Introduction: Diffusing the politics of human trafficking from Europe to Asia

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Laura A. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Policy Adoption ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Labor Exploitation ◽  
Palermo Protocol

The introduction examines the politicization of human trafficking in Eurasia and how these politics affect the policy adoption and implementation in this region. The chapter presents a definition for human trafficking and examine the scope and manifestations of the crime in source and destination countries of Eurasia. It discusses the adoption of the Palermo Protocol and explore the patterns of human trafficking dynamics across the region from Europe to Eurasia. Internal and external human trafficking constraints and different gendered and racialized approaches to trafficking policy that make ethnic minorities in the region more vulnerable to human trafficking are also discussed. Victim stereotypes perpetuated in the trafficking policies of Eurasia, have produced their own regional type of ideal victim ‘Natashas’ but increasingly men and children from this region are victims of labor exploitation suggesting that there are factors at play within these countries that encourage human trafficking.

Diffusing human trafficking policy adoption

2020 ◽  
pp. 47-72
Author(s):  
Laura A. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Policy Adoption ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Palermo Protocol

Chapter Two narrows the focus to a case study analysis of Russia, Latvia, and Ukraine and examines how human trafficking policies diffuse in these three most-similar case studies from Eurasia. The results demonstrate that internal determinants such as state commitment to human trafficking policy and interest group strength are more important to policy adoption than external pressures from the international community. Conversely, state capacity and bureaucratic restructuring impede policy adoption. Instead of identifying international influence as an all-encompassing reason for policy adoption, data suggested that policy adoption was influenced by multifaceted pressures such as the Palermo Protocol, US TIP reports, the Council of Europe, and EU and ultimately country dependent. The chapter argues that policymaking is more nuanced than blind compliance with international treaties, as the literature suggests, and reveals that there is no black box of policymaking because even in authoritarian (Russia) and semi-authoritarian (Ukraine) regimes, policymaking does not occur in a vacuum. This type of policymaking shows that interest groups and policy entrepreneurs work within the constraints of national policymaking to adopt human trafficking policies even in non-democratic political systems.

Empirical comparisons of human trafficking policy across Eurasia

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-176
Author(s):  
Laura A. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Method Comparison ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Policy Adoption ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
Similar Time ◽  
Implementation Model ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Adoption And Implementation

This chapter broadens the analysis back to whole region of Eurasia to analyze the determinants of policy adoption and implementation with original dataset, adapting variables for internal determinants and external pressure to the international policymaking environment. It examines the quantitative determinants of policy adoption and implementation across all fifteen counties in Eurasia in a similar time period as the case study analyses from 2003-2015 in a pooled time series. It presented a new and innovative Human Trafficking Policy Index which measures the scope of human trafficking policies in Eurasia and ranks it on a 15-point scale every year. The findings mirror the qualitative results and reveal that internal political conditions and monetary factors inside the country such as state commitment, policy entrepreneurs, bureaucracy, and state capacity determine how the countries adopted policy while policy entrepreneurs, bureaucracy, and police effectiveness influence policy implementation. The mixed method comparison demonstrates that state commitment and policy entrepreneurs had a positive influence on human trafficking policy adoption while bureaucratic impediments inhibited policy adoption. The results were less cohesive with policy implementation model but revealed the influence of internal determinants such as street-level bureaucrats, bureaucratic impediments, and conflicting policing results.

Diffusing Human Trafficking Policy in Eurasia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Adoption ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Regional Area ◽  
The World ◽  
Policy Variation

The issue of human trafficking is particularly important in the region between Europe and Asia due to the dramatic increase in the number of persons trafficked into and through the region since the collapse of communism. Women from Eurasia fuel the sex industries around the world but increasingly, men and children from this region are also victims of labor exploitation. This book analyses how human trafficking policies aimed at combatting this phenomenon have diffused from the international to national level policymaking in one of the largest source regions for human trafficking in the world. The book adds another dimension to human rights-based policymaking with gendered regulatory policy embodied in criminalization statutes and redistributive policy with victims’ service laws by exploring factors that promote and impede policy adoption. Using a mixed method approach, the book uniquely develops the diffusion of innovation theory to include policy variation with adoption and implementation in a new substantive area (human trafficking) and a new regional area (Eurasia). The main research question examines the top-down and bottom-up pressures involved in why some countries adopt encompassing human trafficking policies and others do not and why some countries successfully implement these policies and others do not. The book traces the development and effectiveness of anti-trafficking institutions established in public policy adoption and their interconnected relationship with policy implementation effectiveness. Across Eurasia there are links between these institutions and the ties that bind them which if weak can cause anti-trafficking network fragmentation.

scholarly journals HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND PROSTITUTION: BAND OF BROTHERS

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Botha ◽  
Delene Strydom
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
South African ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Full Compliance ◽  
Task Team ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Global Initiative ◽  
Palermo Protocol

On 14 December 2000 South Africa signed the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (‘the Palermo Protocol’), and on 20 February 2004 ratified it. In so doing, South Africa committed itself to criminalising trafficking and developing legislation to combat it. On 3 October 2007 Essop Pahad, speaking at the Global Initiative to Counter Human Trafficking International Forum, said the National Prosecuting Authority had been tasked with coordinating this process and had formed an inter-sectoral task team to oversee the development of legislation. He further stated that provisions on trafficking had already been included in the Children's Bill and that the revised Sexual Offences Act would have a chapter dealing specifically with trafficking for sexual purposes. On 16 December 2007 the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 came into effect. It contains a chapter specifically dealing with trafficking as well as a section specifically addressing the issue of trafficking for sexual purposes. Although these provisions are only temporary, as they are not in full compliance with the Palermo Protocol, the South African government made an attempt to deal with the problem of trafficking, which up to that point had not been regulated by adequate legislation. In March 2009 Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, then Minister in the Presidency, stated that ‘the process of translating South Africa's international commitments into national legislation is at an advance (sic) stage’. In 2008 government considered the idea of legalising prostitution for the duration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. If prostitution were legalised, either for the duration of the World Cup or at any time thereafter, it would contradict the provisions of Part 6 of Act 32 of 2007 and nullify the work that has been done in an attempt to curb this crime of trafficking.

scholarly journals Identifying Sexual and Labor Exploitation among Sheltered Youth Experiencing Homelessness: A Comparison of Screening Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salina Mostajabian ◽  
Diane Santa Maria ◽  
Constance Wiemann ◽  
Elizabeth Newlin ◽  
Claire Bocchini
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Screening Tools ◽  
Psychosocial Assessment ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
High Risk Population ◽  
Screening Methods ◽  
Labor Exploitation

Human trafficking is a significant and growing public health concern. Subgroups of adolescents and young adults are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking, especially youth who are unstably housed or homeless. While youth experiencing trafficking come into contact with the healthcare system, they are often not identified during routine assessment due to lack of specific inquiry and low disclosure. Therefore, we utilized a mixed-methods study design to assess the differences in the identification of human trafficking among youth experiencing homelessness (n = 129) between a standard psychosocial assessment tool and a human trafficking specific assessment tool. Findings indicate that the tool developed to specifically assess for human trafficking was more likely to identify youth experiencing sexual and labor exploitation, as well as the risk factors for human trafficking. Secondly, youth reported that mistrust of the system, fear of involving the police if reported, not wanting to interact with the mental healthcare system, and stigma are barriers to disclosing human trafficking. In conclusion, healthcare providers caring for youth experiencing homelessness should adopt improved screening tools for human trafficking to reduce the risk of missed opportunities for prevention and treatment among this high-risk population of youth.

Conclusion: The implications of human trafficking policies

2020 ◽  
pp. 177-196
Author(s):  
Laura A. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Political Environments ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Implementation Problems ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Push And Pull

The conclusion explores the limitations and effectiveness of human trafficking policy in combatting the phenomenon of human trafficking. It discusses if legislated solutions for a wicked problem such as human trafficking are impossible to obtain and if policies can only attempt to alleviate the problem. Most policy advocates argued that human trafficking policies help, but aspects of supply and demand are the main causes of human trafficking. These concepts such as poverty, abuse, gender inequality, and immigration that get to the underlying causes of push and pull factors of trafficking, are not covered in most human trafficking policies and are difficult to legislate across countries in an increasingly globalized world. The existing laws and policies were imperfect with implementation problems, but the policies were effective in many respects and better than an absence of policy. The chapter also analyzes how progress in anti-trafficking adoption and implementation was affected by the different political developments in masculinized political environments. The crime of human trafficking is always changing, and policy should be encompassing and resilient to withstand changing trends and political developments.

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