Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to draw attention to an overlooked dimension of sex trafficking—namely, its abuse of women’s reproductive rights; to diagnose a tension between international anti-trafficking and refugee law and US anti-trafficking and immigration law; and to show that US anti-trafficking and immigration law is enforcing a misguided conception of victims that denies recognition to agentic victims of human rights abuse. Although women who have been trafficked into sex work should be prime candidates for legal protection, they aren’t. Criminal and legal practices amount to a three-way struggle over women’s bodily integrity and autonomy. Because misconceptions about victimhood perpetuate this cyclical struggle, I argue for legal reforms based on a credible conception of victimhood.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Binaifer A. Davar, “Rethinking Gender-Related Persecution, Sexual Violence, and Women’s Rights: A New Conceptual Framework for Political Asylum and International Human Rights Law” Texas Journal of Women and the Law 6 (1997): 241–256; Tala Hartsough, “Asylum for Trafficked Women: Escape Strategies beyond the T Visa,” Hastings Women’s Law Journal 13 (2002): 77–116; Dina Francesca Haynes, “Used, Abused, Arrested, and Deported: Extending Immigration Benefits to Protect Victims of Trafficking and to Secure Prosecution of Traffickers,” in Women’s Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader. Ed. Bert B. Lockwood. Baltimore MD. Johns Hopkins University Press (2006); Dina Francesca Haynes, “(Not) Found Chained to a Bed in a Brothel: Conceptual, legal, and Procedural Failures to Fulfill the Promise of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act,” Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 21 (2007): 337–381.
- 2.
I note the gravity of trafficking children into the sex industry, but I leave it aside, for this topic raises distinct issues that I do not have space to discuss here.
- 3.
See the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and CEDAW (accessible at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx).
- 4.
For analysis of the impact of sex trafficking on reproductive health and function among victims from Eastern Europe, see Cathy Zimmerman, et al., Stolen Smiles: The Physical And Psychological Health Consequences Of Women And Adolescents Trafficked In Europe, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: http://genderviolence.lshtm.ac.uk/files/Stolen-Smiles-Trafficking-and-Health-2006.pdf (2006), 3, 63. A study of Nigerian women trafficked into the sex industry in Europe obtained similar findings. See S. Abdulraheem and A. R. Oladipo, “Trafficking in Women and Children: A Hidden Health and Social Problem in Nigeria,” International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology 2 (2010): 34–39, 37, 39. A study of the health consequences of sex trafficking in Southeast Asia reports that septic abortions are a major danger faced by trafficked sex workers in Burma and Thailand (Chris Beyrer and Julie Stachowiak, “Health Consequences of Trafficking of Women and Girls in Southeast Asia,” Brown Journal Of World Affairs 10 (2003): 105–117, 106, 111.
- 5.
I acknowledge the heterosexist assumption underlying this observation. However, heteronormativity remains dominant worldwide and especially so in the states of origin of most women trafficked into the sex industry.
- 6.
http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html (accessed 10/14/2015).
- 7.
James C. Hathaway , The Law of Refugee Status, Toronto: Butterworths (1991) 104–105.
- 8.
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html (accessed 9/7/2013).
- 9.
Haynes 2007, 373; also see Wendy Chapkis, “Trafficking, Migration, and the Law: Protecting Innocents, Punishing Immigrants,” Gender and Society 17, 3 (2003): 923–937, 931–932.
- 10.
Louisa Waugh , Selling Olga, xv. Kara notes that in Central and Eastern Europe, seduction, coupled with promises of lifelong romance in the West, is another common ploy to lure women into trafficking schemes: Siddharth Kara, Sex Trafficking, 9.
- 11.
Siddharth Kara, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2009), 7. Louisa Waugh , Selling Olga: Stories of Human Trafficking and Resistance, (London, UK: Orion Books, 2007), xiv, 63.
- 12.
Suzanne Daley, “Rescuing Young Women from Trafficker’s Hands,” New York Times, October 15, 2010. Siddharth Kara, Sex Trafficking, 7, 23–30, 115, 142. Louisa Waugh , Selling Olga, 3, 73.
- 13.
Jacqueline Bhabha, “International Gatekeepers?: The Tension between Asylum Advocacy and Human Rights,” Harvard Human Rights Journal 15 (2002): 155–181,175–176; April Rieger, “Missing The Mark: Why The Trafficking Victims Protection Act Fails To Protect Sex Trafficking Victims In The United States,” Harvard Journal of Law and Gender 30 (2007): 231–256, 249; Hartsough, 99.
- 14.
Hartsough, 101.
- 15.
- 16.
As Gozdziak and Collett point out, disputed definitions of sex trafficking, not to mention the underground nature of the enterprise, make accurate counts of victims impossible and estimates highly conjectural. Nevertheless, they cite the official US estimate for 2004 of 14,500–17,500. (See Elzbieta M. Gozdziak and Elizabeth A, Collett, “Research on Human Trafficking in North America: A Review of Literature,” International Migration 43 (2005): 99–127, 107–108, 117.)
- 17.
Rieger, 249.
- 18.
Rieger, 252–253.
- 19.
See https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CTOC/countrylist-traffickingprotocol.html (accessed 10/14/2015).
- 20.
Rey Koslowski , “Response to ‘The New Global Slave Trade’ by Harold Honfju Koh,” in Displacement, Asylum, Migration: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2004. ed. Kate E. Tunstall. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2006), 259–260. Also see UNHCR “Guidelines on International Protection No. 7: The Application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees to Victims of Trafficking and Persons At Risk of Being Trafficked”. 7 April, 2006 http://www.refworld.org/docid/443679fa4.html (accessed 2/13/2014).
- 21.
Leslie and John Francis show that lack of enforcement of laws prohibiting sex trafficking is not a problem unique to source countries. It is also a failing of destination states, including the USA. See their “Trafficking in Human Beings: Partial Compliance Theory, Enforcement Failure, and Obligations to Victims,” in Poverty, Agency, and Human Rights, ed. Diana Tietjens Meyers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
- 22.
For detailed treatment of these paradigms, see Chap. 1 of Diana Tietjens Meyers, Victims Stories and the Advancement of Human Rights, New York: Oxford University Press (2016).
- 23.
For helpful, related discussion of human dignity and the “simplistic contrast between agency and passivity,” see Martha C. Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2001), 405–414.
- 24.
For documentation of confiscated passports, see, for example: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/11/world/contraband-women-a-special-report-traffickers-new-cargo-arge-slavic-women.html?sec=&spon=&scp=5&sq=trafficking%20victims%20confiscated%20passport&st=cse&pagewanted=all, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10nurse.html?scp=6&sq=trafficking%20victims%20confiscated%20passport&st=cse, http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2000/02/21/international-trafficking-women-and-children. For evidence of the use of photographs, see: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=amKSCFA_Fm3s&refer=home, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/workingpapers/libe/pdf/109_en.pdf. p. 13.
- 25.
Liz Kelly points out that many “smuggled” women borrow money from relatives in order to seek their fortunes abroad. If they are deported and return empty-handed, they are unable to repay their debts and feel compelled to submit to re-trafficking in the hope of making good on their debts, if not improving family finances. Thus, the cycle of sexual abuse commonly enters a new iteration. Liz Kelly, “‘You Can Find Anything You Want’: A Critical Reflection on Research on Trafficking in Persons within and into Europe,” International Migration 43 (1/2) (2005): 236–265, 248.
- 26.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx (accessed 9/14/2014).
Bibliography
Abdulraheem, S., and A.R. Oladipo. 2010. Trafficking in Women and Children: A Hidden Health and Social Problem in Nigeria. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology 2: 34–39.
Beyrer, Chris, and Julie Stachowiak. 2003. Health Consequences of Trafficking of Women and Girls in Southeast Asia. Brown Journal Of World Affairs 10: 105–117.
Bhabha, Jacqueline. 2002. International Gatekeepers?: The Tension Between Asylum Advocacy and Human Rights. Harvard Human Rights Journal 15: 155–181.
Chapkis, Wendy. 2003. Trafficking, Migration, and the Law: Protecting Innocents, Punishing Immigrants. Gender and Society 17 (3): 923–937.
Daley, Suzanne. 2010. Rescuing Young Women from Trafficker’s Hands. New York Times, October 15.
Davar, Binaifer A. 1997. Rethinking Gender-Related Persecution, Sexual Violence, and Women’s Rights: A New Conceptual Framework for Political Asylum and International Human Rights Law. Texas Journal of Women and the Law 6: 241–256.
European Parliament, Directorate-General for Research. Trafficking in Women. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/workingpapers/libe/pdf/109_en.pdf
Francis, Leslie, and John G. Francis. 2014. Trafficking in Human Beings: Partial Compliance Theory, Enforcement Failure, and Obligations to Victims. In Poverty, Agency, and Human Rights, ed. Diana Tietjens Meyers. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gozdziak, Elzbieta M., and Elizabeth A. Collett. 2005. Research on Human Trafficking in North America: A Review of Literature. International Migration 43: 99–127.
Hartsough, Tala. 2002. Asylum for Trafficked Women: Escape Strategies Beyond the T Visa. Hastings Women’s Law Journal 13: 77–116.
Hathaway, C. 1991. The Law of Refugee Status, 104–105. Toronto: Butterworths.
Haynes, Dina Francesca. 2006. Used, Abused, Arrested, and Deported: Extending Immigration Benefits to Protect Victims of Trafficking and to Secure Prosecution of Traffickers. In Women’s Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader, ed. Bert B. Lockwood. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
———. 2007. (Not) Found Chained to a Bed in a Brothel: Conceptual, Legal, and Procedural Failures to Fulfill the Promise of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 21: 337–381.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and CEDAW. Accessible at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx
Kara, Siddharth. 2009. Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kelly, Liz. 2005. ‘You Can Find Anything You Want’: A Critical Reflection on Research on Trafficking in Persons Within and into Europe. International Migration 43 (1/2): 139–144.
Koslowski, Rey. 2006. Response to ‘The New Global Slave Trade’ by Harold Honfju Koh. In Displacement, Asylum, Migration: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2004, ed. Kate E. Tunstall, 259–260. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Louisa Waugh, Selling Olga: Stories of Human Trafficking and Resistance. (London: Orion Books, 2007).
Meyers, Tietjens. 2016. Diana Victims Stories and the Advancement of Human Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, 405–414. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
OHCHR. The Core International Human Rights Instruments and Their Monitoring Bodies. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx. Accessed 14 Sept 2014.
Rieger, April. 2007. Missing the Mark: Why the Trafficking Victims Protection Act Fails to Protect Sex Trafficking Victims in the United States. Harvard Journal of Law and Gender 30: 231–256.
Semple, Kirk. 2008. Nurse Claims Employer Enslaved Her. New York Times, July 10. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10nurse.html?scp=6&sq=trafficking%20victims%20confiscated%20passport&st=cse%20%20http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2000/02/21/international-trafficking-women-and-children
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-914 – Application for T Nonimmigrant Status, Form I-918 – Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status Receipts, Approvals, and Denials. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Reports%20and%20Studies/Immigration%20Forms%20Data/Victims/I914t-I918u_visastatistics_2012-dec.pdf
UNHCR. 2006. Guidelines on International Protection No. 7: The Application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees to Victims of Trafficking and Persons at Risk of Being Trafficked. April 25. http://www.refworld.org/docid/443679fa4.html. Accessed 13 Feb 2014.
———. Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status on Refugees. http://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10.html. Accessed 14 Oct 2015.
UNODC. Human Trafficking. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html. Accessed 7 Sept 2013.
Waugh, Louisa. 2007. Selling Olga: Stories of Human Trafficking and Resistance. London: Orion Books.
Zimmerman, Cathy, et al. 2006. Stolen Smiles: The Physical And Psychological Health Consequences Of Women and Adolescents Trafficked in Europe, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. http://genderviolence.lshtm.ac.uk/files/Stolen-Smiles-Trafficking-and-Health-2006.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meyers, D.T. (2018). Sex Trafficking, Reproductive Rights, and Sovereign Borders: A Transnational Struggle over Women’s Bodies. In: Fischer, C., Dolezal, L. (eds) New Feminist Perspectives on Embodiment. Breaking Feminist Waves. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72353-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72353-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72352-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72353-2
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)