From White Slaves to Trafficking Survivors Conference on Migration and Development -Notes on Trafficking Debate

In this paper I intend to present a background to the discourse on trafficking. In the first part of the paper I focus on the origins and developments regarding the discussion and definitions of trafficking, which has traditionally been closely related to the discussion about prostitution. In the second part of the paper I pay attention to the global and local features of the present-day trafficking phenomenon, which takes on different forms, fulfills different purposes, includes men as well as women, and is taking place across as well as inside national borders. To conclude, I discuss the ambiguities within the debate about trafficking more generally, thereby relating to the blurred boundaries between common perceptions of trafficking and illegal migration, slavery and prostitution, but also between cultural attitudes and economic needs, coercion and free choice, which also affects trafficking experiences of migrants.