic literature. Ramona Vijeyarasa presents a powerful challenge to these stereotypes and argues that these explanations of human trafficking are based on weak, unsystematic evidence which has produced largely unsubstantiated portrayals of trafficking and its victims. A critical evaluation of the main stakeholders and their agendas — from academic literature and the reports of NGOs to pieces in the popular press — reveals not only the weak foundation underpinning these largely unsupported assumptions, but also the gains to be made by those espousing these characterisations of victims and the supposed ‘push’ factors that are claimed to drive human trafficking.

Vijeyarasa challenges the mainstream framework of human trafficking, arguing that its focus on coerced victims is misleading. While coercion is a reality in some instances, trafficking more often results from non-coerced migratory movements. Many victims are fully aware that they are taking risks when they agree to their movement or accept conditions of work at the point of destination. How well they understand those risks no doubt varies, but, as Vijeyarasa points out, human trafficking is often a ‘choice’ rather than a matter of brute force. For example, she discovered that barriers to employment are among the most decisive factors in the decision to risk and accept exploitative conditions. Poverty’s relationship with trafficking is far more complex than often perceived and she presents fresh ideas on the important distinctions between absolute and relative poverty.

While recognising additional issues such as legal barriers, ethnic minority status and conflict, Vijeyarasa remains focused on the importance of viewing human trafficking through the lens of ‘voluntary victimhood’ and unmet expectations. She points out that the exploitation of men and women in trafficking often arises in the course of their voluntary pursuit of economic and social goals. She argues that human trafficking needs to be placed within the field of migration — indeed as a form of failed migration. She also highlights that people who become involved in human trafficking have often made well considered decisions to improve their economic position. Yet these decisions may be based on fraudulent information, leading to uninformed and often dangerous decisions.

The identification of trafficking ‘victims’ with helplessness and passivity both ignores their agency and more importantly, obscures the misinformation

XX Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman and malpractices that are trapping so many innocent people in very dangerous circumstances. More attention to the traffickers and their behaviour, and the dangers facing willing ‘victims’ seeking a better life in an unforgiving world, holds out the promise of shifting the argument away from victimhood to a critical engagement with the practices that might help produce very different outcomes. The agency of the ‘victims’ of human trafficking is the site where rethinking and redesigning responses to human trafficking needs to begin. Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman is an important contribution to this debate, and a welcome addition to our series.

JANE L. PARPART PAULINE GARDINER BARBER MARIANNE MARCHAND

Chapter 1 Introduction to Trafficking and the Mainstream Trafficking Framework

Over the last few decades, we have witnessed the rise of a global movement — fragmented though its members may be — working to end human trafficking. Governments worldwide increasingly recognise their responsibility to prevent human trafficking from taking place from across or within their borders, to prosecute traffickers and to protect victims. There is also substantially greater recognition, although notably slow, that human trafficking is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon that takes many forms, including and beyond sexual exploitation of women and girls.

However, misconceptions remain about the most dominant forms of human trafficking and the most dominant characteristics of its victims, including among governments, policy makers, UN experts and within academic circles. Victims of human trafficking are frequently, and erroneously, viewed as uneducated and poor, naive and susceptible to deception. With the quintessential victims presented as young women and girls, recruited or abducted by male traffickers, the language of vulnerabilities and an emphasis on sexual exploitation remain widespread.

While the manifestation of such imagery in films, on television and in magazines can be dismissed as merely fictional, the persistence of these stereotypes among governments, academics and activists has a significant bearing on anti-trafficking efforts. A fight against ‘modern-day slavery’ has been declared in policies, programmes and literature. Unsubstantiated portrayals of trafficking form the foundations for significant policy dialogues on the subject, with these stereotypes systemically amplified through repetition. The effect of this reverberation is that these assumptions now sit at the heart of mainstream approaches to trafficking.

This book is a comprehensive effort to dispel some of the most dominant myths and misconceptions about human trafficking, providing evidenced-based examples to challenge those factors that are assumed to be its causes. The terms myths and misconceptions have been chosen not only to highlight the deeply ingrained imagery, particularly slavery imagery, that has helped to fuel these inaccurate portrayals but also to emphasise how even minor errors or non-deliberate misuse of data can reinforce and perpetuate unfounded stereotypes. As will be seen, not only are there numerous areas of contention in this field, but even significant deficiencies in definitions and approaches about which there is relative consensus.

Human Trafficking: Concepts and Realities Defining Human Trafficking

While the international community long ago came to an agreement that human trafficking involves egregious violations of human rights, it is arguable that a consensus on the definition of trafficking has not yet been reached. Many, however, describe 2000 as a defining moment. Prior to this, various legal instruments (particularly ILO conventions) and resolutions existed to govern the issues of forced and child labour, slavery and practices similar to slavery, including white slavery and commercial sexual exploitation of children and adults. The term ‘trafficking’, although mentioned, was not yet defined.

In 2000, many in the global community gathered in Palermo, Italy, to discuss and debate growing confusion within this field. Clarity was needed on the overlaps and distinctions between prostitution and trafficking and between trafficking and migrant smuggling, as well as on the relative weight to be accorded to crimes of a sexual and non-sexual nature. This moment was preceded by a resolution introduced by the United States on trafficking in women and children at the April 1998 session of the UN Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The resolution called for the development of a protocol on trafficking in women and children under a proposed UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime [Transnational Organised Crime Convention]. The draft protocol itself was introduced by the United States and Argentina at the first negotiation session for the Convention in January 1999.

In the lead-up to Palermo, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) lobbied member states on the draft language of the protocol. Abolitionist feminists (who promote the simultaneous criminalisation of both prostitution and trafficking) and pro-sex work feminists (who distinguish voluntary sex work from the involuntariness of trafficking) were unsurprisingly divided.' The UN, particularly the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), was at the centre of discussions in Palermo, along with the inter-governmental organisation, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The outcome of these discussions was the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. The Protocol supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and was signed by over 80 countries in December 2000 [hereafter, Trafficking Protocol].

The Trafficking Protocol defines trafficking as:

... the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction,

1 Throughout this book, I use the terms ‘prostitute’ and ‘sex worker’ interchangeably to remain true to the original passage and the preferred term of the author(s) being discussed or cited. My preferred terminology is ‘sex work’ as a reflection that women voluntarily involved in sex work seek recognition of this work as a legitimate livelihood choice.

of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs; ... (Article 3(a), Trafficking Protocol)

The Trafficking Protocol sits alongside the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air [Smuggling Protocol] and a third Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing ofand Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition. The Smuggling Protocol defines human smuggling as:

. the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident. (Article 3(a), Smuggling Protocol)

The Trafficking Protocol’s definition revolves around three separate elements: first, the action (‘recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons’); second, the means; and finally, the purpose of exploitation. For a given situation to be deemed one of trafficking, all three elements (action, means and purpose) must be present, with the exception of cases involving children (those under 18 years of age). In these instances, no means need to be identified (Article 3(a)). That is, the movement of any persons under the age of 18 for the purpose of exploitation is defined as a case of trafficking, regardless of the presence of any consent.

Unsurprisingly given its annexation to a convention focus on organised crime, the Trafficking Protocol adopts a criminal justice perspective oriented towards the prosecution of the alleged trafficker. It therefore focuses on both the actions of the trafficker(s) (actus rea) and their mental intent, or the purpose of the crime (mens rea). After its enactment, this criminal-law oriented definition found its way, in various forms, into national legislation and policy instruments and is cited in most, if not all, literature as the definition of human trafficking.

Where and How Did Trafficking Discourse Go Wrong?

Over the years, the most shocking and stereotypical aspects of human trafficking have attracted widespread interest in the mass media which is dotted with such portrayals. In the film Human Trafficking (2005), a single mother in Prague is seduced by a handsome man, a Ukrainian girl is duped by a model agency and an American tourist is kidnapped in the Philippines. In Lilya 4-Ever (2002), young, desperate, naive and unsuspecting Lilya from the former Soviet Republic is tricked by her boyfriend into accepting a false job offer in Sweden.

The mass media’s focus on ‘sexual victimhood’ has led to ‘[sJalacious and controversial statements about trafficking, which often seem intended more to titillate’ than inform (Uy, 2011: 209). These statements serve to reinforce the gender stereotype that women need constant male or state (police) protection and that women’s independent mobility should be prevented. It therefore tends to have a two-pronged focus: fighting criminals and saving the victims (Pajnik, 2010: 59). Such an approach to trafficking neglects more multifaceted economic and social circumstances and fails to capture the complexity of the decisions of potential migrants that might lead to a situation of exploitation, not to mention their agency. Male vulnerability is also obscured (for more, see Jones, 2010: 1145).

The media’s vested interested in trafficking — a topic that can be assumed to increase readership — is at least clear. However, it is particularly surprising that media outlets at times credit themselves as key players in the actual ‘fight’ against trafficking. The United States of America’s Cable News Network, CNN, for example, has run the CNN Freedom Project since 2011, an initiative that uses celebrities to highlight the work of activists — ‘CNN heroes’ — fighting ‘modern day slavery’. At one point, the news source claimed that ‘nearly 2,000 people have come out of slavery, either directly or indirectly as a result of the hundreds of stories broadcast on air and published online’ (CNN Freedom Project, 2011). The complex relationship between poverty and trafficking and the legal nuances that distinguish trafficking from slavery are ignored in the narratives presented by such outlets as CNN.

Academic Dina Francesca Haynes denounces the ‘celebritization’ of human trafficking and reproaches not only the media but particularly those law and policy makers who in some instances use anti-trafficking efforts to ‘indulge their desire to interact with celebrities’ (2014: 38). Haynes highlights the main drawbacks of celebrity engagement with a legal/policy issue of this kind, including celebrities lack of accountability; their unrefined, reductive and at times uninformed narratives; the possibility that celebrity engagement in fact reduces the will of otherwise interested individuals to engage on an issue once it becomes a ‘sexy’ topic; and the tendency to defer attention away from those solutions that may have been identified by those most affected, the victims themselves. Haynes specifically points out the lack of celebrity interest when human trafficking is framed as a question of the exploitation of migrant labour, uninteresting when compared to more horrifying or more voyeuristic issues like ‘sex trafficking’, ‘sexual abuse’ and the ‘rescue myth’ (2014: 29).

While such clichés and sensationalism may be expected in fictional portrayals and, to some extent, in for-profit media, they are also present in academic literature. Benjamin Skinner, author of A Crime so Monstrous (2008), is an influential voice who has bridged journalism, politics as well as academia, including as a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Skinner has repeatedly contended that ‘there are more slaves today than at any point in human history’ (2008a, 2008b, 2010), without offering any data to substantiate his claim about the scope of trafficking or slavery. He applauds the efforts of US President Clinton, among others, in the ‘modern American war on slavery’ (2008a: xvii). While conceding the limitations of the scope of his research, Skinner describes how he ‘visited twelve countries and recorded interviews with over a hundred slaves, slave dealers and survivors’ (2008: xvii).

As a result of the work of authors like Skinner, there has been a domino effect in the adoption of the language of enslavement in trafficking discourse. I have elsewhere undertaken an analysis of the problem of conflating slavery and trafficking (see Vijeyarasa and Bello y Villarino, 2012). An extensive analysis is beyond the scope of this book but a number of examples are worth noting. Jeana Fowler and her co-authors who estimate — using an uncited source — that approximately 800,000—900,000 people are currently living as modern day slaves, argue: