The hidden face of human trafficking in Amsterdam : how policy deals with the exploitation of victims of human trafficking outside the sex industry

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Master Thesis Political Science

International Relations

The hidden face of human trafficking in Amsterdam:

How policy deals with the exploitation of victims of human trafficking outside the sex industry.

Author: Anouck Wiewel (5944481) Supervisor: Jeroen Doomernik

Date: June 26th, 2015 Second reader: Robin Pistorius

Word Count: 22.205

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Abstract

In comparison to policy against sexual exploitation, policy against labour exploitation is lagging behind. In order to define what the reasons are for this blind spot in policy on human trafficking, theories of framing and agenda setting will be combined with the action in the field of anti-human trafficking policy. Through analysis of frames of those who create and execute policy in his field, and what they do (or don’t do) in order to push this issue on the political agenda, this thesis will explain why it is not higher on the agenda yet. Labour exploitation is a consequence of global migration, and needs to be put in a larger perspective than is done at the moment. The increased focus on human trafficking worldwide needs to direct its attention to every form of modern slavery, either inside or outside the sex industry. Amsterdam has a leading role in the Netherlands when it comes to policy against sexual exploitation, and this thesis argues that it could also serve as an example of effective policy against labour exploitation.

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List of abbreviations

ACM Amsterdam Coordination point Human Trafficking APV General Local Regulation

BNRM National Rapporteur Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence against Children

CCV Centre for Crime Prevention and Security CoMensha Coordination Center for Human Trafficking DT&V Departure and Repatriation Service

EEM Centre for Expertise on Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling ECHR European Convention on Human Rights

EU European Union

FD Framework Decision

IND Immigration and Naturalisation Service ISZW Inspectorate Social Affairs and Employment KLPD Dutch Royal National Police Services

KMar Royal Marechaussee

LIEC National Information and Expertise Centre NDB National Threat Report

NELM New Economics of Labour Migration NGO Non-Governmental Organization

RIEC Regional Information and Expertise Centre SZW Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment THB Trafficking in Human Beings

UN United Nations

UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime V&J Ministry of Security and Justice

VWS Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport

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Timeline: Conventions and (inter)national legislation

1949 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Trafﬁc in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others

1950 European Convention on Human Rights 1989 -19th August: Fall of the Berlin Wall

-Resolution on Prostitution and Trafficking in Persons (European Parliament) 1993 Resolution on International Cooperation Against Trafficking in Persons 2000 UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

1. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

2. The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air 3. The Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition

2002 Council Framework Decision (FD) ‘On Combating Traffickinig in Human Beings’ 2004 Council Directive on Short Term Residence Permits

2005 -Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings -EU Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM)

2006 Article 273f, Dutch legislation describing THB (first version in 2005, Article 273A Sr)

2008 Commission Working Document stated that ‘the number of criminal proceedings and victims assisted were not high enough given the scale and gravity of the crime’ 2009 -Commission proposed a revision of the Council Framework Decision (2002)

-Lisbon Treaty entered into Force

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8 -Maximum sentence for THB in the Netherlands raised from 6 years to 12 years 2010 -EU Internal Security Strategy

-The Netherlands ratifies the Council of Europe Convention (2005) 2011 -Adoption revised Council Framework Decision (2002)

-Appointment of a EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator

2012 EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012-2016) 2013 Implementation EU Directive

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1. Introduction

‘I talked to so many customers. But they did not know. Because a salesman or a businessman should always smile at the customer. I didn’t feel good, but I kept on smiling. That was my job. But I felt alone. My heart was aching, but a smile was on my face. From the first moment I stayed with him, I was already busy planning my escape’

(‘De souvenirverkoper’, FairWork).1

It seems almost incredible, stories like these of people living and working in Amsterdam, as modern day slaves. Though this multicultural city with people from around 180 different cultures is known for its culture of freedom, there are people living here who are far from being free. The most visible side of human trafficking is the red light district in the city center. Although certainly not every woman or girl working as a prostitute does so under force, the fact that many of them are Eastern European speaks to the imagination. Some of them have come to Amsterdam under false pretenses, or have been promised to work under completely different circumstances than reality has proven to be.

The sex industry is an appealing subject, because it shows women as vulnerable victims behind their windows. There is another side of human trafficking in Amsterdam though. Cases of people being exploited outside the sex industry are talked about more often, and news articles about bad working conditions in the agricultural sector, construction work, the hospitality sector, domestic work and shops are published on a regular basis. Though the problem of human trafficking with the goal of labour exploitation stays on the background of attention in politics and public attention, it seems.

Recent problems with flows of migrants trying to reach the European shores by crossing the Mediterranean Sea are subject of discussion in the media and politics. Conflict is a major reason for these people to migrate to the safer and richer continent Europe. But migration has many different forms, and those who migrate have many different reasons to do so. The Netherlands is predominantly a country of transit and destination when it comes to migration, and politics are concerned with the way in which flows of migration should be dealt with, both on the national and international level.

People who migrate are vulnerable people, and have often made their choice to move out of desperation. Reasons for this can be found in migration theories as formulated by

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http://www.fairwork.nu/wie_wij_helpen/verhalen_van_slachtoffers/souvenirverkoper.html, last consulted 25-06-2015.

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10 Massey et al. (2013): theories of globalization like the ‘world system theory’ and dependency theory, and the more focused theories NELM (new economics of labour migration theory) and neoclassical theory. The fragile situation migrants are in, is the reason why they are in risk of becoming victims of THB.

Theories of migration

Migration is a complicated phenomenon, driven by personal circumstances and more structural problems such as economic deprivation and situations of war that force people to seek for happiness and wealth elsewhere. Globalization is defined by ‘a rapid increase in cross-border flows of all sorts, starting with finance and trade, but also including democratic values, cultural and media products, and (…) people’ (Castles et al. 2014: 33). On a global level, dependency theory and world systems theory explain the flows of migration.

Dependency theory ascribes underdevelopment of the third world to colonial exploitation of resources and trade agreements that are only profitable for developed economies, while world system theory focuses on ‘the way less developed ‘peripheral’ regions have been incorporated into a world economy controlled by ‘core’ capitalist nations’ (Castles et al. 2014: 32).

More personal reasons for migration can be found through the ‘international

differential’ (Massey et al. 2013: 9) that is caused by a discrepancy in supply and demand for labour in the world. Neoclassical theory places geographical differences and the resulting differences in wage at the core of reasons for migration. It sees migrants as ‘individual, rational actors, who decide to move on the basis of a cost-benefit calculation, maximizing their income’ (Castles et al. 2014: 29). Migration is a means of creating a better economic situation for oneself, and is completely based on rational calculations. But the idea that ‘people organize their livelihoods not individually but within a social contexts’ has also emerged, and critiques neoclassical theory (idem: 38).

This other perspective on migration is found in the theory of ‘new economics of

labour migration’ (NELM): instead of an individual decision, migration is seen as a

consequence of decisions made in the context of family. NELM incorporates the ideas of risk-sharing, household strategy and relative deprivation. A decision to migrate is with the idea of spreading the chances to access more wealth (risk-sharing). Remittances from a more wealthier country are a means of providing for the family, which can be seen as a strategy. And further, ‘the feeling of being less well-off than community members can be a powerful incentive to migrate in order to attain a higher socio-economic status’, defined as a feeling of ‘relative deprivation’ (Castles et al. 2014: 38).

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11 All these different theories of migration try to explain this phenomenon in all its aspects, but what remains is the difficulty to truly understand it. People migrate for various reasons that may not always be possible to explain in a theory. This thesis focuses on those migrants who end up in a vulnerable situation, and become victim of labour exploitation. The trafficking in human beings is often a result of migration, but it can also occur within one country. No country is exempt from human trafficking, whether as country of origin, transit or destination. Human trafficking has become one of the ‘dark sides of globalization’, one which is becoming an ever bigger problem (Cho et al. 2015: 430).

‘Economic problems, conflicts, and globalized commerce have contributed to largescale irregular migration around the world in recent decades, subjecting millions to unscrupulous employers bent on extracting profits from the abundant and cheap human labour’ (Zhang 2007 in Zhang 2012). The problem of human trafficking is closely linked to migration, and can be explained on both the supply- and demand side for cheap labour, or the ‘inequality between the “haves” and the “have-nots”’ (Kempadoo 2015, 16). The above explained differentiation of rich and poor countries has caused a demand for cheap labour in developed economies, and a surplus of labourers in underdeveloped countries. People look for a better life and migrate, which ‘puts millions of people at the risk of ending up in exploitative work conditions’ because ‘their willingness to depart and to take risks in the migration process can easily be exploited by criminal agents’ (Mahmoud & Trebesch 2010: 174).

Mahmoud & Trebesch show that human trafficking and labour migration are the result of these migration flows and human desire for a better life, rather than being a problem based on solely crime and border control. Labour migration and THB are the result of a mixture of push- and pull factors that influence both migrants and exploiters (ibid.). Migrants are ‘pushed’ by their search for a better life, and ‘pulled’ by the economic prospects in their country of destination. ‘The growing, but unsatisfied demand for legal migration options has created a breeding ground for criminal organisations and exploitative employers, who have learned to make profit from people’s desire to work abroad. Migration has become a

multibillion-dollar industry that can be particularly lucrative for those willing to use physical violence and restraint’ (ibid.).

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12 Leading role for the Netherlands

Today, national governments and EU policymakers are concerned with creating policy that will counter the problems with migration. Not only restrictive policy against migration can be discerned, but also policy that deals with migration influxes like is now the case in the

Mediterranean. Human trafficking can be linked to the issue of constrained migration and the need to move of large groups of people.

Exploitation of victims of THB comes in many forms. Sexual exploitation has since long received a lot of academic, public and political attention in the Netherlands, but the awareness of labour exploitation has only recently started to increase due to reports by the ILO and national agencies like the Dutch National Rapporteur (BNRM). In a recently published report, the BNRM calls for more attention to ‘(new) forms of exploitation outside the sex industry’ (BNRM 2015: 116). In this report, numbers show an increase in reported victims outside of the sex industry from 12,4% to 16,6% in 2014. Not only the focus on victims of sexual exploitation is confirmed by these numbers, but more importantly: the idea that labour exploitation is a less visible form of THB, is also confirmed. Though victims of sexual abuse can be ‘invisible’ due to the fact that they are employed in illegal prostitution, victims of labour exploitation seem to be less visible entirely, even when they work in legal businesses.

The large amount of literature on sexual exploitation, inside and outside of the Netherlands, also stands in clear contrast to that on labour exploitation. This is due to the focus that is put on the issue of THB by politics, and the resulting policies against it. Framing and agenda setting of a problem form the theory that will be used to explain this focus. How is framing used to set the political agenda, and is it used at all to push the issue of labour exploitation higher on this agenda?

In this thesis the causes of human trafficking and labour exploitation are not the focus, but how policy deals with this problem on the (inter)national and local level, with Amsterdam as case of example. The following research question will be answered: In what ways does policy against human trafficking outside of the prostitution sector in Amsterdam cope with the issue of labour exploitation? In order for this question to be answered, this thesis is divided into subquestions. The first is concerned with explaining the case of Amsterdam: what does the exploitation of victims of human trafficking in the Amsterdam labour market look like?

The second subquestion will answer the question ‘Who are the actors involved in the making and executing of policy against human trafficking and labour exploitation?’. This

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13 paragraph incorporates the different frames each actor has in order to answer the research question, with the frames as point of departure.

Research on labour exploitation in the Netherlands and more specifically on the local level is still in its infancy. Smit (2011) has already pointed out the need of ‘more research (…) to find out what works in this field, for whom and under what circumstances’ when looking at the issue of labour exploitation as opposed to sexual exploitation (Smit 2011: 196). The influence of those who work in the field of anti-trafficking policy has yet to be

researched in detail, though the index of compliance of 188 countries with the Palermo Protocol as defined by Cho et al. (2015) has started with this on a global scale. The Netherlands occupy the 30th place on the ranking list of compliance with anti-trafficking policy worldwide. This could be seen as an incentive to push the issue of trafficking even higher onto the political agenda. The research on the influence of framing policy on the Dutch national level has yet to be carried out, and this thesis attempts to initiate this.

Framing the issue of trafficking is of importance in order to understand how and why labour exploitation is a problem that seems even more difficult to map in terms of numbers than sexual exploitation, and if its ‘invisibility’ will keep this modern day form of slavery out of the attention of politics. ‘The trafficking issue [is being] defined and redefined, and

interpreted and misinterpreted’ by government and organizations involved (Jahic and

Finckenauer 2005: 24). Frames are used in order to get problems on the agenda, which means this is where we can start investigating why labour exploitation is not high on the national and local agenda yet in the Netherlands, even when it is clear that this is an issue that needs to be tackled.

The remainder of this paper is organized into four sections that will provide a clear case on the importance of framing and agenda setting in anti-labour exploitation policy. First, the theoretical framework will provide an overview of theory of framing and agenda setting, which is used as the ‘backbone’ of the analysis of labour exploitation in the Netherlands, and Amsterdam. The intertwining of these two theories is of importance too. Then, the above mentioned two subquestions will provide an overview of labour exploitation in the

Netherlands and Amsterdam specifically with the use of two cases, followed by an overview of the actors involved in anti-trafficking policy with their ‘frame’ of the problem. This will be formulated in line with the use of interviews. And lastly, the analysis of these frames will be used in order to answer the research question and to assess the effort that is being done by the involved parties in getting labour exploitation on the political agenda.

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2. Theoretical framework

In order to investigate policy on trafficking in human beings, it is important to look at how issues get on the political agenda. The process involves many actors on different levels, and requires lobbying on behalf of these actors. The problem of human trafficking is a cross-boundary one, and is dealt with on municipal, national and international level. The issue of labour exploitation outside of the sex industry seems to be a more hidden side of human trafficking due to the lack of signals of possible victims. Literature about trafficking in human beings and labour exploitation is used throughout this thesis, but the basic theory is about the making and using of policy that fight these problems.

The question is why the problem of labour exploitation as opposed to sexual

exploitation receives less attention in politics, but perhaps more importantly: how can policy be changed in order to solve this problem? Agenda-setting of problems on the municipal but also on the (inter)national level is of importance. The attention of politicians and other related actors is directed mostly on the victims of forced prostitution, but other forms of human trafficking like forced labour are also an important issue that should be dealt with. This thesis deals with the process of agenda-setting by answering questions like: how do ideas get on the agenda? And why do some ideas not receive the attention they should have in the eyes of NGOs and victims, and why do they ‘fall off’ of the agenda?

Another aspect of creating effective policy against trafficking in human beings, is the framing of issues, which is closely linked to the importance that is attached to setting the agenda. The way a problem is defined and explained by politicians, but also by the media and the public, is of importance on policy. First, theory about agenda-setting will be explained in order to be applied to the creation and use of policy against human trafficking. Then, theory about framing will explain how the use of certain definitions and frames alter and form the ways in which problems are looked at. These two main theories are entangled and one cannot exist without the other. This will also be explained. The (inter)national legal framework on which policy against labour exploitation and trafficking in human beings is based, is of great importance too. This can be found in the appendix (number 1).

2.1 Agenda-Setting

How do issues (of labour exploitation or other issues in general) get onto the agenda, and how do they stay there? Agenda-setting is mainly about the question how issues ‘come to receive serious attention by authoritative decision makers’, thus policy makers (Cook and

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15 Skogan in Protess and McCombs 1991: 189). The three main agents in agenda-setting are the public, media and policy makers. The interaction between these three agents defines the process of getting an issue on the political agenda, and how the problem is dealt with in the end. The attention and activity for a certain problem needs to be regulated in steps, which Cook (1981) defines in three stages. In a so-called ‘convergent voice model’ he depicts how particular policy issues arise:

1. The model requires a ripe issue climate for the issue to gain salience. 2. Multiple sources voice concern about the issue.

3. The legitimization of the issue.2

These three stages are necessary in creating the circumstances that are needed in order to give an issue the attention in all layers of society, and to bring about consciousness of the problem at hand. It is the start of the process of policy making, and keeping this particular subject on the political agenda. This is a complicated process which depends on several ‘factors that influence the nature and extent of governmental responses to investigative reporting’. (Protess and McCombs 1991: 186)

These factors are: the ‘timing of the publication in relation to political exigencies, the extent of journalistic collaboration with policymakers, the level of general public and interest group pressures, and the availability of cost-effective solutions to the problems disclosed’ (Idem: 186). Kingdon (2014) divides the factors that affect the ‘agenda setting and the specification of alternatives [in two categories]’: ‘the participants who are active, and the processes by which agenda items and alternatives come into prominence’ (Kingdon 2014: 15).

He further describes the different ways in which agenda setting comes about: it ‘may involve the transfer of items from a non-governmental, “systemic” agenda to a governmental, “formal” agenda, partly through the mobilization of the relevant publics by leaders. Or issues may reach the agenda through diffusion of ideas in professional circles and among policy elite, particularly bureaucrats’ (idem: 16). Ofcourse, the setting of the political agenda requires more than an effective use of the media to push politics towards the right direction. In order to make and keep an issue salient, all (political) actors involved need to stay focused on the problem (and frame this problem). But as political actors have to deal with more policy issues than they have time, choices have to be made.

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Cook & Skogan, ‘Convergent and Divergent Voice Models of the Rise and Fall of Policy Issues’, in Protess & McCombs Agenda Setting: Readings on Media, Public Opinion, and Policymaking, 192-193.

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16 The influence of ‘media pressure, (the) responsiveness of the bureaucracy to the legislative agenda, and the need new senior bureaucrats feel to impose their own agendas and neglect the agendas of their predecessors’ (Protess and McCombs 1991: 204). All of these factors should not be underestimated when looking at the choices politicians make when selecting which issues to deal with on the political agenda. Therefore, the process of agenda-setting is one in which many actors are involved, both inside and outside of the

administration. Not only political actors are decisive in the process, but also those actors outside of the authoritative government who keep politicians’ attention directed on those subjects that interest groups and the public want politics to deal with.

Kingdon describes the agenda-setting process as a ‘predecision public policy process’ (Kingdon 2014: 2) since it is the first of four steps of a simplified model of policy making. The first step is ‘the setting of the agenda’; step two is ‘the specification of alternatives from which a choice is to be made’; step three is an ‘authoritative choice among those specified alternatives’; step four is ‘the implementation of the decision’ (Idem, p.3). Nevertheless, the agenda-setting phase is decisive in the functionality of a certain period in politics, since this defines if important issues are dealt with. It is for this reason that the process of agenda-setting is so important to many (political) actors: academics, NGOs, interest groups and politicians can push their main point of concern onto the agenda where it has to get attention from everyone.

According to Kingdon, there are three kinds of processes in agenda setting and the formulation of alternatives to that agenda: problem recognition, generation of policy proposals, and political events.

1. Problem recognition: ‘The inexorable march of problems pressing in on the system. A crisis or prominent event might signal the emergence of such problems.’

2. Generation of policy proposals: ‘A second contributor to governmental agendas and alternatives might be a process of gradual accumulation of knowledge and

perspectives among the specialists in a given policy area, and the generation of policy proposals by such specialists.’

3. Political events: ‘Political processes affect the agenda. Swings of national mood, vagaries of public opinion, election results, changes of administration, and turnover in Congress all may have powerful effects.’ (Kingdon 2014: 16-17)

The fact that prostitution seems to have a lot more policy to cope with this problem, shows that the agenda-setting for this form of human trafficking is in a further stage of

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17 policymaking than other forms of trafficking. But it is only one of the many shapes THB takes, and this means that the agenda-setting function needs to change to in order to tackle this issue in its entirety.

In order to get and keep an issue on the political agenda, several tactics can be used. First, an issue has to stay salient. In order to do so the policy community has to stay active in promoting their case. Protess and McCombs state that ‘recurring issues have less potential of being changed due to media coverage’ (Protess and McCombs 1991: 185), which means that if an issue is put forward more than once it can lose its importance due to the fact that it is not dealt with immediately and has to compete with other issues for political attention.

Second, non-recurring unambiguous reports from the media seem to have the strongest effect on public attitudes, and thus on the chance of being dealt with by politics at once. ‘The combination of an issue’s ‘newness’ on the media’s agenda and its portrayal determine the impact of investigative reporting on public attitudes’ (idem: 185). In other words, the ‘issue attention cycle’ as described by Downs (1972) is of great importance in keeping an issue salient.

Further, the issue has to have public support. This means that in the interest of the public and the state it has to be dealt with, and not just in the interest of a small group of people. The problem should be one that touches on society, and can only be solved by the government. Following, some concepts regarding agenda setting as explained by Kingdon. These will be essential in explaining the empirical findings of this research. The definitions by Kingdon will be used throughout this thesis, unless specifically said otherwise.

2.2 Framing

Framing is closely related to agenda setting, since it affects the salience of one subject or another. This is clear to have effect on receivers of texts, and is defined by the message from sending parties. What are the influences of frames on the process of agenda setting? This thesis will show the interconnectedness of the two theories and concepts.

Entman (1993) provides us with a clear definition of framing and frames, even though he states that ‘despite its omnipresence across the social sciences and humanities, nowhere is there a general statement of framing theory that shows exactly how frames become embedded within and make themselves manifest in a text, or how framing influences thinking’ (Entman 1993: 51). The issue of framing is relevant when talking about human trafficking: defining and redefining of this issue is of great importance to understand and interpret the problem it brings, and how to deal with these problems politically (Jahic and Finkenauer 2005: 24).

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18 This thesis will follow Entmans definition of framing: ‘Framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described. Typically, frames diagnose, evaluate and prescribe’ (Entman 1993: 52).

‘Frames (..) define problems- determine what a causal agent is doing with what costs and benefits, usually measured in terms of common cultural values; diagnose causes – identify the forces creating the problem; make moral judgments – evaluate causal agents and their effects; and suggest remedies – offer and justify treatments for the problems and predict their likely effects’ (idem: 52). Another perspective of frames is that of Farrel and Fahey: ‘Frames are cognitive structures that help define how one sees the world’ (Farrel and Fahey 2009: 618).

Though Farrel and Fahey share the idea that salience is one of the most defining aspects of framing, and is constructed by the maker of a frame in order to put forward a certain issue: ‘Frames can be manufactured or manipulated by claims makers who use the media to disseminate particular messages to encourage certain interpretations of a social problem and discourage others’ (idem: 618). The media, but also politics can be used in order to transfer a particular frame.

Farrel and Fahey state that the use of frames in the media influences the view of the public but also policymakers on how to understand and deal to problems of human

trafficking.3 Though frames are not only produced by the media, but also politicians and other actors in the process of creating and executing of anti-trafficking policy. Entman shows the occurrence of frames in four locations: ‘frames have at least four locations in the

communication process: the communicator, the text, the receiver and the culture’ (Entman 1993: 52).

This thesis examines the use of framing together with agenda setting by different (political) actors that are involved with dealing with the issue of labour exploitation, in order to investigate how these actors situate themselves in the process and to see how and if they try to deal with the problem of labour exploitation. The question why framing is an important act in politics, is that is forms part of ‘the exertion of power’, or as Entman states ‘the frame in a news text is really the imprint of power – it registers the identity of actors or interests that competed to dominate the text’ (idem: 55).

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Entman, R. M. (2006). Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world. Political Communication, 23, 121−122. In Farrel & Fahey, 2009: p. 618.

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19 Frames are essential in transferring messages through policy, because they define the messages and influence the understanding of these messages. Therefore, it is of importance that all actors involved within the issue of creating policy against trafficking, are aware of their own frames, and those of whom they want to reach. Frames are essential in getting attention for the problem of human trafficking and labour exploitation, because they determine if the problem reaches the public and political agenda.

The choice for these two theories has come from the need to understand why the issue of labour exploitation receives too little attention from the public, but mostly from politics. Human trafficking has been a hot topic in the Netherlands for long, but mostly with the focus on victims of forces prostitution. This is a visible group of women, in contrast to those men and women forced to work in shops, farms, private homes and almost every place one could think of.

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3. Methodology

Operationalisation

In order to answer the research question and the subquestions of this thesis, a review of relevant literature and policy documents will be used. This will be combined with interviews conducted with people working at all organisations and political agencies involved. In order to review policy documents and other literature, content analysis will be used as the method of interpretation and explanation of what is found. The interviews are used to ensure

confirmation and enforcement of the information found in policy documents and description of the tasks of the involved organisations. They are conducted to investigate if the actors involved in the process of policymaking against human trafficking and labour exploitation are aware and (intentionally) active in the field of agenda setting and framing.

This qualitative research is constructed in such a way that reliability and validity are secured through the use of triangulation. By researching both policy documents and literature about agenda setting and framing (and relevant theories about labour exploitation and human trafficking), conducting interviews and combining these with case studies, results can be combined and checked in order to provide a complete and correct image of how policy is made and used in practice. Case studies are the last step in creating this complete image, for these will provide an example of how policy works and what is needed in order to ensure improvement in the field of policymaking and cooperation between all parties concerned.

The use of a semi-structured interview technique provides the possibility of getting as much information from the respondents without losing the ability to guide the interview. This way, the interviews can be conducted in an informal fashion, but without losing possible data since the same questions are asked but in a more ‘natural’ way than would be in a structured or set interview. This has been done with the use of a topic list, which can be found in the appendix (number 3).

Most interviews will be recorded, but not everyone agrees to be taped which means that notes taken during the interview are at the base of the analysis of the interviews. These notes are elaborated immediately after the interviews. Those that have been recorded will be used to reconfirm some of the statements made during the interviews. The transcripts of the interviews are not included in the appendix for reasons of privacy of the respondents, but can be provided on demand.

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21 Data selection

The data that is gathered in order to conduct an analysis, is made available by most organisations, and is freely accessible on the internet. Documents that inform how

organisations work and on which subjects, are used to see how and in what way these actors are active participants in creating and using policy against labour exploitation and human trafficking.

All actors involved are part of the Dutch government, or are independent research organisations that are related to the government. In order to understand the full dynamics of cooperation and activity in the field of policymaking, parties on all levels of policymaking are included: local, regional and national.

The list of organisations:

-RIEC (Regional Information and Expertise Centre) Noord-Holland -RIEC Amsterdam-Amstelland

-BNRM (Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings & Sexual Violence against Children)

-Police (Amsterdam)

-CCV (Centre for Crime Prevention and Security)

-CoMensha (Coordination Center for Human Trafficking in the Netherlands) -FairWork (Foundation working on preventing and fighting human trafficking in

the Netherlands)

-OM (Public prosecutor’s department; Functional Prosecutor Service) -ISZW (Inspectorate Social Affairs and Employment)

-Municipality of Amsterdam -Municipal Council of Amsterdam

The list of organizations that are used to form a comprehensive image of the actors in the field of policy making against labour exploitation, has been drafted by looking up some of these organisations on the internet, where they have their partners listed as well.

The organisations that are excluded from the analysis of this thesis: -DT&V (Departure and Repatriation Service)

-IND ( Immigration and Naturalisation Service)

-ACM (Coordination Point Human Trafficking Amsterdam)

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22 These organizations have not been included, because of the fact that they are involved in the process of repatriating migrants. Due to the fact that this thesis looks at the influence of policy of labour exploitation when victims are still in the Netherlands, these organizations will not be included. This is not to say they are not meaningful to the political process, but they touch upon possible departure of victims of THB: this will be discussed briefly, but will not be included in the analysis. The ACM is not included, due to the fact that this

organization almost exclusively works with victims of sexual exploitation. The EEM is not included due to the fact that this organization collects information of organizations that have been included, and would not be of great added value in the research on framing.

Selection of interviews

The interviews that are conducted, have been selected on the basis of relevant activity and participation in the making and using of policy against labour exploitation in the Netherlands. In order to triangulate the information that is found in policy documents, at least one person at every concerned organisation or part of government is reached out to, and interviewed about the work they do and what their organisation does to fight labour exploitation.

The people that have been interviewed have a central position in their organisation on the topic of labour exploitation, and are experts on this subject because of the position they have. They are all chosen because of their strategic position in the making of policy and because they are likely to work together with the other people who are interviewed. This way, the organizations involved show another interconnectedness of the process of making policy against labour exploitation. The respondents have been anonymized, for privacy reasons. The abbreviation behind each respondent will be use throughout the text for referring to the interviews.

List of interviewed people:

-Analyst (A-RNH) -RIEC Noord-Holland

-Information coordinator (IC-RAA) -RIEC Amsterdam-Amstelland

-Researcher (R-BNRM) -BNRM

-Advisor (A-CCV) -CCV

-Consultant (C-CM) -CoMensha -Project Manager (PM-FW) -FairWork -Coordinator (C-FW) -FairWork

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23 -Process Advisor (PA-ISZW) -ISZW

-Public Prosecutor (PP-OM) -OM (Functional Prosecutor Service) -Municipal Councellor (MC-A) -Municipal Councel Amsterdam -Project leader (PL-A) -Municipality Amsterdam Case selection

The cases used in this thesis are from the database at FairWork. These are cases of people that have reached out to FairWork in order to support them in the process of getting legal advice when they get out of their situation of labour exploitation. The cases that FairWork has worked on, are collected in a database. For this research, cases that are about labour exploitation in Amsterdam have been used.

These cases are not randomly selected, and cannot be generalized. These are chosen because they show a certain type of labour exploitation and seem to be an example of the big city. These are also cases that have been brought to FairWorks’ attention by the victims themselves or by people they know, and therefore are not exemplary of those cases that stay out of sight, simply because these are unknown.

Concepts

- Agenda, or the Governmental Agenda: ‘The list of subjects or problems to which government officials, and people outside of government closely associated with those officials, are paying some serious attention at any given time’ (Kingdon 2014: 3). - Agenda setting: ‘Out of the set of all conceivable subjects or problems to which

officials could be paying attention, they do in fact seriously attend to some rather than others. So the agenda-setting process narrows this set of conceivable subjects to the set that actually becomes the focus of attention. We want to understand not only why the agenda is composed as it is at any one point in time, but how and why it changes from one time to another’ (Kingdon 2014: 3-4).

- Alternatives: Agendas and alternatives are used by different actors: government officials and those related to them (but also independent experts) consider alternatives to what is on the governmental agenda. The distinction between agendas and

alternatives is not very clear, and the process of agenda setting often refers to both. - ‘Decision agenda’: This is the agenda of subjects within the governmental agenda on

which active decision is being made (Kingdon 2014: 4).

- Framing: ‘Framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating

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24 text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described. Typically, frames diagnose, evaluate and prescribe’ (Entman 1993: 52).

- ‘Specialized agendas’. Agendas of people within the government that work on a specific issue, like human trafficking. This agenda also includes those people working on the same issue but from another perspective or organization or position (Kingdon 2014: 3-4).

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4. Data

4.1 What does the exploitation of victims of human trafficking in the

Amsterdam labour market look like?

‘'Gevaarlijke' stomerij en wasserijstilgelegd’ – AT5, 27th March 2012

‘Eerste 'huisslavin van Nederland' dreigt te worden uitgezet’ – Volkskrant, 11th May 2013 ‘Vijf jaar geëist tegen Braziliaanse slavendrijfster’- AT5, 27th January 2014

The above cited headlines are all examples of cases of labour exploitation in Amsterdam. But they are also the tip of the iceberg, examples of the few cases that receive attention in the media and from the public, the few cases in which people in a situation of exploitation get out. Labour exploitation is a hidden phenomenon, and even though articles like these are published every once in a while, most people are not aware of its existence in Amsterdam.

This thesis concentrates on labour exploitations that occurs in large cities in the Netherlands, with the main focus on the city of Amsterdam. There is a logical explanation for the difference in the type of work and thus labour exploitation when we compare the city (from here on: Amsterdam) to municipalities in more rural areas. Not agricultural businesses, but restaurants, shops and launderettes are possible places where victims are put to work.

This subquestion will be answered in several parts. First, an overview of the different types of labour exploitation will be shown. Then the specifics of the situation in large cities in general, and Amsterdam specifically will be given. Further, some examples of cases are incorporated to show the way in which people become victims of trafficking, and what happens to them during and after the situation of exploitation.

4.1.1. Labour exploitation in the Netherlands

Since 2007, the Dutch National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking has advocated a national policy on prostitution. In 2009, the bill ‘Wet Regulering prostitutie en bestrijding misstanden seksbranche’ (Wrp)4

was proposed in line with this idea, but has not been implemented up until today. One of the key components of the bill was the registration of prostitutes, but during the parliamentary procedure this idea was already banned (BNRM 2013).

This bill shows the difficulty the Netherlands has (as any other country) when trying

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26 to define a national uniform policy, even on a recognized problem such as prostitution. Due to these problems with implementing national policy, cities and municipalities have

formulated their own policy in order to counter abuses in the prostitution sector. Amsterdam is leading in this regard, as it has one of the most developed programmes on fighting

exploitation and criminal behaviour in the sex industry.

Amsterdam has created a APV (General Local Regulation) on prostitution5 in which the age of prostitutes has been raised from 18 to 21, times of opening and closing are

regulated, and the responsibility of the operators is stressed. (BNRM 2013: 285) Included in the APV are a test of language skills of the prostitute, the registration at the Chamber of Commerce of each prostitute, and an intake with the operator to see if the prostitute is self-reliant. This is all based on the assumption that prostitution can only take place with a license in the regulated sector.

This bill and local policy shows the national and local concern with regard to prostitution and exploitation in this sector. The prostitution industry receives quite a lot of political attention and in order to expand this attention to other forms of exploitation, the National Rapporteur has called for an increase and consciousness of exploitation outside this industry: ‘The engrained idea in society at large and in government agencies is that this is a less serious forms of exploitation. Examples in the report prove otherwise. Like sexual exploitation this form of human trafficking equally serves to undermine the social fabric’ (BNRM 2013: 318).

4.1.2. Facts and numbers: do they even exist?

The ninth report of the National Rapporteur6 defines labour exploitation as ‘exploitation outside of the sex industry’ (BNRM 2013: 93). This incorporates all forms of exploitation of labour and services other than sexual exploitation, forced begging and exploitation of

criminal activity. This has also been incorporated in the EU Directive 2011 (BNRM 2013: 94). The removal of organs and forced pregnancy for commercial ends is defined as a separate form of human trafficking (BNRM 2013: 99-100).

In this thesis, only the exploitation of labour is looked at, and unless mentioned explicitly not the other forms of exploitation outside of the sex industry. The Dutch National

5_{https://www.amsterdam.nl/zorg-welzijn/overig/programma/algemene-artikelen/vastgestelde-apv/, last}

consulted 26-06-2015).

6

This is the main actor in the Netherlands who researches and gives advice on how the Netherlands should deal with the problem of human trafficking. Therefore it is one of the most important sources of information on the situation of labour exploitation in the Netherlands.

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27 Rapporteur states that sectors like ‘agriculture and horticulture, the hospitality industry, domestic work, and inland waterway shipping’ are prone to labour exploitation, but these are certainly not all industries in which labour exploitation happens, since it is possible to happen in every branch of labour (idem: 93-94).

The National Rapporteur states that there is an increase in the number of known possible victims of labour exploitation (mostly in agriculture) and an increase in

investigations by ISZW (Inspectorate Social Affairs and Employment) (idem: 95). Another important development, is the fact that the partners involved in finding labour exploitation seem to become more conscious of this phenomenon, since it is detected in new sectors of labour as well. The 9th report of the BNRM gives the example of a raid on several gas stations, where people were exploited by means of forcedly cleaning toilets 7 days a week in very long shifts.

There are several organisations that keep records of the number of people in the Netherlands that are victim of labour exploitation: CoMensha, FairWork, and the KLPD (Dutch Royal National Police Services) with a ‘National Threat Report’ (NDB). Most recent complete year numbers from CoMensha show an increase of 9% in the number of possible victims of labour exploitation that have been reported (from 1437 in 2013 people to 1561 people in 2014). Further, there is a decrease of the number of people who are in need of shelter: just 10,8% (or 169 people) have requested shelter. In previous years the percentage of shelter requests was between 15% and 23%. It is unclear what has caused this decline, but as the BNRM emphasizes in this update on numbers, ‘the increase in the registered number of possible victims does not say anything about the total extent of human trafficking in the Netherlands’ (BNRM 2015: 4). This is the same for the number of requests for shelter, since victims can also have found other ways to get shelter. (idem: 14)

The number of 1561 people that has been helped by CoMensha in 2014 is a total of victims from in and outside of the sex industry. These are all the cases that CoMensha works on, victims of sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, forced services and forced criminal activity. As can be found in the year report of 2013, the division in these categories can be ascribed mostly to the gender of the victim: women are most often victim of sexual

exploitation (72%), only 5% is victim of labour exploitation. The numbers show the opposite for men: 24% is victim of sexual exploitation, while almost half of them (48%) is victim of labour exploitation (CoMensha 2013: 4-5).

There are no numbers in the update by the BNRM to show what the division between exploitation in and outside the sex industry is for both men and women in 2014. But in line

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28 with the numbers of 2013, the majority of the victims are women, with 84,2% (1314 women) and just 15,8% (or 247) are men. There has been an increase in the number of reported victims outside of the sex industry from 12,4% to 16,6 %. Victims outside the sex industry were reported to have been exploited in the hospitality sector, domestic work, transport, storage, agriculture, forestry and fishing (BNRM 2015: 13).

For both women and men a part of the possible victims it is not clear in what sector they have been exploited, which means that the numbers for labour exploitation could be even higher. Another interesting fact, is that the top 5 of countries of origin all European, with the Netherlands as number 1, followed by Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary (idem: 9). Though this is the total for victims of all forms of exploitation, including victims of loverboys that are forced to work in prostitution, which are often Dutch victims.

The International Labour Organisation published a ‘Global Estimate of Forced Labour Regional Factsheet in 2012, in which is stated that in the European Union a total of 880.000 people work as forced labourers, 30 % (270.000) of whom are victims of forced sexual exploitation and 70% (610.000) of labour exploitation (ILO 2012). This number has been recalculated by FairWork for the Netherlands: a total of 30.000 people are supposedly victim of exploitation, of whom 70% or 21.000 people are victim of labour exploitation. In 2011 CoMensha had 1222 applications of possible victims, with 256 of them victims of other exploitation than sexual exploitation (115 women and 141 men). According to the 21.000 victims that the ILO suggests, this means that only 1% of the total amount of victims in the Netherlands receive attention for their situation (FairWork 2012).

However, all of these numbers are estimations. The numbers the ILO has provided are found with a scientific model and methodology, but the total amount of victims is almost impossible to find due to the hidden aspect of labour exploitation. Most labour exploitation takes place in private homes or small companies, in which victims are often kept outside the ‘social world’. Sometimes though, labour exploitation seems to be in plain sight, without any clear reaction. A good example is the discussion about Portuguese constructors who work on a highway in the Netherlands7, commissioned by the Dutch government. This is another type of labour exploitation, since this does not concern private employers, but is nonetheless a very serious mistreatment of human beings, and should be investigated.

In a letter to the Chair of the House of Representatives from Ivo Opstelten (former Minister of Security and Justice) on March 8th 2013, the problem of trafficking in human

7

http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/2015/05/26/arbeidsuitbuiting-is-ook-onze-overheid-niet-vreemd/, last consulted 26-06-2015.

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29 beings was addressed shortly, with a confirmation of the difficulty of finding labour

exploitation. Opstelten writes that ‘exploitation outside the prostitution sector is becoming more and more visible thanks to increasing investigation, but it is still not clear enough to consider this form of criminal activity as a threat’ (Opstelten 2013). The problem is called a ‘blind spot’ on the radar of Police and the Ministry of V&J, but is not diminished as an essential problem that should be tackled. Further, human smuggling is added to the area of human trafficking in the analysis, because people who enter the Netherlands illegally often end up in a vulnerable position in which they are more likely to be exploited (ibid.).

The last two complete ‘National Threat Reports’ (in 2008 and 2012) already used this term blind spot, and this is not about to change soon according to this recent letter by

Opstelten. The 2012 ‘National Threat Report’ states that every year several hundreds of people become a victim of exploitation outside of the sex industry, and this should be considered a ‘bottom limit’ since there is not enough information on the subject. Another difficulty is the fact that victims of labour exploitation are less likely to file a report (NDB 2012).

Cases that have been found, show the diversity of sectors in which labour exploitation occurs: hospitality, domestic work, construction, meat-processing industry, agriculture and horticulture, Chinese massage salons and employment agencies (ibid.). Most victims have the Chinese, Romanian, Polish or Hungarian nationality, but also the Dutch nationality is often seen. The exploiters themselves most often have the Dutch nationality. Though these Dutch people are not the ‘main exploiters’: they work for others with a foreign nationality (idem: 74).

This report also shows the difficulty of mapping labour exploitation in the

Netherlands. The expectation is that the total amount of victims will increase due to a court order in 20098 which has created jurisprudence which has proven to help getting other cases to court. In addition to this, three developments are noted that will increase the presence and visibility of labour exploitation: the ageing of the Dutch population which will increase the demand for foreign care takers; the Europeanization of Dutch companies and the increase in demand for foreign (cheap labourers); the growth of the population in Africa which will provide a bigger offer of cheap labour through migration (NDB 2012).

These trends are expectations, and can be proven wrong. But the current state of affairs, the increase in knowledge about labour exploitation and policy against human

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30 trafficking will also increase the number of people found to be a victim of trafficking. The NDB keeps to its definition of ‘a blind spot’ when it comes to labour exploitation, since there is not enough information to prove a decrease or increase in the future.

ISZW has published its last report in 2013 regarding the subject labour exploitation. In 2013, 67 researches were conducted of which 15 are rounded up investigations about labour exploitation. In these cases, a total of 47 suspects were found. The CCV reports that the ISZW has increased its number of inspections, and has (since 2012) focused more on the abuses in the mushroom- and employment agency-sectors (CCV 2013). The ISZW has, since then, marked labour exploitation as one of its top priorities: ‘labour exploitation causes damage to both the health of employees as the functionality of the labour market’ (ISZW 2013: 18). The CCV has provided an overview of the findings of the National Rapporteur, ISZW and the DNB (CCV 2013).

4.1.3. Labour exploitation in Amsterdam

There is no report from the city of Amsterdam devoted to the investigation on labour exploitation in Amsterdam. This means that there are no numbers available to show the size of the problem. So how do we know there is a problem? This is clear due to the fact that a limited number of people report their situation or press charges against their exploiter, which makes clear that these situations of labour exploitation do exist, but are also hard to prove.

Organizations like FairWork (in Amsterdam) and CoMensha (Amersfoort) are

dependent on the information and signals they receive: FairWork from its clients, the victims themselves, and CoMensha from the information they receive from other partners. They both created a database in which these victims’ situation and process are described. These

databases provide the only geographically specific information that is available on Amsterdam.

This paragraph will provide some examples of cases in Amsterdam, both clients of FairWork, to show what kind of labour exploitation can take place in the city. But this does not mean that all forms are visible. An easy comparison shows the probability that we do not see everything: if policy against sexual exploitation is developed to counter (mostly) forms of legal and visible prostitution, there should be even more to see in the labour market as a whole: since the labour market encompasses all types of labour. The fact that prostitution is more prone to be incorporated in criminal activities, does not exclude any other forms of labour of labour exploitation.

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31 Two cases are exemplary of what we could consider ‘typical city cases’. One because it involves a large Chinese community, a group of people who have been researched more extensively than other cultural groups in the Netherlands, because their large presence in cities (restaurants, massage salons, shops) and the fact that they are a very closed group that is hard to integrate in. The second case is a man who is also a client of FairWork and has a capturing story due to the invisibility of his situation, despite the fact that he had a clear presence in the city.

Case: Chinese cook

In 2007 this man arrived in the Netherlands with the help of a Chinese employment agency, and started working as a cook in a restaurant in Arnhem. In this restaurant he had to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. He slept in a storage room under the surveillance of a camera. He had to ask permission to have a glass of water, and was at the mercy of the restaurant owners. After a while he was ‘sold’ with his identity papers and working permit to a restaurant owner in Amsterdam. He was forced to work long hours, and had no privacy since he was housed by the restaurant owner. He had to sleep in the kitchen, and would even be woken up at night to prepare food for the owner. He was abused physically and mentally.

On top of this, the man did not have his money at his disposal. He was accused of being a gambler, what caused his employer to ‘keep his money save’, in other words: take his bank card and his money. Without any money or knowledge of the Dutch language, he was isolated. For two years this situation continued and his health condition became worse and worse. In the end he managed to escape his situation with the help of friends, and was taken to the hospital with heart problems.

FairWork has helped this man to file a report at the Police and press charges against his exploiters. The Court of Amsterdam convicted the exploiters in 2013 for labour

exploitation, which falls under human trafficking in Dutch law. The punishment came down to community service hours of 120 up to 240 hours for the restaurant owners and exploiters in both Amsterdam and Arnhem. All suspects were also convicted with a suspended sentence of three months, only three of them had a three-month unsuspended sentence on top of this. The Public Prosecutor had requested a minimum of 15 months of prison, which was not honoured.

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32 The victim was assigned 37.000 Euro in (im)material damage restitution.9

Besides the fact that these punishments for such crimes seem rather low, the verdict was decided upon by comparing the case to other cases in which sexual abuse was also a part of the exploitation. This shows the fact that these different forms of human trafficking are still compared to one another, with sexual exploitation still seen as a more serious crime than labour exploitation.

This case was covered in the national and local Amsterdam press, and caused one of the local political parties to send a letter to the Mayor of Amsterdam in which questions on this case were asked.10 In response, the Mayor mentioned a project called ‘The Wall’, in which different parties like the Public Prosecutors’ office and the Royal Dutch Marechaussee investigate and fight against Chinese human trafficking and smuggling (ibid.). This project has also triggered research in the prostitution sector and has resulted in a report by the

Ministry of V&J called ‘the position of Chinese masseuses in the Chinese beauty industry’, in which massage salons were searched. Many of these salons appeared to offer sexual services as well.11

Case: Tourist Shop

The center of Amsterdam has many tourist shops, nothing special one would say. FairWork got in contact with a man who worked in a shop like this for a year and a half, selling products to dozens of people every day, under threat. Upon arrival in the Netherlands, he applied for an asylum, since he fled Nepal for political reasons. This asylum was not granted, 9 http://www.rechtspraak.nl/Organisatie/Rechtbanken/Amsterdam/Nieuws/Pages/Restauranthouders-veroordeeld-voor-uitbuiten-Chinese-kok.aspx ; http://www.inspectieszw.nl/actueel/nieuwsberichten/om_eist_tot_20_maanden_celstraf_voor_uitbuiting_chines e_kok.aspx ; http://nos.nl/artikel/485949-celstraffen-voor-uitbuiting-kok.html ; http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/3395053/2013/02/16/Chinese-kok-als-slaaf-behandeld-door-Amsterdammers.dhtml

10_{file:///C:/Users/5944481/Downloads/752_11_2.pdf, last consulted 26-06-2015.}

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33 and he became an illegal resident of the Netherlands. Just before he had to leave the refugee center, he got into contact with a Pakistani man who owned several tourist shops and offered him a job.

Scared to be deported and without any other option, he decided to work for this man. From May 2010, he worked at least 12 hours a day in the shop and had to do some heavy construction work for the owner. Housing was provided by the shop owner above one of the shops. There was no running water, heating or electricity and he had to sleep on the floor. He earned 25 euro a day (€1,50 per hour), which was just enough to buy what he needed most including his daily food: rice. The long hours of standing (he was not allowed to sit at all) caused knee problems, and when he complained about his work, his exploiter would say to hand in his key and go back to the street. A dramatic situation with seemingly no way out.

After 1,5 years he eventually escaped because he was reaccepted at the refugee center. A client of the souvenir shop brought him into contact with FairWork, and they helped him file a report which enables him to receive a B8.3-permit (temporary recidence permit) that has become a 3 year-permit. His ‘employer’ was not persecuted for trafficking in human beings due to a lack of evidence, but the Public Prosecutioner started a trial for employment of an illegal citizen of the Netherlands. The victim also started a civil suit to claim his overdue salary, for which a conviction in the penal suit would help greatly. Up until today, this has not been decided upon.12

4.1.4. Similarities and differences

These two cases are examples of grave labour exploitation in Amsterdam, and show the importance of mapping the totality of the problem. Several factors are problematic in doing so, most clearly the fact that labour exploitation is a criminal offence which is hidden out of sight of police and other officials. As the NDB shows, information about the number of victims and cases is unavailable which does not disqualify it as a problem, but does complicate research and persecution of human traffickers in the Netherlands.

There are some similarities in these cases in Amsterdam. For one, both cases show a situation of labour exploitation of men. As shown in the report by CoMensha (2013), labour exploitation is most common to happen to men. They endure arduous labour circumstances, work for long hours and endure physical strains that caused health problems. Besides

physical consequences, most victims also experience mental problems like anxiety after they have been exploited. These mental and physical consequences are seen in almost any kind of

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34 labour exploitation, and not specifically in Amsterdam.

Secondly, these men both worked in places where they were in contact (or could be) with a lot of people. As a salesman in a tourist shop, you see and talk to people all day. But like this victim said: ‘I’ve talked to a lot of customers, but they didn’t know anything.

Because a salesman or businessman always has to smile to the customer, so I did that. I didn’t feel good, but I kept on smiling. That was my work.’13

Other cases like the Chinese chef are examples of places where people can be exploited openly in a ‘normal’ situation for a city like Amsterdam.

Thirdly, in both cases the exploiters have been charged with either human trafficking or employing an illegal resident of the Netherlands, but they have received relatively low punishment. This could be linked to an overall idea that labour exploitation (especially of men) is not as serious as sexual exploitation or has less priority. In both the interviews with the Police as the Public Prosecutioner of the (Functional Prosecutor Service), sexual

exploitation was defined as having priority due to the aspect of human integrity being

affected (Interview O-PA and PP-OM). This does not mean labour exploitation is dismissed,

but it does show the priority of cases.

Fourthly, in many cases that FairWork has collected from Amsterdam the exploiter is either of the same nationality as the victims (case of the Chinese chef) or another foreign nationality other than the Dutch one. Since this database cannot be generalized due to the fact that the cases are not chosen randomly, it is not clear if this is a general trend for labour exploitation in the city.

Lastly, the type of work is quite common for large cities. No agriculture but work in shops and hospitality, launderettes and shops. There are no studies on spacial mapping of labour exploitation in which root causes and mechanisms of trafficking in human beings with the aim of labour exploitation in (or outside) the city is explained. This thesis tries to show the importance of such a research, since the lack of information holds back more knowledge about this problem. Spacial mapping would link causes, possible victims and places of exploitation to one another in order to create more understanding and awareness where victims could be found and how exploitation could be prevented.

13_{http://www.fairwork.nu/wie_wij_helpen/verhalen_van_slachtoffers/souvenirverkoper. Html , last consulted}