Trafficked Women: A Contemporary
Moral Panic of Eastern European
Women Migrants and Female Sexuality
Nika Norvila
11137762
Master’s Thesis in Sociology, track in Gender, Sexuality and Society
Supervisors: Dr. Marie-Louise Janssen and Dr. Margriet van Heesch
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction: Why study human trafficking from Eastern Europe? 3
Chapter 2 A Review of Relevant Concepts and Literature 19
Chapter 3 Human Trafficking Policies & Prevention Campaigns 29 Chapter 4 Interviews With Representatives in the Field & Prevention Campaigns 45 Chapter 5 Discussion: Discourses of Sex Work, Migration, and Criminalization 56
Chapter 6 Conclusion: Limitations and Future Research 65
Bibliography 68
Appendix 74
Chapter 1 Introduction: Why study human trafficking from
Eastern Europe?
I went to see her [the woman working at the agency] and there was a person, a man, who brings girls to Italy. But back then I did not know it. I immediately asked her ‘How is it going with my leaving for Moscow?’ She told me that a woman should be coming from Moscow to meet me and talk to me. I asked when and she told me that the woman did not arrive yet but that she should be here in two weeks. That man, as soon as he saw me, he told me: ‘Why do you want to leave for Moscow? Why can’t you go to Italy? You look good, very good.’ You know, I glanced and told him ‘I have no documents’ and he said
That’s no problem, I’ll get them for you’. Then Ok, [I said.] You know, I felt happy. I went back to my friend and I told her all, because you know, he said he will take her too (Andrijasevic, 2010: 34).
This quote is from an interview with a Moldovan woman who was seeking assistance from a travel agency to do sex work in Moscow, but ultimately agrees to go to Italy with a different man from the travel agency. This is one example of how migrant women make decisions and seek the help of third parties to go abroad. This is a story of the beginning of a migration journey, one that may end successfully, or perhaps end with exploitation, forms of violence or debt bondage. However, this woman’s decision-making process prior to leaving is often overlooked and simplified, by governments and NGOs who see her only as a victim (Andrijasevic, 2010).
Relevance
Human trafficking from Eastern Europe is a relatively new phenomenon. Most Eastern European states gained their independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. These states made the gradual transition from state socialism to free market economies. The previously closed and secure borders opened up and new patterns of migration began to emerge. In the transition to capitalism, unemployment and poverty were on the rise, disproportionately affecting women and children. Women’s previously high status jobs diminished and many social benefits such as state provided childcare were no longer funded (Corrin, 2005). These changes left many women with few employment options, which led many seeking work abroad. Eastern European women began to fill many jobs in the service sector in Western Europe, and their “whiteness” and “almost European-ness” created a new racial dynamic among migrants in Western Europe
(Agusín, 2003; Berman, 2010). Studying human trafficking from Eastern Europe is important due to the unique status of Eastern European women as they come from counties in the European continent but are still not considered fully “European.”
Defining Human Trafficking
The definition of human trafficking has been disputed, and has changed over the years. The way it is defined in laws and policies shapes the way that representatives from NGOs and shelters can assist victims and how traffickers can be prosecuted in states. There are various frameworks of understanding human trafficking; from a criminal approach, migration approach, development and globalization approaches. (Aronowitz, 2009). The way an issue is framed the exact words used in the definition are important in understanding how the issue is dealt with (Entman, 1993). Human trafficking is part of a complex process. It is often not a single event that is clearly defined and viewed as human trafficking. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to help victims of human trafficking and prosecute the traffickers (Aronowitz, 2009). The first stage of human trafficking is the recruitment or abduction of an individual. The second phase is the transportation of the individual across national borders, or to another location within the same country. The third stage of human trafficking is the exploitation of the individual in the new destination (Aronowitz, 2009). During all three of these phases, crimes can be committed against both the state and the individual being trafficked. Crimes against the state include forgery of documents, corruption of government officials, taking advantage of immigration laws, tax evasion and money laundering (Aronowitz, 2009). Offenses against an individual include physical or sexual assault, rape, pimping, threats of documentation, false imprisonment and extortion (Aronowitz, 2009). It is clear that human trafficking is a serious crime, however, there are often “gray areas” in which it is difficult to determine whether an incident is human trafficking, which makes prevention and prosecution of traffickers quite difficult.
There are several approaches in understanding human trafficking. A
commodification of migration approach understands human trafficking as a process correlated to patterns of irregular migration. This approach states that with the reduction of legal means to migrate, an underground market of services emerges to facilitate this
migration. The irregular migrants using these services may be exposed to the various abuses and exploitation of the service providers as well as law enforcement and border controls. This creates more of a dependency on trafficking networks (Salt, 2000). Human trafficking and voluntary forms of migration can be thought of as part of one continuum, with extreme variation between the ends of the continuum. Often it is difficult to
determine the amount or existence of coercion and deception and the difference between voluntary undocumented migration and involuntary human trafficking (Salt, 2000). Another approach to understanding human trafficking is as an economic or business model. This approach understands the existence of trafficking networks and organized crime as business institutions designed to make a profit (Salt, 2000). Others see human trafficking as a criminal activity run by large scale organized criminal groups. The increase in large-scale global criminal networks is linked to global political and economic shifts and emerging interdependencies between states and a new ease in travel and communication in a globalized world. However, this link between human trafficking and complex criminal networks is still debated. There isn’t a single approach that is entirely inclusive of all factors that contribute to human trafficking. The criminal, economic and migration approaches exclude important factors of human rights and gender inequalities (Salt, 2000). A gender equality approach seeks to address issues of gender inequality in countries of origin as a means to address human trafficking. A gender equality approach would address the secondary positioning of women in social and economic structures, and drawing attention to discrimination (Corrin, 2005). Corrin (2005) argues that a human rights approach needs to be utilized in respect to human trafficking because “… trafficking in human beings cannot be viewed primarily or exclusively from the perspective of national security, it must not be seen only as a fight against organized crime and illegal migration. Human trafficking is first and foremost a violation of human rights.” (544-5) There are multiple perspectives on why and how human trafficking operates, as I will explain in later chapters, some of these approaches are more
Figures: Victims of Human Trafficking from Central and Eastern Europe
According to the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence Against Children there have been a substantial number of reports of victims of trafficking from Eastern and Central Europe in the Netherlands (First Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2002). In 1999 there were 123 victims (43% of all victims) and in 2000, 134 victims (39% of all victims), in 2001 there was 142 victims (50% of all victims) and in 2002, 170 victims (50% of all victims) (Third Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2005) of all reported from Central and Eastern Europe. Between 1992 and 2000 the majority of victims came from Central and Eastern Europe. The most important countries included in this category are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Romania (First Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2002). Slovakia and Moldova are also high on this list. In this time period (1992-2000) individuals from some of these countries of origin had no visa obligations to enter the Netherlands; Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia, and others did have a visa requirement: Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. However, the
requirement for a visa did not seem to influence the prevalence of trafficking victims in the Netherlands (First Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2002). The Dutch National Rapporteur reports that most victims are between the ages of 18 and 30 years old (Third Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2005). Between the years 2008 and 2012 the most victims came from Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary (Ninth Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2013). All three of these countries are in Central and Eastern Europe, even through the number of reported victims from other Central and European countries had decreased, it was still an important issue from these three countries. Of course these statistics cannot be one completely accurate because there could still be other victims that have no been reported and thus not part of these statistics, however, these figures are currently the closest we will get to an understanding of where victims of trafficking are originating from and these are the statistics that most organizations in the Netherlands use to reference the number of victims of human trafficking.
Between the years 2000 and 2009 several Eastern and Central European counties remained on the top eleven list of countries of origins for victims. These countries included Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine (Eighth
Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2010). The majority of victims from all economic sectors since 2004 have been from the Netherlands, and before then the most victims have originated from Bulgaria (Eighth Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2010). This means, next to Dutch victims, there have been many victims from different Eastern and Central European countries and the vast majority of these victims are
reported to be women. This means, human trafficking from Central and Eastern Europe is an important issue that needs to be addressed. Between the years 2007 and 2009, the majority of human trafficking occurred in the sex industry, nearly 50% in 2007, nearly 60% in 2008 and back to around 50% in 2009 (Eighth Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2010). This means either that more attention is given to the exploitation in the sex industry than in other sectors, or that actually more exploitation occurs in the sex industry. Either way, human trafficking of Central and Eastern European women is still an issue (Eighth Report of the Dutch National Rapporteur, 2010).
Historical Context: Central and Eastern Europe in Transition
In this thesis I will explore the representations of Eastern European women in trafficking prevention campaigns and EU and Dutch human trafficking policies. Eastern and Central European women hold a unique position because of the relatively new capitalist structures in their home nations and for some Central and European nations, the access to the European Union through their accession in 2004 and 2007. In the era of post-industrialism, the service economy has slowly replaced the manufacturing industry in many developed and developing nations (Andrijasevic, 2010; Corrin, 2005). The new service economy has changed the environment of the workplace and employment
relations. Eastern and Central Europe experienced a greater hardship in this shift after the transition from a state socialism to a market economy. Under state socialism, citizens received services such as health care and childcare but in the transition to capitalism, these state- provided benefits began to disappear which affected women
disproportionately. During this transition, labor models began to delegate undesirable and undervalued work to women under the title ‘reproductive labor.’ (Andrijasevic, 2010)
The gendered division of labor became increasingly divided in this transition to capitalism in Eastern and Central Europe. Women were expected to do reproductive labor
as well as productive labor, but with significantly less assistance from the state regarding elderly and childcare, making this economic transition the hardest for them (Andrijasevic, 2010; Corrin, 2005). Additionally, with the fall of the Soviet Union, communication between the East and the West began to open up and gender issues have become
especially contentious. “…Western feminism has often assumed the role of the promoter of Western values of liberal democracy and capitalist re-organization of society.”
(Lalioutou, 2007: 55) During this time of transition, ideas of “Western feminism” began arriving in Eastern Europe but they were often seen as ways to “Westernize” Eastern counties, and therefore, not always welcomed with open arms.
With the fall of state socialism Hungary, Poland, East Germany and the Czech Republic have made strides towards neoliberal models in which the state had little influence in the economic markets and the previously government supported welfare assistance programs were cut back significantly (Corrin, 2005; Guenther, 2011). These transitioning nations experienced a rise in the number of NGOs, which often were supported by foreign governments and international organization in order to push for the creation of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe (Guenther, 2011). Feminist NGOs began to emerge in these regions of Europe, however they all varied in their aims,
services and ideologies. These differences were based on the cultural, political and social standings of each nation. For example, East Germany and Polish women felt pressure to leave their jobs outside the home to remain in the private sphere. Eastern Germany women fought against these pressures and continued to work outside the home, while many Polish women “seem to embrace a return to the homes as a restoration of proper, traditional gender relations” (Guenther, 2011: 868). In some Eastern and Central
European nations, such as Romania, the term feminism holds a negative connotation and is avoided by some women’s NGOs in order to appeal to a larger group of the population (Roman, 2001). In Romania, feminism is viewed as a Western idea that is imported in order to deconstruct Romanian culture and traditions. It is also seen as a conspiracy to “abolish men” and take away the power of men and to make homosexuality mandatory (Roman, 2001). Under Soviet rule men and women were never entirely equal, however men and women did experience solidarity, which was especially important in attempting to keep the institution of family strong without the influence from the state. For these
reasons, it was difficult for women to adopt any ideals that may seen as “anti-men” in the transition period to a capitalistic society (Guenther, 2011). Gender relations and the gendered division is connected with human trafficking because when factors such as unemployment, poverty and decreasing state social benefits affect women more than men, it may encourage more women to migrate abroad, or look for assistance to find work and go abroad. However, if the issues in the country of origin are not understood as gender inequality or an unequal distribution of wages between men and women, there is no way to decrease the likelihood of human trafficking from occurring. Of course there are many factors that contribute to human trafficking, but certainly the push factors such as poverty, unemployment and gender inequality can influence the prevalence of human trafficking.
Gender equality and women’s rights cannot be improved, if they are not
acknowledged as important to the citizens of a country and because feminism was seen as in a negative light as a Western construction, in certain countries it was not made a priority. Certain ideas of Western feminism don’t appeal to women in Eastern and Central Europe such as the focus on individual rights and the promotion of equality in the
household. Some women in these regions do not perceive gender inequality as an issue. For example, women in Poland celebrate motherhood as a social status and the right to stay in the household to raise children (Guenther, 2011). However, feminist organizations still grew in these nations in the post-socialist period. The two most important issues to these feminist issues in Central and Eastern Europe were violence against women and women’s employment. Most of these organizations offered both social services to women as well as advocacy and prevention. Despite the rise in feminist NGOs in the region, there has still been a lack of advocacy for more women to take political positions and “even less to push for the inclusion of feminist women or feminist goals in former
politics.” (Guenther, 2011: 871) Human trafficking, which is an important issue for many International Non-Governmental Organizations has not been a largely contested topic for many local organizations in the Eastern and Central European region. They often do not view human trafficking as a grave issue and tend to focus on other issues that may even be some of the root causes of trafficking in women, for example, women’s employment and assistance for victims of domestic abuse. However, due to the project based funding
system for many of these NGOs to survive, they have been forced to make human trafficking more of a priority, even if it was not viewed as an important issue (Guenther, 2011). Those who supply the funding have a considerable amount of power of those who desire the funding. Unfortunately, this is how much of the non-profit sector operates.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union many young girls and boys from rural areas of Bulgaria, Moldova and Bulgaria have migrated to cities to work in prostitution (Siegel, 2011). With the collapse of the Soviet Union came the ability to cross borders much more freely. This provided access to many Moldovans to go abroad to seek work, often leaving behind their elderly parents and young children. Some were able to find work in other Eastern and Central European nations, while other found work in Europe and were able to send back at least small amounts of money (Siegel, 2011). However, many of these migrants failed in their journey to find better work, which often led to the feeling of shame and embarrassment and did not even want to return to their hometowns. In the absence of their parents, children often took care of one another or were left in the care of their grandparents (Siegel, 2011). Sex work, which most often, pays more than low skilled factory work or service sector jobs, serves many as a way to save money, become independent and travel. Some found sex work a better option for work in their home countries, while others moved abroad, where they could make more. Either way, sex work is an option some women and men may choose in order to pursue their dreams or help make ends meet for a certain time (Agustín, 2005). Although the economies of most Eastern and Central European countries have been improving since gaining
independence, some women are motivated to seek life abroad, either to make money to escape poverty, or to simply live abroad and experience new life (Laliotou, 2010). Sex work is one way to pursue migratory projects for these women, but too often they are victimized by citizens of their destination countries and stigmatized once returned home.
In this thesis I aim to analyze the representations of Eastern European women in EU, Dutch and UN policies and human trafficking prevention campaigns. Eastern European women hold a unique position in Europe. In Western Europe, they are often viewed as European, but not entirely European. Most of Central and Eastern states only became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 and slowly made the transition to free market economies and democratic societies. Certain stereotypes of
Eastern Europeans exist, particularly stereotypes about Eastern European women and their sexuality. These notions of gender roles and sexuality can manifest in into other areas as well, such as migration and labor. Due to the relatively recent independence of many Eastern European nations, patterns of migration to Western Europe, and in
particular to the Netherlands, is a new phenomenon with new trends and different reasons for migration, as for example during the World War II era. Eastern Europe is a large geographic region and the countries it comprises are many, each with a unique history, culture and language. However, there are of course some similarities within the region, and I do not wish to make sweeping generalizations about all of Eastern Europe but I will make some generalizations for the purposes of the argument. This thesis will analyze human trafficking campaigns in Lithuania, Ukraine and the Netherlands, although some historical context is also provided about other Eastern European countries in order to better understand the context of the entire region. The primary research question and four sub questions will be outlined in detail below.
Research Question and Sub Questions
Research question:
How are Eastern European women represented in EU policies and prevention campaigns? What are the underlying notions of gender and female sexuality in EU policies and prevention campaigns?
Sub Questions:
1. How has human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation emerge in already existing sociological theory and research?
2. How do human trafficking prevention campaigns represent female migrants and their sexuality?
3. How are Dutch and EU trafficking policies contradictory or problematic in their aim to assist women from Eastern Europe?
4. How do La Strada International, IOM Ukraine and the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence Against Children understand human trafficking and the migration of Eastern European women to the Netherlands?
Methodology
For the purposes of this research I used mixed methods in qualitative research. I decided to do qualitative research rather than quantitative research because I was seeking to understand underlying meanings of representations of a certain group of people. I was not looking to identify causes and effects of a certain phenomenon, nor am I looking for a certain number of migrant women, victims of trafficking, etc. Qualitative research “… allows you to identify issues from the perspective of your study participants, and understand the meanings and interpretations that they give to behavior, events of
objects.” (Hennink, Hutter and Baily, 2011: 9) Although I was not able to identify issues from migrant women themselves, due to the limited time for this research and the extreme difficulties of gaining access to this group of people to discuss highly sensitive matters, such as human trafficking, I was able to gain the perspectives of different representatives from organizations that work with human trafficking by conducting in depth interviews.
This research was conducted in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Everything was done in Amsterdam except for one Skype interview with interviewees in Ukraine, and one interview in The Hague. The data was collected between March and May of 2016. I conducted a discourse analysis of EU and Dutch policy documents, human trafficking prevention campaigns, and three interviews, two in person and one via Skype. I conducted one case study of prevention campaigns in Lithuania because of my
knowledge of Lithuanian language and personal connection to the culture and country. The prevention campaigns are in various forms, posters and postcards that had both images and text, and short films, which were transcribed and translated. I translated all Lithuanian campaigns and a Ukrainian speaker translated IOM Ukraine’s campaigns into English. Due to the sensitive nature of human trafficking, this study design was suitable, because this is what was available to me during this limited period of time. The various methods allow for various perspectives and were possible to conduct within the short time period that was available to collect data.
The main methodological component of this thesis is a discourse analysis of EU and Dutch trafficking policies and trafficking prevention campaigns aimed at women in Eastern and Central Europe ranging from 2000 until 2016. This time frame was selected
in order to gain a variety of campaigns and potentially see the differences as the
relationship between Lithuania, for example, and the European Union have changed over the years and to also be able to understand the changes in the discourses around human trafficking in the past sixteen years. A discourse analysis was the most suitable method for this thesis because I will be seeking to understand the meanings behind
representations of images and text in policy documents and different forms of prevention campaigns and this is precisely the aim of a discourse analysis. As Bacci (2000) states, discourse itself is difficult to define because “the whole idea of discourse is that
definitions play an important part in delineating ‘knowledge.’” (46) In analyzing policies and trafficking prevention campaigns I looked at how the definitions of human trafficking and female migrants are formed and gender roles that were represented and how different forms of female sexuality are represented. For example, is female monogamy presented in a positive way, and selling sex and having multiple sexual partners represented in a negative light. Coding and analysis was done through the program Atlas.ti and a total of forty-three codes were used for analysis. Some of codes were themes such as East/West, shame, borders, migration, gender roles, and female sexuality. Other codes were more specifically regarding the language used in the documents, for example, ambiguity in the language used, or specific terms such as combat, fight, tackle, and any metaphors that were used were also coded. Other codes were used for images, such as bare skin, white skin, object, no face, and passivity. These codes were used to highlight not only the content and themes present in the document, but the language used to discuss the themes and content which often in itself can make a statement about the issue being analyzed. “The argument is that issues get represented in ways that mystify power relations and often create individuals responsible for their own ‘failures’, drawing on the ‘ways issues get represented’ produces a focus on language and on ‘discourse’, meaning the
conceptual frameworks available to describe social processes.” (Bacchi, 2000: 46) Human trafficking, sex work and migration are all represented through a certain language and imagery that represents the powerful that often does not explain the
complex reasons a woman may migrate, sell sex, or turn to traffickers for assistance to go abroad. For these reasons it was most suitable to understand the underlying meanings and potentially the consequences of those meanings by conducting a policy discourse analysis
and a discourse analysis of trafficking campaigns aimed at Eastern European women. Discourse analysis is an effective way to understand the meanings of policy documents and campaigns. Often policy documents create or shape problems rather than offer responses to problems. (Bacchi, 2000) “…A policy-as-discourse approach frames policy not as a response to existing conditions and problems, but more a discourse in which both problems and solutions are created.” (Bacchi, 2000: 48) By analyzing policies it is possible to understand how human trafficking itself is framed as an issue in addition to suggestions on how to address it.
For this thesis I analyzed trafficking policies and legislation that are used in the Netherlands because I am focusing on Eastern European women in the Netherlands. Therefore, I analyzed the relevant policies and legislation in the Netherlands. These include the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Crime (otherwise known as the Palermo Protocol), The Directive
2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of 5 April 2011 on preventing and
combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA, and Article 273f Dutch Criminal Code and the Warsaw Convention in 2005. The discourse analysis will analyze policy documents between 2005 and 2015. Although I have included some background statistics beginning prior to this time frame, it is because I believe it is important to have a solid
understanding on the situation of Eastern European women who have been trafficked to the Netherlands in a broader historical sense as well.
The interviews I conducted were semi-structured, in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews were the most suiting for this part of the research because “in-depth interviews may be described as a conversation with a purpose. The researcher’s purpose is to gain insight into certain issues using a semi-structured interview guide.” (Hennink, Hutter and Bailey, 2011: 109) By conducting in-depth interviews I was seeking to gain insight from the perspective of these representatives. I wanted to understand how these representatives create and implement prevention campaigns, their professional ideas about issues
regarding the trafficking of Eastern European women, and the underlying notions of gender and sexuality in the organizations they are representing. Therefore, in-depth
interviews were the most suiting to achieve these goals. Representatives from
organizations that will be interviewed are La Strada International (LSI), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ukraine and the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children. Conducting interviews with representatives who work in the field is insightful because they are the ones, who create the prevention campaigns, understand the relevant policies and legislation and must work within them. Although the interviews conducted are not the main methodological component of the thesis, they contribute new insights to the
research. These representatives all come from quite different organizations with different goals therefore each interview had its own customized interview guide in order to ask the most appropriate questions based on which organization the interviewees were
representing. Out of the three organizations, LSI and IOM Ukraine both create and implement prevention campaigns and I have included their campaigns in this thesis. The campaigns created by IOM Ukraine were in English and Ukrainian; a native Ukrainian- English speaker translated those that were in Ukrainian. The Dutch National Rapporteur does not create prevention campaigns, but rather researches and assesses policies, so the interview with this representative was more focused on policies and legislation.
The interview guides were customized for each interview. I used concepts from the literature to develop questions as well as more open-ended exploitative questions. I did thorough research on each organization’s website to become familiar with the aims and work of each organization. Questions will be asked regarding specific campaigns that the organization has already implemented. For example, the aim of the campaign, its intended audience, the medium of the campaigns, the duration, and any results that they might have seen after the implementation of the particular campaign. Other questions included the source of the organization’s funding, and if the source has any authority in the work of the NGO, how the organization views international and local policies regarding human trafficking and any improvements they think are needed, and what the organization believes the biggest issues that still remain regarding human trafficking. The interviews with representatives from LSI and IOM Ukraine were more specifically focused around their campaigns, which I include in my thesis, while the questions for the representative from the Dutch National Rapporteur were more regarding about
effectiveness of current policies and legislation. All interviews were recorded and then transcribed manually. Some of the interviewees asked me not to publish certain parts of the interview, and even though those parts may have provided interesting insights, I decided to respect their wishes. The interview guides are included in the appendix.
The policies and legislation I chose to analyze for this thesis were based on their relevance in the Netherlands. The interviewee representing the Dutch National
Rapporteur also indicted all of the relevant and important laws and policies in the Netherlands so I was sure to include everything. The prevention campaigns were chosen by several criteria. I included the campaigns by LSI and IOM Ukraine because I
interviewed representatives as well, allowing for a thorough analysis of the campaigns and the work of the organizations. The other campaigns were part of a case study of Lithuanian prevention campaigns. I chose all relevant accessible campaigns that were focused on human trafficking, and some were focused on migration as well. These campaigns came from several sites related to human trafficking and migration. These include: IOM Lithuania, prekyboszmonemis.lt (humantrafficking.lt), Save the Children Lithuania, Caritas Lithuania and the Center for Missing Persons in Lithuania. Campaigns solely focusing on prostitution were not included because this thesis is more focused on the intertwining concepts of human trafficking, migration and migration for sex work, therefore any campaigns solely about domestic prostitution in Lithuania were not deemed as relevant. I translated all video and written texts from Lithuanian to English and all transcripts of videos were written in English.
I would have liked to conduct more interviews with representatives from other organizations and migrant sex workers themselves. However, after months of e-mailing and calling various organizations and individuals in the Netherlands and in Eastern Europe, I was denied the opportunity to conduct any more interviews. I believe the reasons for this vary based on the organization. I was in contact with the IOM in The Hague for a long time, however, because IOM focuses on migrants and migration, they told me they couldn’t help me with my thesis on human trafficking. I further explained that migration and migrants are very much relevant to my thesis and that interviewing someone from IOM in the Netherlands would be very beneficial to my thesis.
they could no longer assist me. The refusal to participate in an interview with me could be related to the scrutiny and criticism that IOM has received in the past for some of their human trafficking prevention campaigns, particularly in Eastern Europe. Some scholars, such as Schatral (2010) have gone as far to criticize IOM’s voluntary return assistance program for migrants. Such an international organization has a certain reputation to maintain and might fear any more negative representations through interviews. Of course, this is only my speculation about why I was denied an interview; luckily I was still able to interview two representatives from IOM Ukraine via Skype. A representative from La Strada in Bulgaria originally agreed to participate in a Skype interview with me.
However, not showing up to our first time and date and then changing the meeting appointments several times, ultimately she told me she could not participate in an interview with me because she was unable to answer the questions I had previously sent her in an e-mail. I had sent out many e-mails and have called other organizations
requesting interviews for this thesis as well, but I usually received no reply and after weeks of following up I decided to move on. Due to the very limited time allocated to collect data for this thesis, I was unable to conduct more interviews. However, it would be very interesting to continue with this topic of this master’s thesis in the future. With more time and already having a few contacts in this field will surely make conducting this research easier next time.
The remaining chapters of this thesis will answer the main research question and the four sub questions. Chapter two will review relevant literature and concepts. Chapters three and four will outline the findings of the research and begin to make a preliminary analysis, and chapter five discuss all of the research results with the relevant concepts. I will present an alternative perspective of human trafficking from Eastern Europe, one that is not generally presented or even known by mainstream media or the general public. It is by no means the only perspective, as I have no intention in reducing human trafficking into a simplified issue, however, for the purposes of limited time and space I will focus on certain phenomenon in the human trafficking process. I will present an analysis of how Eastern European women are represented in EU and Dutch human trafficking policies and human trafficking prevention campaigns and will argue that although human trafficking is an extremely horrific offense against an individual’s human rights, the way
it is presented in certain policies and prevention campaigns is part of a moral panic surrounding migrant women and female sexuality.
Chapter 2 A Review of Relevant Concepts and Literature
This chapter will seek to answer the first sub- question: how has human
trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation emerge in already existing sociological theory and research? Previous research on human trafficking from Eastern Europe to Western Europe has shown the importance of several reoccurring concepts such as female sexuality, the agent-victimhood debate, border control around the European Union, undocumented migration and the “othering” of Eastern European women (Agustín, 2003, 2007; Andrijasevic, 2003, 2010, 2014; Aradau, 2004, Barnett, 2015; Murray, 1998; Nieuwenhuys and Pecoud, 2007; O’Connell Davidson 2010; Vocks and Nijboer, 2000). These concepts are relevant to human trafficking and migration from Eastern to Western Europe, and more specifically, to the Netherlands. Throughout this chapter I will discuss these concepts and their direct relevance to the main research question.
Protective Border around a New Europe
The Schengen Treaty was signed in 1985, which initiated the creation of an economically and culturally homogenous Europe (Andrijasevic, 2003). Although the creation of the European Union broke down borders between its member states, it still maintained strict immigration policies that restricted immigration from outside of the Schengen zone (Andrijasevic, 2003). Rutvica Andrijasevic, a gender studies and migration scholar has published several articles and a book about Eastern European migrant sex workers in Italy. “Supported by claims that the strict immigration policies are of preventative nature, the Schengen treaty created what has been subbed as ‘fortress Europe.” (Andrijasevic, 2003: 254) In countries like the United Kingdom and Germany, new technologies have been designed to detect illegal migrants attempting to cross their borders. However, these strict and sometimes violent border control enforcements have brought about an increased number of migrant deaths (Andrijasevic, 2003). There are many difficulties in controlling the border and it is important to note, “full control has never been the norm.” (Nieuwenhuys and Pecoud, 2007: 1676)
The creation of the European Union in 1985 made it much easier for free
subject to strict immigration laws and border control which has resulted in the use of more dangerous, alternative ways of entering a member state, and this in turn, has resulted in numerous migrant deaths. States may try to limit and deter individuals from migrating by tightening borders and making obtaining visas and residence permits more difficult, but this does not prevent individuals from migrating (Andrijasevic, 2010). The strict immigration laws and border control have led migrants to use the resources of traffickers and smugglers to help them in their migratory journey. The migration laws and policies then, are partly responsible for individuals, particularly women, turning to other means to migrate. Closing borders and making visa regulations stricter doesn’t stop migration, however, it makes migrating a longer, more dangerous trip, and often migrants have little or no control when being assisted by third parties. They “…decelerate the speed of migratory flows by momentarily diverting their directionality and regulating the time of migration.” (Andrijasevic, 2010: 129) Migrants are still arriving to their
destination countries, it just takes them much longer and they are more likely to be physically or sexually abused along the way.
Completely closed borders have never been the norm and they are definitely not realistic in this age of globalization (Nieuwenhuys and Pecoud, 2007). Migration flows are practically inevitable because they are ingrained in economies and societies. In this contemporary era of globalization, states are faced with the need to keep borders open for tourism and international trade, but also want to limit migration at the same time
(Nieuwenhuys and Pecoud, 2007). Control is not only exercised through violent means at border crossings but through the media, and through the means of non-governmental agencies and non- governmental organizations (Nieuwenhuys and Pecoud, 2007). The criminalization of trafficking is also used as a way to control the movement of sex workers in the European Union and thus controls their ability to stay in Europe, or to be deported to their countries of origin (Berman, 2003; O’Connell Davidson, 2010). Jacqueline Berman is a scholar with a background in international relations and has published articles about migration and human trafficking of women. “… In criminalizing trafficking, the state presses its ‘right to intervene’ over the individual by deporting women and over its population by eliminating ‘internal threats’ (like the ‘undisciplined and irregular sexuality’ of trafficked women and other ‘white’ women immigrants) to a
European ‘manner of living.” (Berman, 2003: 50) The current human trafficking narrative is represented as an issue of migration, border and national security. The European Union joins together separate states making traveling and migrating between member states easier, however, states still want to maintain power over citizens entering their state, now that this power has been lifted. States attempt to gain back this power, justifying
strengthening border security to fight “terrorism” and “trafficking of women.” (Berman, 2003).
Framing Theory
Although referenced frequently in literature, framing theory is infrequently defined explicitly (Entman, 1993). “Framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communication text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item
described.” (Entman, 1993: 52) Frames often offer moral judgments of the issue spoken about and propose a solution based on these judgments of morality. Frames define
problems, diagnose causes, make moral judgments and suggest remedies (Entman, 1993). “Frames highlight some bits of information about an item that is the subject of a
communication, thereby elevating them in salience.” (Entman, 1993: 52)
Salience refers to the part of information that remains more memorable and stands out the most to the receiving audience. The response of the audience is very much
affected by the way an issue is framed in the media or other documents (Entman, 1993). “Receivers’ responses are clearly affected if they perceive and process information about one interpretation and possess little or incommensurable data about alternatives. This is why exclusion of interpretations by frames is as significant to outcomes as inclusion.” (Entman, 1993: 54) The way trafficking policies and preventative campaigns are framed is very important to whom the public reacts to the issue of trafficking which affects how policy makers deal with it and how “victims” of trafficking may be perceived in societies. The way information is framed is very important, especially when the audience does not receive any other information about the issue. In the discourse analysis of EU trafficking laws and policies and preventative trafficking campaigns aimed at Eastern European
women are all framed in a certain way for a certain purpose. Analyzing the frames of these policy documents and prevention campaign materials will be an important aspect of the discourse analysis of this thesis in order to understand the underlying notions of gender and sexuality in the representations of Eastern European women in these documents.
Control of Female Sexuality
The normalization of female sexuality and the role of women in migration and the family are part of controlling women, particularly ethnically “other” women. Migrant women are particularly stigmatized in destination countries, because often their sexuality is seen as deviant. This is a way to control their behavior and to keep them in inferior positions than the native women (Berman, 2010). Discourses around sexuality, particularly female sexuality have been forming since the eighteenth century. The philosopher and social theorist, Michel Foucault wrote of the control of populations through control of bodies through life, rather than death. Foucault (1995) states that the management and control of sexuality is used to control the population through life rather than the threat of death. Western discourses around women and sexuality, particularly through the medical discourse have created the role of the woman to be in the home, tending to her husband and children, thus representing the institution of the family, which also came to represent the state. “…The hysterization of women, which involved a thorough medicalization of their bodies and their sex, was carried out in the name of responsibility they owed to the health of their children, the solidity of the family institution, and the safeguarding of society.” (Foucault, 1995: 147) The medical regime contributed to the control of female sexuality through diagnoses of diseases associated with “too much” sexual desire. The medical regime, which is part of the state, has contributed to the discourse of the proper role of women in society. Although not to the same extreme as in the eighteenth century, in contemporary Western societies, this discourse is used to control migrant women’s bodies by encouraging them to be mothers and wives in their countries of origin. In some cases, this discourse discourages women from migrating abroad because the state sees their rightful place in their home countries (Berman, 2010).
Contemporary Western society continues to problematize and control female sexuality. Female sexuality is much more policed and regulated in society than male sexuality. The idea that women are “less” sexual than men, still exists, which allows the policing of female bodies that are deemed “too sexual.” These ideas are not as strong and widespread as they used to be in previous centuries; however, they still exist, even in the subtlest ways. This narrative of the “sexually deviant” yet “victim” migrant dominates, the discourse surrounding migrant women and victims of human trafficking, as the state finds it necessary to control this population. The state controls the lives of specific groups of people deeming it necessary to “save the helpless women.” (Berman, 2010; O’Connell Davidson, 2010). Analyzing from a Foucauldian lens, the state controls certain groups of people, whose behavior, in this case, sexuality and gender roles are deemed to be deviant in order to set an example for the rest of society. In modern society, the state intervenes in the lives of a collective group in “the name of life and health.” (Berman, 2010: 102) In this case, the state closely monitors and controls migrant sex workers and victims of human trafficking in the name of “protecting women.”
Trafficking as a Moral Panic
Moral panics, or moral crusades, are movements in which social problems that become identified as pure evil and those who claimed this evil see it as their duty as righteous good doers to combat this evil. Moral panics often take one or two extreme examples in a social problem and use it to represent the entire issue. This intense dramatization alarms and frightens the public as well pressures policy makers to take some sort of action (Weitzer, 2007). An important feature of moral panics is that the scale of the problem is often exaggerated. The leaders of these moral panics often make large generalizations without allowing any room for anything outside the exact definition (Weitzer, 2007). Salt (2000) suggests that official estimates are larger than reality in order to justify an increase in funding for border security and guard training. Although,
undeniably human trafficking does exist, some scholars argue its prevalence is sometimes exaggerated or not based on quality research (Salt, 2000). Sometimes statements are made that are only based from one or two very extreme cases. The extreme cases are very important to understand and include in policy- making decisions; however, they should
not be used to represent one very complex social issue (Salt, 2000). There are of course cases of human trafficking, which are horrific and gross human rights violations. These cases may involve complete coercion and deception, physical and psychological violence (Corrin, 2005), it is important to remember that although these cases exist in reality, they cannot represent all cases of human trafficking (Agustín, 2005; Andrijasevic, 2010; O’Connell Davidson, 2010).
Historically female migration and sexuality has been perceived as shameful, impure and risky for receiving nations (Day, 2010) and these notions are still present in contemporary Western discourses about female sexuality. In the 1800s there was the moral panic of white slavery. This was the fear that white women were being captured and sold into forced prostitution against their own will. This fear was then further expressed by the fear of women’s mobility in general (Day, 2010). The moral panic surrounding women’s sexuality often restricted their movements between cities and nations. These panics arouse around migration and female sexuality as women left their homes to start new lives in cities, or to join a same sex partner (Day, 2010). Female migration was perceived as negative from both sending and receiving nations. The sending nations viewed women leaving their home nations as shameful, as the women’s place was in the home and with the family. The receiving nations understood the influx of female migrants with a fear of contamination, a contamination in terms of disease and improper sexuality (Day, 2010). Some of these notions of female sexuality are still present in Western societies particularly in regard to sex workers and migrant sex workers. Fears of female sexuality and women’s migration are represented as a moral panic in the discourse of human trafficking.
“Victimhood” vs. “Agent-hood”: Migrant Sex Workers or Victims of Human Trafficking?
By labeling sex workers as victims of a crime they are being labeled as mere property who have been bought, sold and transported against their will. The term victim carries an ‘outsider’ connotation and therefore further stigmatizes and pushes away migrant sex workers, or victims of human trafficking, to the edges of society (Day, 2010). To equate all sex workers as victims and to equate all forms of prostitution as slavery
dehumanizes sex workers. By comparing prostitution to slavery all personhood and humanity are taken away from the individual for a permanent period of time. “Slavery is the permanent, violent domination of natally alienated and generally dishonored
persons.” (Day, 2010: 823) The very use of the term slavery in human trafficking and sex work narratives dehumanizes the sex worker and turns an individual into an agent-less victim stuck in one situation, although there isn’t much evidence to support the idea that human trafficking is a modern form of slavery (Day, 2010; O’Connell Davidson, 2010). Victims of human trafficking should be recognized as so and have access to the proper assistance, however, to call all migrant sex workers victims of human trafficking denies them their right to free movement and denies them the agency that other types of migrants have (O’Connell Davidson, 2010).
Referring to “victims” of human trafficking as merely victims ignores the structural issues such as unemployment that may have led women, men and children to work in the sex industry in the first place. In periods of political, social and economic transition, such as in the post- Soviet era in Eastern Europe, there were extremely high rates of unemployment and this affected women disproportionately (Andrijasevic, 2010; Corrin, 2005). Some women chose to go abroad to do sex work because it paid more than jobs in their countries of origin (Agustín, 2005). By labeling these women, as victims and criminalizing prostitution in order to help “victims” of human trafficking, would ignore the structural factors that led these women to sex work in the first place. Economic change does not happen quickly, and especially with the sudden loss of social welfare, women need a means of survival (Andrijasevic, 2010). Although human trafficking is not only limited to the trafficking of women for purposes of sexual exploitation, this has largely been the focus of the trafficking debate in the 1900s and early 2000s. This is due to the conflation of prostitution with human trafficking (Andrijasevic, 2010; O’Connell Davidson, 2010; Outshoorn, 2004).
Andrijasevic (2010) interviewed migrant sex workers from Central and Eastern Europe in Italy. The migratory projects of these women further depict the complexities of migrating for sex work and the ambiguities and overlapping definitions that exist between ‘migrant sex worker’ and ‘victim of human trafficking.’ Often, these women slipped in and out of both of these roles, experiencing both victimhood and agency throughout their
migratory projects (Andrijasevic, 2010). The victim-agent dichotomy arises especially when discussing coercion and deception in the human trafficking debate. Other factors play a role in whether a woman is viewed as a victim or agent, her race, ethnicity, nationality, age, and social class. Andrijasevic (2010) argues that “abusive working arrangements in the sex sector are not permanent or monolithic but open to negotiation and change over time depending on a shifting set of relationships between clients, police, peer workers, women and third parties.” (3) Some women may experience glimpses of exploitation and manage to escape these conditions or, they perceive these conditions as a minor bump in the road in their migratory projects, but they may not associate themselves as “victims” of human trafficking. These migrant women still remained active agents in their migration projects. It is difficult to clearly distinguish between “victim” and “agent” these overlap and the distinction should not be the distinguishing feature of human trafficking, but it often receives much contention in the human trafficking debate (Agustín, 2003; O’Connell Davidson, 2010).
Acceptance, Moral and Cultural Boundaries of Eastern European Migrants in the Netherlands.
Migrant women from Eastern Europe face different moral and cultural boundaries due to stereotypes and preconceived notions about Eastern Europe. Dawn Lyon and Ioanna Laliotou contributed to the book, “Women Migrants From East to West: Gender, Mobility and belonging in contemporary Europe.” In interviews with Dutch and migrant women, Lyon (2010) explored the concepts of citizenship and acceptance of Eastern European migrant women into Dutch society. Although several of the Dutch interviewees claimed they were accepting of these Eastern European women in the Netherlands, other claims they made implied otherwise and the Eastern European interviewees claimed never being fully accepted into Dutch society. “Yet the types of boundary-work one can trace in the narratives vary according to the nature of the relationship: employers tend to emphasize moral boundaries in their representations of migrant women, and friends more often refer to cultural as well as moral boundaries ‘to incorporate the other into their own group.’” (Lyon, 2010: 213) These divisions of East and West that had a very clear divide in the Cold War era are still present in contemporary Dutch society. Moral and cultural
boundaries are present in professional and social settings even when migrants have spouses or have been living in the Netherlands for a while. Some of the Dutch
interviewees expressed a superiority of Western Europe over Eastern Europe, which will have an affect on how Eastern European women are perceived and treated in society (Lyon, 2010). “For the most part, the native women gave little credit to the possibility of something in the East being better than the West, so this is an interesting exception. Indeed, they more often assume a position of superiority, in order to keep migrant women in their place.” (Lyon, 2010: 221) These concepts of moral and cultural boundaries among friends and colleagues is part of the public discourse around Eastern European migrant women in the Netherlands and can affect how policies are formed and how prevention trafficking campaigns are created and implemented.
When women from Eastern Europe migrate, it is always under the implication that it is forced and they are victims of human trafficking, or to escape extreme poverty. This is not the implication when individuals from the West migrate to travel or live abroad. When Westerners move around the world it is seen as a way to explore or the world or travel. Often Eastern European women migrate throughout their lives for similar reasons, however, most Westerners do not view it this way (Laliotou, 2010). In her interviews with migrant Eastern European women in Italy and the Netherlands, Laliotou (2010) explores the misconceptions of why Eastern European women migrate and what motivates them to leave their home countries. Laliotou has found that the primary factors that drive these migrant women are “the need for better material and professional
resources, love, curiosity and desire.” (2010: 46) She differentiates between forced migration, which disrupts personal bonds, and mobility, which allows for new possibilities and relationships, including the expansion of professional and social networks. Strict immigration policies and laws do not allow the entire history of a migrant’s life to develop. Each migration story is unique and based on a multitude of factors including shifting emotions and the breaking and development of new
relationships (Lalioutou, 2010). Nearly all of the interviewees have insisted that the decision to migrate to the West was their own decision to spend some time living abroad. These testimonies contradict the prevailing ideas that women who migrate from Eastern to Western Europe are forced to migrate through “assumptions that are grounded in
widely disseminated images of the Eastern European woman as a powerless sexual victim” (Lalioutou, 2010: 53) Some of these representations of Eastern European women will be seen in the policies and prevention campaigns, which will be discussed in the following chapters.
Chapter 3 Human Trafficking Policies & Prevention Campaigns
In this chapter I will present and analyze the relevant EU, UN and Dutch human trafficking policies. Afterwards, I will introduce some of the Lithuanian prevention campaigns, which are in poster or video form. This chapter will answer the second and third sub- questions, how do human trafficking prevention campaigns represent female migrants and their sexuality? And, How are Dutch and EU human trafficking policies contradictory or problematic in their aim to assist women from Eastern Europe? The answers to these sub questions will also be discussed in chapter five.
EU, UN & Dutch Human Trafficking Policies
In this section I will analyze four policies regarding human trafficking in the Netherlands. The first policy is the UN’s Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, Supplementing the Untied Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime or the Palermo Protocol, for
short. The document includes advisements to states on how victims should be treated, their rights, the support that should be provided, and how to criminalize traffickers, suggestions on prevention measures, and the definition of human trafficking (UN, 2000). The second policy I have analyzed for this thesis is the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human beings, the Council of Europe Treaty series No. 197, in Warsaw in 2005. This treaty was open for signatures by the member states, the non-member states that have participated in its elaboration and by the European Union, and for accession by other non-member states (Coucil of Europe, 2016). The Convention provides information for states to set up an independent monitoring system called
“GRETA” which guarantees parties’ complains with its provisions (Council of Europe, 2016). The Convention entered force on February 1st, 2008. There were ten ratifications,
including eight member sates. (Council of Europe, 2016) The third piece of legislation included in this thesis is Article 273f of the Dutch Criminal Code. So far there have been two versions of this article, one was valid until July 1st 2009 and a revised version valid
from July 1st, 2009. The revised version is included in this thesis (Dutch law, 2009). The
final policy document included is the 2011/36/EU Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting its Victims and replacing Council Framework Decision
2002/629/HA. This directive explains the rules for determining the offenses of human trafficking and how to punish the offenders. It also includes measures to prevent this phenomenon and to strengthen the protection of victims (Council of Europe, 2011). These are the most relevant policies regarding human trafficking in the Netherlands.
All of these documents intend to encourage states to create laws that will prosecute traffickers and protect victims, or improve existing ones. There is no denying the severity of human trafficking. It is a crime that violates an individual’s human rights and laws need to be in place in order to persecute traffickers and protect victims. As previously explained, there are several approaches in understanding human trafficking, however, all four of these policies represent human trafficking from a criminological perspective (Berman, 2003, 2010; Goodey, 2004; Nieuwenhuys and Pecoud, 2007). A criminological approach, meaning the focus is on the persecution of perpetrators and the implementation of criminal laws. Human trafficking is framed as a crime against
individuals and a crime against the state as an issue of national security. This is very clear throughout out all of the documents because everything is surrounded around crime, the prosecution of the criminals, and even the protection and services provided to victims is based on their cooperation with authorities. Medical services, psychological counseling, access to shelters and representation are often give to victims of trafficking in exchange for their testimonies and participation in the prosecution of criminals (Berman, 2010). Some states, such as Belgium and the Netherlands have implemented “grace periods” in which a victim of trafficking has a certain period of time in which they can think about how they would like to proceed, while receiving social services. This is one step in the right direction regarding the treatment of victims of human trafficking, however, after this “grace” period ends individuals are then again, forced to decide if they will comply with officials and help with a criminal prosecution if they wish to continue receiving social services (Berman, 2010).
These policies suggest for states to tighten their borders in order to prevent trafficking in human beings. Some scholars (Andrijasevic, 2003, 2010; Berman 2003, 2010; Nieuwenhuys and Pecoud, 2007) suggest that this phenomenon will do exactly the opposite.
This is because anti-crime policies and severe immigration restriction force women who wish to move to seek smugglers’ (who may turn out to be traffickers) assistance to do so. Thus, rather than hindering traffickers, heightened
immigration restriction and security measures have increased women’s reliance on them. This in turn drives trafficking further underground and increases the dangers faced by those who would seek to migrate (Berman, 2010: 93).
By framing the trafficking in human beings as a border control issue, states have an excuse to tighten their borders and exert more control over migration and migrants. The Council of Europe Convention states, “Without prejudice to international commitments in relation to the free movement of persons, Parties shall strengthen, to the extent possible, such border controls as may be necessary to prevent and detect trafficking in human beings.” (Council of Europe, 2005) The idea that strengthening borders will prevent trafficking in human beings also ignores migrants who enter a country legally, but may become undocumented once their visa expires and they stay in the country (Andrijasevic, 2010). Tighter border controls would not prevent the vulnerabilities these undocumented migrants may face and may even increase vulnerabilities as migrants would become much more dependent on third parties and underground routes to the destination country (Andrijasevic, 2003; Berman, 2003).
The UN Palermo Protocol also suggests that tighter border control will prevent human trafficking. “Without prejudice to international commitments in relation to the free movement of people, States Parties shall strengthen, to the extent possible, such border controls as may be necessary to prevent and detect trafficking in persons.” (UN, 2000) After the creation of the European Union and the Schengen zone, it became much easier to travel between member states. Although, this was the initial idea, member states still want to exert their control and have made it more difficult for non-EU individuals to enter the state (Berman, 2003). When individuals do not have the legal means, or easily
accessible and affordable means to obtain a visa migrate to a country, it doesn’t prevent them from migrating, but their journey is more likely to take longer, and they are more
likely to encounter danger, either from the third parties assisting them or from being arrested and detained in a jail (Andrijasevic, 2010). The policy suggestions to tighten the border remain within a criminological framework but because human trafficking needs to be understood as more that only a crime between criminals and their victims, tightening borders will not serve as a way to prevent human trafficking, it may even encourage it (Berman, 2010).
The Council of Europe Convention specifically addresses women’s vulnerabilities to human trafficking while migrating, however, this association can also lead and even encourage states to discourage women from migrating at all, which is problematic. The Parliamentary Assembly wrote Recommendation 1610 to address this issue, on June 25th,
2003. The Assembly considers that female migration that is connected to human
trafficking and prostitution has become part of a highly organized international criminal network linked to the exploitation of women. They argue that this kind of international crime cannot need international attention and cooperation (Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly, 2003). The policy recommendation the Council of Europe Convention is referring to, also frames women’s migration and the connection to trafficking of women for the purposes of sexual exploitation, in a criminological
framework. They continue to argue that women end up being exploited and trafficked due to large and intricate criminal networks. With this explanation of why human trafficking occurs, it would make sense for states to take a criminological approach to “end”
trafficking in humans. However, many factors contribute to the complex process of human trafficking. With tighter borders and stricter visa regulations, women may decide to seek the assistance of a third party to reach the destination country (Andrijasevic, 2010). The third party could be her neighbor, cousin, friend, or someone who works for a travel agency. Depending on the legality of the entrance to the country, the trip may involve risks and the vulnerability of the migrant increases when there is more reliance on the third party. The migrant could be exploited during the journey, or upon arrival to the destination country (Andrijasevic, 2010). The possibility that and individual may choose to migrate and seeks the assistance of a third party is ignored in the Council of Europe Convention, which only seeks to address the vulnerabilities of female migration and human trafficking through a criminological lens.
One clause of the Dutch Criminal Code Article 273f is problematic and harmful to migrant sex workers in the Netherlands. In the first section of Article 273F, section c, states that any person who, “Recruits, takes with him or abducts a person with the
intention of inducing that person to make him/herself available for performing sexual acts with or for a third party for remuneration in another country.” (Dutch penal code, 2009) Of course if an individual is abducted and taken to another city or country without their consent, it should be considered a crime under the law, and the offender should be prosecuted. However, this same sentence also includes anyone who “takes with him a person,” meaning that someone could just be driving a friend, a relative or a hitchhiker to the Netherlands. If that person is intending on doing sex work upon arrival, even if it is voluntarily and independently, it is still considered human trafficking. The sex worker becomes a victim of human trafficking and the individual who gave the ride becomes a trafficker. This clause differs from what is stated in the UN Palermo Protocol, in which exploitation would have to be present in order for the situation to be considered human trafficking. This clause is not useful in preventing human trafficking and it is harmful to migrant sex workers. It allows the state to intervene and create more harm and hardship in the lives of sex workers than it does to help and prevent any cases of human
trafficking. Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands but under very strict regulations. Even though it would be legal for an individual who is a citizen of a state in the European Union to migrate independently to the Netherlands to do sex work independently and voluntarily, if someone assisted in the journey of the migrant sex worker, it is considered human trafficking under Dutch law and a criminal offense. This is one way the state is controlling migrant women. If a migrant woman arrived with a friend to the Netherlands to do domestic work, it would not be classified as human trafficking, but because the nature of the work is sexual, it becomes problematized under the law.
Case Study of Lithuanian Prevention Campaigns: Prevention Films
This section will include a case study of Lithuanian human trafficking prevention campaigns. The campaigns were published between 2000 and 2016. Most of the
campaigns were published in the past three years, but two were included from the early 2000s in order to see more a variety and any potential changes in campaigns through out