Trafficking Exchanges and Economic Responses Reflections from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia

Publishers Ford Institute For Human Security, The Ford Institute For Human Security Document authors Long Lynellyn D. Zones Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia Type Report / Study / Data Date of publication 2006 Document main thematic Child Trafficking Total pages 32

Trafficking for sexual exploitation involves an exchange transaction of gifts, services and/or objects. The elements and terms of the exchange reflect the relations and forms of organization of the particular economic system in which the transaction occurs.
While these forms of exchange may be analyzed discretely, in practice there is often vertical integration between the different markets, and a woman may be initially exchanged as a gift between patriarchal lineages and eventually sold as a commodity in a London market. As this chapter will discuss, the contemporary political economy of trafficking in women, in particular, for sexual services reflects both historical and contemporary cultural practices.