TRUCKING AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING (2022)
A brief discussion into the use of trucking routes as human trafficking routes in the United States. It has been found that Trucks are sometimes used for trafficking humans because truckers are sometimes involved in this incandescent crime and the locations are used for rest and as transfer points for victims. The fact that truck stops exist off highways and in remote areas which are not heavily populated make it easy for movement of victims between vehicles, traffickers and buyers. Victims on these routes are typically trafficked for sex and labour trafficking. The article explores the current situation, potential victims of trafficking, as well as how truck drivers can help in the fight against human trafficking and key red flags of human trafficking
Citation: Lanier Law Firm, (n.d). Trucking and human trafficking. Sourced from https://www.lanierlawfirm.com/trucking-and-human-trafficking/
USING SURVIVORS’ VOICES TO GUIDE THE IDENTIFICATION AND CARE OF TRAFFICKED PERSONS BY U.S. HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS (2019)
Evidence suggests that trafficked persons in the United States frequently seek health care, yet little is known of their experiences, including reasons for seeking assistance, interactions with professionals, and barriers to obtaining care. To gain a better understanding, a search was conducted for empirical data collected directly from trafficked persons about their US health care experiences, published in peer-reviewed journals within the past 10 years, and in the English language. Four databases were searched and of the 1,605 articles initially identified, 8 met all inclusion criteria. Data from 420 participants demonstrated a wide range of physical and mental health complaints and 50%–98% reported seeking health care services in diverse medical settings during their exploitation. Barriers to care occurred at various levels, and although some are not modifiable, others are amendable by changes in the behaviors of professionals. A trauma-informed, rights-based approach to care would address many of these issues and create feasible treatment plans.
Citation: Armstrong, S. and V.J. Greenbaum (2019) ‘Using Survivors’ Voices to Guide the Identification and Care of Trafficked Persons by U.S. Health Care Professionals’, Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal, 41(2), pp. 244-260.
PREPAREDNESS TO IDENTIFY AND CARE FOR TRAFFICKED PERSONS IN SOUTH CAROLINA HOSPITALS: A STATE-WIDE EXPLORATION (2019)
This qualitative study utilized stratified purposive sampling to investigate how prepared hospitals throughout the state of South Carolina were to identify and care for individuals experiencing human trafficking. Hospitals were invited to participate if trafficking in persons had been reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, in 2016, in their geographic location. Telephone interviews were conducted with Emergency Department (ED) directors/managers due to their knowledge of clinical practices and policies/procedures within the ED, as well as evidence that trafficking victims frequently seek care in this setting. Eighteen hospitals comprised the final sample with facilities from all four regions of the state represented. Statewide, hospitals were lacking human trafficking response protocols, healthcare professionals had not received training about human trafficking, and safety issues surrounding care of this population were frequently unrecognized. The majority of healthcare professionals (HCPs) believed trafficking occurred in their area; yet, few believed they had cared for a victim. South Carolina hospitals have many opportunities to improve their responses to trafficked persons, including developing and implementing human trafficking response policies/protocols; providing training for HCPs; ensuring the safety of victims, HCPs and others; fostering relationships with local service providers; and increasing community engagement and education on this topic.
Citation: Armstrong, S., Greenbaum, J., López, C. & J. Barroso (2019) ‘Preparedness to Identify and Care for Trafficked Persons in South Carolina Hospitals: A State-Wide Exploration’, Journal of Human Trafficking.
DETAINING VICTIMS: HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND THE UK IMMIGRATION DETENTION SYSTEM (2019)
This report describes the issues experienced by victims of human trafficking while in immigration detention in the UK who have been supported by the Labour Exploitation Advisory Group (LEAG). It explores the main barriers to identification of victims of human trafficking prior to and while in detention, as well as the impact of detention on National Referral Mechanism (NRM) decision-making and on victims’ physical and mental well-being. It sets out recommendations on how to make improvements in all four of these areas.
Citation: Ishibashi, L. (2019) Detaining victims: human trafficking and the UK immigration detention system. United Kingdom: Labour Exploitation Advisory Group.
IDENTIFYING TRAFFICKED MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES ALONG RHE BALKAN ROUTE. EXPLORING THE BOUNDARIES OF EXPLOITATION, VULNERABILITY AND RISK (2019)
This article explores what we can learn about the identification of and assistance to trafficked persons from practitioners in Serbia on the front line of Europe’s “refugee crisis”. Questions arise as to whether and to what extent the anti-trafficking framework is effective in offering protection to trafficked migrants/refugees in a mass migration setting, but also what is lost if the specific perspective of the anti-trafficking framework is set aside or given lower priority. It is important to discuss who is included and who is excluded; whether protection and assistance meet people’s needs; and whether or how the existing framework can be used to greater effect. While it was challenging to operationalize the anti-trafficking framework, both conceptually and practically, during the “refugee crisis” in the Balkans, it remains an important approach that should have been mobilized to a greater extent, both to secure individual protections and rights and to gather information about human trafficking in conflict and crisis, which, in turn, increases the ability to respond effectively.
Citation: Brunovskis, A. and R. Surtees (2019) ‘Identifying Trafficked Migrants and Refugees Along rhe Balkan Route. Exploring the Boundaries of Exploitation, Vulnerability and Risk’, Crime, Law and Social Change, 72, pp. 73–86.
WHEN SLAVERY HIDES IN THE SYMPTOMS – ARE WE READY TO SEE IT? (2019)
Victims are encountering healthcare services. Yet healthcare professionals don’t feel equipped to recognize the signs or know what questions to ask, while key gaps within the healthcare service prevent these patients receiving the support they need. At all levels of professional development, the practice of safeguarding is not prioritized. This is due to lack of effective training and emphasis on softer communication and safeguarding skills. Simulation training provides a safe, educational environment to build confidence and practice conducting these challenging, complex consultations. Safeguarding leads, who receive these referrals from frontline staff, should be equipped to understand the complexity of modern slavery and the strengths and weaknesses of the support services available. Finally, healthcare professionals must be involved in shaping the wider national survivor focused response to modern slavery.
Citation: Riley, R. (2019) ‘When slavery hides in the symptoms – are we ready to see it?’, Future Healthcare Journal, 6(30), pp. 154-166.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT, AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES IN SOUTH TEXAS EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS (2019)
Human-trafficking victims seek assistance for health issues in emergency departments. This point of contact provides an opportunity for screening and identification of the victim’s situation, enabling intervention. This descriptive research study was designed to identify whether a standard protocol is currently used to identify, assess, and intervene for human-trafficking victims in 47 south Texas counties. Emergency Departments (ED) leaders were surveyed using a sequential set of strategies including online, e-mail, and/or phone surveys to identify the methods used in emergency departments screening for adult and child human-trafficking victims. Researchers surveyed 99 emergency departments in south Texas, which includes 21 counties bordering Mexico. Twenty-seven ED leaders responded (27.3%). Despite being located in an area with high rates of human trafficking, these leaders stated that few trafficking victims were identified in 2017. Eleven (40.7%) of the responding emergency departments specifically screened adults for human trafficking, and 10 (37.0%) specifically screened children for human trafficking. A variety of methods were used by each of these emergency departments to identify human- trafficking victims. The failure to recognize human-trafficking victims prevents assessment of the victim’s status and further delays referral to appropriate resources. Barriers to screening for human trafficking included lack of awareness of the human-trafficking experience, need for clinical education related to evidence-based protocols, and need for validated screening instruments and standardization of processes that promote action and provide victim assistance.
Citation: Dowling Dols, J. (2019) ‘Human Trafficking Victim Identification, Assessment, And Intervention Strategies in South Texas Emergency Departments’, Journal of Emergency Nursing, 45.
HOSPITAL HEALTH PROVIDER EXPERIENCES OF IDENTIFYING AND TREATING TRAFFICKED PERSONS (2019)
Over the past 20 years, human trafficking has generated much public attention throughout the world. The problem has received growing media coverage and increased anti-trafficking activism. Additionally, countries have created new policies, laws, and enforcement mechanisms to tackle the problem. This micro level study examined the lived experiences of 22 health and allied health workers situated within St Vincent’s Health Australia’s Melbourne facility, and reports on their identification, assessment, treatment, and outreach to trafficked persons. The results indicated that trafficked persons were predominantly invisible within the health setting. When practitioners did suspect trafficking, they considered themselves as lacking the professional skills and knowledge, or the clear organisational policy or procedures to confidently identify and manage the complex health needs of the suspected trafficked persons. The findings contribute to St Vincent’s Health Australia’s goal of formulating contextually appropriate policy and practices that will assist in the identification of and response to the health needs of trafficked persons.
Citation: Testa, D. (2019) ‘Hospital Health Provider Experiences of Identifying and Treating Trafficked Persons’, Australian Social Work, pp. 1-13.
Seeing the Unseen: Barriers and Opportunities in the Identification of Trafficking Victims in Indonesia (2018)
In many countries in the world, including in Indonesia, identification of trafficking victims remains one of the more challenging and vexing aspects of anti-trafficking efforts. Many trafficking victims are never officially identified or recognized as victims of human trafficking and, as such, essentially “fall through the cracks” of the anti-trafficking response. And yet the identification of trafficked persons is a critical, indeed necessary, step to combat human trafficking. Victims must first be identified before they can be offered assistance and protection. Identification is also essential for the criminal process to be triggered and to ensure trafficking victims’ access to justice. Understanding who is (and is not) identified as trafficked (and why this happens) is critical for improving the identification of Indonesian trafficking victims and, by extension, their access to protection and justice. As such, this paper considers patterns of both successful and unsuccessful identification of Indonesian trafficking victims who have been trafficked for various forms of labor, as well as the different issues that inform whether or not Indonesian trafficking victims are formally identified as trafficking victims. These include: the nature of trafficking, with victims isolated, controlled and “out of sight”; institutional challenges in the identification response; and the decisions and behaviors of trafficking victims themselves.
Citation: Surtees, R. and T. Zulbahary (2018) Seeing the Unseen: Barriers and Opportunities in the Identification of Trafficking Victims in Indonesia. Washington, D.C., United States: NEXUS Institute.
VULNERABILITY AND EXPLOITATION ALONG THE BALKAN ROUTE: IDENTIFYING VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN SERBIA (2017)
In recent years, the flow of migrants and refugees through the Balkans has significantly increased. To date, there has been limited empirical evidence of when, why and how vulnerability to human trafficking arises in mass movements of migrants and refugees. New patterns of vulnerability and exploitation challenge established procedures for identification of and assistance to trafficking victims. This paper presents different experiences of trafficked migrants and refugees who have moved to and through Serbia over the past two years, and explores challenges and barriers to their formal identification and assistance as victims of human trafficking. The paper concludes with specific recommendations on how government and civil society stakeholders may begin to work more effectively on this issue to and to better identify and assist trafficked migrants/refugees.
Citation: Brunovskis, A. and R. Surtees (2017) Vulnerability and exploitation along the Balkan route: Identifying victims of human trafficking in Serbia. Oslo, Norway: Fafo and Washington, D.C., United States: NEXUS Institute.
CHALLENGES IN THE IDENTIFICATION AND PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE INDIVIDUALS AND VICTIMS OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS IN THE CONTEXT OF MIGRATION CRISIS: ASSESSMENT REPORT (2017)
The study gives an initial overview of the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI) participants’ capacities to provide gender-sensitive response to the phenomena of THB and GBV in mixed migration flows. The MARRI participants include Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo. In particular, practices and policies in relation to GBV and THB response in Macedonia, Albania and Serbia were addressed since among MARRI participants these three are considered mainly affected by refugees/migrants flows. The focus of the study, besides the identification of persons at risk and protection of the victims/survivors of THB and GBV in the mixed migration flow in conditions determined by the geographical scope, period of observation and data collection, is on the understanding and sensibility for THB and GBV of the main stakeholders.
Citation: Mircheva, S. and R. Rajkovchevski (2017) Challenges in the identification and protection of vulnerable individuals and victims of gender based violence and trafficking in human beings in the context of migration crisis: Assessment Report. Skopje, Macedonia: MARRI Regional Centre.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IDENTIFICATION AND SERVICE PROVISION IN THE MEDICAL AND SOCIAL SERVICE SECTORS (2016)
The medical sector presents a unique opportunity for identification and service to victims of human trafficking. In this article, we describe local and site-specific efforts to develop an intervention tool to be used in an urban hospital’s emergency department in the midwestern United States. In the development of our tool, we focused on both identification and intervention to assist trafficked persons, through a largely collaborative process in which we engaged local stakeholders for developing site-specific points of intervention. In the process of developing our intervention, we highlight the importance of using existing resources and services in a specific community to address critical gaps in coverage for trafficked persons. For example, we focus on those who are victims of labor trafficking, in addition to those who are victims of sex trafficking. We offer a framework informed by rights-based approaches to anti-trafficking efforts that addresses the practical challenges of human trafficking victim identification while simultaneously working to provide resources and disseminate services to those victims.
Citation: Schwarz, C. et al. (2016) ‘Human Trafficking Identification and Service Provision in the Medical and Social Service Sectors’, Health and Human Rights Journal, 18(1), pp. 181-191.
CHALLENGES IN IDENTIFICATION OF CHILD VICTIMS OF TRANSNATIONAL TRAFFICKING (2015)
Child trafficking is a multiple human rights violation and identification of child victims of trafficking is a serious challenge facing social workers worldwide. The challenges that participants perceived or had encountered when identifying transnational children trafficked into South Africa were explored through in-depth interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings from the study support the notion that identification of child trafficking victims is not an easy task for social workers because of the inherent nature of child trafficking and its link to socio-legal, economic and cultural factors.
Citation: Warria, A., H. Nel and J. Triegaardt (2015) ‘Challenges in Identification of Child Victims of Transnational Trafficking’, Practice, 27(5), pp. 315-333.
POLICE PERCEPTIONS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING (2015)
Although the US federal government and all 50 states have passed legislation that defines human trafficking as a crime and specifies stiff penalties for such offenses, little is known about how police perceptions of human trafficking influence investigation and response strategies. Previous research confirms that human trafficking definitions are ambiguous and police commonly lack the training and experience necessary to identify the crime. Using schema theory as a guide to our inquiry, we explore how existing crime schema influence police perceptions of and responses to human trafficking. In addition, we examine how new human trafficking laws change police perception of previously existing crimes, particularly prostitution. Data from in-depth interviews from a targeted sample of 90 law enforcement officials in 12 US counties inform how the police frame the problem of human trafficking and how those frames guide their actions.
Citation: Farrell, A., R. Pfeffer and K. Bright (2015) ‘Police perceptions of human trafficking’, Journal of Crime and Justice, 38(3), pp. 313-333.
ASSISTING VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE IDENTIFICATION, EXIT FROM TRAFFICKING, AND THE RESTORATION OF WELLNESS (2014)
Human trafficking is a pressing social justice concern. Social work is uniquely situated to address this problem. However, despite the profession’s commitment to social justice, the scholarship to equip social workers to address this issue has been largely absent from professional discourse. To address this gap, this article helps social work practitioners to assist victims of human trafficking. After orienting readers to the scope and process of human trafficking, the topics of victim identification, exit from trafficking, and the restoration of psychological wellness are discussed. By equipping themselves in these three areas, practitioners can advance social justice on behalf of some of the most exploited people in the world.
Citation: Hodge, D.R. (2014) ‘Assisting Victims of Human Trafficking: Strategies to Facilitate Identification, Exit from Trafficking, and the Restoration of Wellness’, Social Work, 59(2).
ENVIRONMENTAL AND INSTITUTIONAL INFLUENCES ON POLICE AGENCY RESPONSES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING (2014)
In response to domestic and international concern about individuals being exploited for labor or commercial sex, the U.S. Government passed legislation in 2000, creating a new crime of human trafficking and devoting resources to the identification of victims and prosecution of perpetrators. Since that time, all 50 states have passed legislation criminalizing trafficking of persons, yet law enforcement responses to these new legal mandates have been uneven. Recent research suggests police agencies are generally unprepared to identify and respond to human trafficking incidents in local communities and, as a result, relatively few cases have been identified. Using data from medium-to-large municipal police agencies in the United States, this research examines competing explanations for the adoption of responses in the wake of new human trafficking laws. The findings suggest the importance of institutional explanations including organizational experience with change.
Citation: Farrell, A. (2014) Environmental and Institutional Influences on Police Agency Responses to Human Trafficking, Police Quarterly, 17(1), pp. 3-29.
POLICING HUMAN TRAFFICKING: CULTURAL BLINDERS AND ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS (2014)
Since 2000, the federal government and all fifty states have passed laws that criminalize the trafficking of per- sons for labor and commercial sex. To date, relatively few human trafficking cases have been identified, investigated, and prosecuted by local criminal justice authorities. Using data from case records and qualitative interviews with police, prosecutors, and victim service providers in twelve counties, we discuss the challenges local police face in identifying cases of human trafficking. We find that the culture of local police agencies and the perceptions of police officials about human trafficking do not support the identification of a broad range of human trafficking cases. Since local definitions of human trafficking are still evolving, police focus on sex trafficking of minors, which they perceive to be the most serious problem facing their communities. Reluctance to differentiate between vice and sex trafficking minimizes the problem of human trafficking and makes labor trafficking seem largely nonexistent.
Citation: Farrell, A. and R. Pfeffer (2014) ‘Policing Human Trafficking: Cultural Blinders and Organizational Barriers’, ANNALS of the American Academy, 653, pp. 46-63.
HOT PANTS AT THE BORDER SORTING SEX WORK FROM TRAFFICKING (2014)
The role of borders in managing sex work is a valuable site for analysing the relationship between criminal justice and migration administration functions. For the purposes of this article, we are concerned with how generalized concerns around trafficking manifest in specific interactions between immigration officials and women travellers. To this end, this article contributes to a greater understanding of the micro-politics of border control and the various contradictions at work in the everyday performance of the border. It uses an intersectional analysis of the decision making of immigration officers at the border to understand how social differences become conflated with risk, how different social locations amplify what is read as risky sexuality and how sexuality is constructed in migration. What the interviews in our research have demonstrated is that, while the border is a poor site for identifying cases of trafficking into the sex industry, it is a site of significant social sorting where various intersections of intelligence-led pro ling and everyday stereotyping of women, sex work and vulnerability play out.
Citation: Pickering, S. and J. Ham (2014) ‘Hot Pants at the Border Sorting Sex Work from Trafficking’, British Journal of Criminology, 54(1), 2-19.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS: A TOOL FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING (2014)
Human trafficking, often called “modern-day slavery,” occurs on a massive scale, trapping thousands of victims in lives of incredible suffering with seemingly no way to escape. It does not necessarily involve transporting people across borders, but it does involve victimization and serious crimes committed within the U.S. Responding to this scourge requires knowing who and where victims are. To this end, the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) completed a two-year study, Improving Trafficking Victim Identification. The study created, field tested, and validated the first-ever screening tool that can reliably identify adult and minor victims of sex and labor trafficking, both U.S.- and foreign-born. The tool is a statistically validated 30-topic questionnaire designed to elicit evidence of trafficking victimization. Vera also researched the best way to conduct interviews with potential victims in order to facilitate trust between interviewers and respondents. With national dissemination, this screening tool should lead to better identification of trafficking victims and improved responses to victims by law enforcement, other legal professionals, and service providers in various types of agencies and settings. This is a summary of the research.
Citation: Simich, S. (2014) Out of the Shadows: A Tool for the Identification of Victims of Human Trafficking. United States: Vera Institute of Justice.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM IDENTIFICATION: SHOULD CONSENT MATTER? (2012)
Despite sufficient and well-examined scholarly literature regarding human trafficking, perhaps the most perplexing obstacle to the prevention of human trafficking lies in the inability of governments and nongovernmental organizations to properly identify victims of human trafficking and quantify their numbers. This article challenges existing approaches to identifying human trafficking victims and questions whether individuals can be neatly bifurcated into two distinct categories—migrant smuggling and human trafficking. The article instead points to at least five classifications that arguably fit under the ambit of migrant smuggling, human trafficking, or both, depending on one’s theory of consent and examines existing autonomies between migrant smuggling and human trafficking including whether the role of consent in each case is truly antithetical. In short, this article attempts to take a first step in fashioning a decision-making paradigm for resolving the consent question.
Citation: Vincent Jones, S. (2012) ‘Human Trafficking Victim Identification: Should Consent Matter?’, Indiana Law Review, 45, pp. 483-511.
Out of sight? Factors and challenges in identifying trafficked persons (2012)
Identification of trafficking victims continues to be one of the greatest challenges in anti-trafficking work. There are many different ways that victims exit trafficking, are identified and come into contact with the anti-trafficking framework and their various assistance options. Nevertheless, many victims go unidentified and are consequently subject to continued exploitation or unable to access the rights afforded them under international conventions. The main goal in this study is to disentangle how the identification of trafficked persons takes place in South Eastern Europe as well as situations in which it does not occur and the reasons for this. The study discusses missed opportunities for identification of trafficking victims, including the very real and personal implications for these trafficked individuals, based on interviews with 43 victims of trafficking and 99 key informants in the anti-trafficking sector. This paper is based on fieldwork research conducted in Albania, Serbia and Moldova between 2006 and 2008 and is one of three research papers, which address a range of issues and challenges in the assistance framework in the Balkan and FSU region.
Citation: Brunovskis, A. and R. Surtees (2012) Out of Sight? Factors and Challenges in Identifying Trafficked Persons. Oslo, Norway: Fafo and Washington, D.C., United States: NEXUS Institute.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING: IMPROVING VICTIM IDENTIFICATION AND SERVICE PROVISION (2011)
The trafficking of humans is a serious issue. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is the main legislative effort in the US that addresses this problem. Based on social work values, the article provides an assessment of the TVPA and suggests that service provision and victim identification need to be strengthened to better serve human trafficking victims. Global trends, efforts, and limitations in reducing trafficking are discussed. Specific interventions by social workers in victim identification and service provision are presented.
Citation: Okech, D., W. Morreau and K. Benson (2011) ‘Human trafficking: Improving victim identification and service provision’, International Social Work, 55(4), pp. 488-503.
IDENTIFICATION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS (2011)
An estimated 18,000 individuals are trafficked into the United States each year from all over the world, and are forced into hard labor or commercial sex work. Despite their invisibility, some victims are known to have received medical care while under traffickers’ control. This project aimed to characterize trafficking victims’ encounters in U.S. health care settings. This exploration of survivors’ experiences in health care settings supports anecdotal reports that U.S. health care providers may unwittingly encounter human trafficking victims. Increasing awareness of human trafficking, and modifying practice to facilitate disclosure, could improve victim identification.
Citation: Baldwin, S.B., D.P. Eisenman, J.N. Sayles, G. Ryan and K.S. Chuang (2011) ‘Identification of Human Trafficking Victims in Health Care Settings’, Health and Human Rights, 13(1).
Understanding and Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Human Trafficking: Final Report (2008)
This publication addresses four main issues: 1) the perceptions of trafficking held by law enforcement and the preparation agencies have taken to address the problem; 2) the frequency in which law enforcement identifies and investigates cases of human trafficking and 3) the characteristics of those cases investigated by law enforcement and 4) the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases.
Citation: Farrell, A., J. McDevitt and S. Fahy (2008) Understanding and Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Human Trafficking: Final Report. Washington, D.C., United States: National Institute of Justice.
VICTIMS NO LONGER: RESEARCH ON CHILD SURVIVORS OF TRAFFICKING FOR SEXUAL AND LABOR EXPLOITATION IN THE UNITED STATES (2008)
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labor is believed to be one of the fastest growing areas of criminal activity. Child victims are particularly vulnerable but there is little systematic knowledge based on empirical research about their characteristics, experiences, and prospects for long-term integration into the mainstream society. Children are often subsumed under the women and children heading without allowing for analysis of their special needs, vulnerabilities and resiliencies. Many writers use the word “children” but focus on young women and research on young boys is non existent. Limited knowledge impedes identification of child victims of trafficking, obstructs provision of culturally appropriate, effective services and limits prevention of repeat victimization. This report assesses current efforts to identify child victims of trafficking in the United States.
Citation: Gozdziak, E. and M.N. Bump (2008) Victims No Longer: Research on Child Survivors of Trafficking for Sexual and Labor Exploitation in the United States. Washington, D.C., United States: Georgetown University.
Listening to victims: Experiences of Identification, Return and Assistance in SEE (2007)
The voices of victims of trafficking and their stories are powerful. While a number of studies and documents have examined the identification, return and assistance process for trafficked persons, the focus has been primarily on the legal and administrative frameworks in which identification, return and assistance take place. The structure of these standard reports include principles and guidelines in the identification and assistance process, the legislative framework and studies of the assistance framework, including good practices. Far less common have been studies of how victims themselves have perceived and experienced their post-trafficking life and how they value and evaluate this intervention and assistance. This report maps — from the victim’s perspective — the full trajectory of intervention by anti-trafficking actors — from identification, through return and referral and during various phases of assistance and protection. While anti-trafficking interventions are clearly vital in the recovery of trafficked persons, victims reported both positive and negative experiences in these various stages of anti-trafficking interventions. This information from the individuals who are the intended beneficiaries of these interventions is vital for on-going efforts in transnational referral and assistance systems for trafficked persons. The study is based on interviews with 80 trafficked women and men, children and adults from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Romania and Serbia.
Citation: Surtees, R. (2007) Listening to Victims: Experiences of identification, return and assistance in South-Eastern Europe. Vienna, Austria: International Centre for Migration Policy Development.
LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND. WHY SOME TRAFFICKING VICTIMS DECLINE ASSISTANCE (2007)
Some victims of trafficking are offered assistance and they decline this support. With no systematized knowledge on the subject, it has been difficult to understand the reasons behind these decisions to decline assistance, what happened to these women after and as a result of declining assistance, and what paths their lives took after dropping out of contact with the assistance system. Understanding the reasons, experiences and perceptions of person who do not participate in assistance program can play an important role in developing and tailoring anti-trafficking services to meet the needs and desires of as many trafficking victims as possible. This original research determined that reasons for declining assistance center around three main categories: 1) an individual’s personal circumstances at the time of decision-making (including assistance standing in the way of migration; interactions with the family in deciding on assistance; and not needing assistance), 2) factors and difficulties associated with the specifics of the assistance system itself (lack of information and communication; how assistance is organised; behaviours and attitudes of service providers) and 3) the social context and personal experiences as barriers to assistance (mistrust and suspicion of assistance; assistance leads to stigma and exclusion; and different relationships to victim identities).
Citation: Brunovskis, A. and R. Surtees (2007) Leaving the past behind. Why some trafficking victims decline assistance. Oslo, Norway: Fafo and Washington, D.C., United States: NEXUS Institute.
CLOSING THE GAPS: THE NEED TO IMPROVE IDENTIFICATION AND SERVICES TO CHILD VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING (2007)
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labor is believed to be one of the fastest growing areas of criminal activity. The vast majority of victims of severe forms of trafficking are women and children. The particular vulnerability of child victims, related to biophysiological, social, behavioral, and cognitive phases of the maturity process, distinguishes them from adult victims and underscores the necessity of special attention to their particular needs. In the United States, most trafficking victims, but particularly child victims, go unidentified and even fewer gain access to the services developed to help them break free from their traffickers and reintegrate into the wider society. This paper uses a case study approach to examine the inadequacies and service gaps in the system established in the United States to care for child victims of trafficking. The case study is discussed within a broader context of the evolution of the system of care available to child victims of trafficking, including the transfer of care of undocumented children in federal custody from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
Citation: Gozdziak, E.M. and M. MacDonnell (2007) ‘Closing the Gaps: The Need to Improve Identification and Services to Child Victims of Trafficking’, Society for Applied Anthropology.