By Élodie Apard, Éléonore Chiossone, Precious Diagboya, Aurélie Jeannerod, Bénédicte Lavaud-Legendre, Cynthia Olufade, Cécile Plessard, Sara Panata, Vanessa Simoni and Sam O. Smah

In an innovative manner, Packing research addresses human trafficking from Nigeria to Europe, beyond the perspective of the ‘victim/madam’ duo as classically analysed. It postulates the involvement of several social groups whose activity does not originate in the practice of human trafficking, neither is reduced to it. The offense of trafficking is therefore perceived as based on an organization that, beyond the criminal activity itself, has a highly structured and legitimized social, community and religious base. More precisely, this research describes the operation – activities and development – of each of religious groups (such as the neo-traditional Temples in Edo State, Nigeria), women’s groups (such as the Ladies’ clubs) and cultist groups (including Black Axe (Aye) and Supreme Eiye Confraternity) in Nigeria and France and then identifies their role and level of involvement in human trafficking. This research highlighted different elements that support the thesis of a misuse of beliefs, own practices and operating rules applied by these groups for criminal purposes.

Ibadan: IFRA-Nigeria - Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique - Nigeria, 2019. 183p.

By Ramonna Vijeyarasa..

Myths and Misconceptions about Trafficking and its Victims. Sex, Slavery and the Trafficked Woman is a go-to text for readers who seek a comprehensive overview of the meaning of ’human trafficking’ and current debates and perspectives on the issue. It presents a more nuanced understanding of human trafficking and its victims by examining - and challenging - the conventional assumptions that sit at the heart of mainstream approaches to the topic. A pioneering study, the arguments made in this book are largely drawn from the author’s fieldwork in Ukraine, Vietnam and Ghana. The author demonstrates to readers how a law enforcement and criminal justice-oriented approach to trafficking has developed at the expense of a migration and human rights perspective. She highlights the importance of viewing trafficking within a broad spectrum of migratory movement. The author contests the coerced, female victim archetype as stereotypical and challenges the reader to understand trafficking in an alternative manner, introducing the counterintuitive concept of the ’voluntary victim’. Overall, this text provides readers of migration and development, gender studies, women’s rights and international law a comprehensive and multidisciplinary analysis of the concept of trafficking.

London; New York: Routledge, 2015. 284p.