By Angela Hefti

This thought-provoking book conceptualizes femicide as a multifaceted human rights violation and proposes state responsibility for group-related risks of violence against women and girls. In doing so, it reassesses the concept of femicide, analysing it in view of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, as well as several facets of human rights. Angela Hefti challenges the common definition of femicide, extending it beyond the killing of women due to their gender to include elements of victim blame, sexual abuse, forced marriage and delayed investigations by authorities. Chapters address femicide in the context of the African, Inter-American and European regional and universal human rights systems. Case studies from Iraq, Nigeria and Mexico provide a fundamental understanding of the multidimensional and worldwide nature of femicide. Spanning several key academic debates, the book incorporates underlying feminist legal theory and approaches pertaining to the subordination of women and girls in society, arguing that femicide should qualify as an autonomous human rights violation.

Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA:: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. 330p.

Edited by Erol Balkan and Zümray Kutlu Tona

Refugees on the Move highlights and explores the profound complexities of the current refugee issue by focusing specifically on Syrian refugees in Turkey and other European countries and responses from the host countries involved. It examines the causes of the movement of refugee populations, the difficulties they face during their journeys, the daily challenges and obstacles they experience, and host governments’ attempts to manage and overcome the so-called “refugee crisis.”

New York; Oxford: Berghahn Books. 2022. 344p.

Edited by Uğur Ümit Üngör

The twentieth century has been called, not inaccurately, a century of genocide. And the beginning of the twenty-first century has seen little change, with genocidal violence in Darfur, Congo, Sri Lanka, and Syria. Why is genocide so widespread, and so difficult to stop, across societies that differ so much culturally, technologically, and politically? [-]That's the question that this collection addresses, gathering a stellar roster of contributors to offer a range of perspectives from different disciplines to attempt to understand the pervasiveness of genocidal violence. Challenging outdated beliefs and conventions that continue to influence our understanding, Genocide constitutes a major contribution to the scholarship on mass violence.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016. 279p.

By Russell D. Howard and Colleen Traughber

In a globalized and increasingly interconnected world, the transfer of information, expertise, and relationships are becoming more complex and more commonplace. The interconnectedness of criminal organizations that span not only countries but across regions of the globe is troubling. However, more troubling is the possibility of the linking of transnational criminal organizations with insurgent and terrorist organizations as addressed in this work by Brigadier General (retired) Russ Howard and Ms. Colleen Traughber. The radical ideologies propagating politically motivated violence now have the opportunity to leverage and participate in traditionally criminal enterprises. This melding of form and function provides criminals with new networks and violent extremists with new funding sources and potential smuggling opportunities. General Howard and Ms. Traughber delve into the nexus between violent extremist elements and transnational criminal elements by first clarifying whether a real problem exists, and if so, what is the appropriate role for Special Operations Forces (SOF) in confronting it. The authors bring rigor to the subject matter by dissecting the issue of intention and opportunities of criminal organization and violent extremists. The question is confounded by the authors who note the wide variance in the motivations and opportunities of both different criminal organizations and extremist organizations. What the authors do make clear is that the trafficking of humans, weapons, drugs, and contraband (HWDC) is a natural way for the criminals and extremists to cooperate. To bring the issue into focus, the authors systematically examine case studies dealing with the nexus between specific organizations and HWDC trafficking opportunities. Human trafficking in Europe and the former Soviet Union; weapons trafficking in the Far East, Asia, and South America for money; the narcotics trade by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia; Hezbollah and Kurdistan Workers’ Party, as well as contraband smuggling of cigarettes, are all used to examine the extremist/criminal nexus. The connections become clear as the authors discuss each of the HWDC issues within the nexus; what is also clear is that often the nexus is a simple marriage of convenience.

MacDill AFB, FL: Joint Special Operations University, 2013. 99p.

By Thi Hoang

Decades of wars and internal conflicts have driven generations and millions of Afghan families into impoverishment, illiteracy, unemployment, and displacement, rendering them unable to provide for their household members, particularly children. Political instability and conflicts have increased human suffering and vulnerabilities, eroded community resilience, stripped people of legitimate and viable economic options, opportunities, and livelihoods, as well as amplifying (in several cases also creating new forms of) human trafficking activities and practices. Drawing on existing academic and grey literatures, expert interviews and media reports, this paper first provides a brief overview of human trafficking situations, forms, their widespread reach and practices in the Afghan context before and after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021. Second, it discusses the potential implications and impact of various actors’ policies, intentions and perspectives both on the humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, and on human trafficking in particular. It argues for prioritising humanitarian assistance, and recommends that stakeholders pursue a pragmatic approach to responses and negotiations that puts human lives at its centre, to prevent worsening the humanitarian crises, exacerbating vulnerability to human trafficking, and further loss of life.

Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham.2022. 62p.

Edited by Pierre Le Roux, Jean Baffie and Gilles Beullier

The Trade in Human Beings for Sex in Southeast Asia brings together 28 senior scholars and experts hailing from all over the world in various disciplines: Ethnology and Social Anthropology, Sociology, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, Psycho-Criminology, Medicine, Law, Economics, History, as well as Humanitarian assistance to give a general statement on slavery, prostitution and trafficking in persons in this region. In recent years, prostitution in women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation has been steadily increasing at an alarming rate. Underlying reasons are not only the ongoing process of globalization and the lagging behind of the concerned emerging countries, but also a number of cultural factors specific to this region. The problem's background is given in Part 1: A Look at the Past; Part 2 provides the data from field studies in human trafficking and prostitution; Part 3 deals with additional related problems and suggest possible responses.

Bangkok: IRASEC-Observatory., 2010. 488p.

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 Omoregie Pat Iziengbe

Existing literature insists on coercive dynamics that thrust victims into prostitution networks. This paper takes a different stand by underlining the preliminary awareness of various victims of human trafficking. Based on field research undertaken in Benin City, Edo State, the study delves into the role of the so-called Purray Boys in the international prostitution networks. It investigates the kinship networks and how they play out in the making of the human trafficking networks by unravelling the kinship dynamics as critical in the international economy of prostitution.

Ibadan: IFRA-Nigeria, 2017. 22p.

By Modupe Adeleye

A multiscalar phenomenon, human trafficking can be studied at the national and international levels, rendering the border a significant analytical object. This paper questions the specificities of the Nigerian-Benin border as affecting human trafficking. Based on field research undertaken in the communities of Shaki and Seme, the study examines how border dynamics affect the framing of networks and actors involved in the human trafficking process. It illustrates the gradual entanglement of human trafficking with other traffics and economic activities at play within bordering communities

Ibadan: Ifra-Nigeria, 2017. 27p.

By Cynthia Olufade

This Research is part of the European Project PACKING (Protection of Migrants and Asylum seekers, especially Children and Women coming from Nigeria and victims of trafficking), conducted from 2017 and 2019, both in Nigeria and in France. PACKING Project is co-funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) of the European Union and is coordinated by the NGO ECPAT France. The general objective of the project is that rights of Migrants are promoted and respected and migrants are protected from trafficking in Human beings. This publication was elaborated with the support of European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of ECPAT France and the partners of the project and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

Ibadan: Ifra-Nigeria, 2019. 26p.

By Monica Ewomazino Akokuwebe

Sexually transmissible diseases linked to binding or coerced prostitution activities, especially HIV, have attracted considerable attention. Other health issues are sometimes glossed over, both in the academic literature and by rehabilitation organizations working with trafficked individuals. Based on field research conducted in Lagos and Oyo States, the study focuses on health issues such as noncommunicable disease ailments experienced by trafficking victims and rehabilitated individuals. The paper documents the physical, psychological effects of trafficking as well as non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes resulting from the living conditions of victims. It also investigates the (self)-medication practices among trafficked individuals.

Ibadan: IFRA-Nigeria. 2017. 35p.

By Precious Diagboya

The academic and grey literature paying attention to human trafficking have primarily focused on female victims. As such, this paper argues that they have suffered a gender bias. Based on field research conducted in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja, the paper intends to bridge the gender gap by studying the experience of Male Sex Workers (MSWs). It points out the variety of places and networks used by this population in the FCT. It also pinpoints series of migration trends that account for the presence of MSWs in Nigeria. As such, it looks at the various biographical trajectories of Abuja MSWs and provides an outlook on the community's perceptions of trafficking, along with a comparison with the classical female sex networks

Ibadan:Nigeria: IFRA-Nigeria. 2017, 18.p.

By European Migration Network

Background and rationale for the study. Trafficking in human beings is a crime against people that can take various forms, such as sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery and servitude-related practices, as well as the removal of organs, all of which constitute a grave violation of the victim’s fundamental rights. Trafficking in human beings is addressed under various EU and international instruments. One of the key priorities of the new EU Strategy on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings 2021-2025 is protecting, supporting and empowering victims, including their early identification. Working with relevant EU agencies is fundamental, as is engaging in cooperation and partnerships against trafficking with non-EU countries of origin and transit, and with organisations at regional and international level regarding the EU’s external relations policy.11 Between 2015 and 2020, more than 10 500 third-country national victims of trafficking in human beings were registered, with minors accounting for 8.5%, and sexual and labour exploitation representing approximately 75% of the cases. Trafficking in human beings is not only recognised as a highly profitable crime,12 but one with links to social development and security, migration, conflict and climate-induced displacement. The impact and cost of human trafficking on individuals and on political, economic and social systems is enormous. Given its clandestine nature and the myriad factors that may deter a victim 11 Renewed EU action plan against migrant smuggling (2021-2025),

Brussels, Belgium: Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission, 2022. 60p.

By Martin Stillar

Trafficking in human beings is a serious violation of human rights and human dignity, and is considered one of the worst crimes of all (Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, n.d.). As a global phenomenon that can only be tackled at a global level and in an international context, human trafficking also affects Austria, which is both a country of destination and a country of transit due to its central location in Europe. Trafficked persons originate mainly from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. The phenomenon of human trafficking has intensified during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the area of labour exploitation, since economic hardship in particular makes people vulnerable to exploitation. Since the COVID-19 pandemic frequently has an impact on family income too, a growing number of children often have to work instead of going to school in order to support the family financially. This increases their vulnerability to exploitation. In order to tackle trafficking in human beings, Austria established a multidisciplinary task force in 2004 that includes representatives from all relevant federal ministries and government offices, the provinces, the social partners and specialized non-governmental organizations. One of the roles of the task force is to draw up the National Action Plan on Combating Human Trafficking. The current National Action Plan 2021–2023 contains over 100 concrete goals to tackle human trafficking. At the criminal law level, the offences of “trafficking in human beings” and “cross-border trafficking in prostitution” were introduced back in 2004. In Austria, people who are the object of one of these two criminal offences are regarded as trafficked. In addition, the offence of “exploiting a foreigner” was created in 2006. The number of actual convictions for one of these criminal offences is relatively low in Austria and accounts for only a fraction of those third-country nationals identified as trafficked persons in Austria. A fundamental requirement for protecting trafficked persons is that the precarious situation of these people is detected and that they are subsequently identified as trafficked persons. In Austria, a clear separation between “detection” and “identification” is discernible to only a limited extent, especially if the police – who are also responsible for identification – are involved right from the start. This distinction is also of only minor importance for care and support services. These services are funded by the State and are provided by victim protection organizations as soon as a presumed human trafficking situation is suspected, without any official intervention. Services can be accessed anonymously, voluntarily, free of charge and without the immediate involvement of the police, meaning that support is available unconditionally in Austria. In comparison with other countries, this seems to be a unique support service for trafficked persons. The victim protection organizations LEFÖ-IBF and MEN VIA can autonomously identify trafficked persons in order to provide these care and support services, and are thus able to offer support at a very early stage. The distinction between “detection” and “identification” appears blurred in an Austrian context, but a more concrete and formal separation of these two steps does not seem necessary for a better protection of trafficked persons – at least outside the setting of detention pending removal.

Vienna: International Organization for Migration, 2021. 58p.

By Verité

Workers are at heightened vulnerability to modern-day slavery when they have been brought to work away from their homes. This vulnerability is generated or exacerbated by the involvement of labor brokers. Labor brokers act as the middlemen, facilitating a connection between potential workers and their eventual employers. The system of labor brokerage is widespread, opaque, sometimes corrupt, and largely lacking in accountability. In some cases brokerages are substantial, well-organized companies. In others they are informal in their structure and outreach. In all cases their presence in the recruitment and hiring “supply chain” increases the vulnerability of migrant workers to various forms of forced labor once on-the-job. The debt that is often necessary for migrant workers to undertake in order to pay recruitment fees, when combined with the deception that is visited upon them by brokers about job types and salaries, can lead to a situation of debt-bondage – which, according to Anti-Slavery International, is “probably the least known form of slavery today, and yet it is the most widely used method of enslaving people.”1 When a migrant worker finds herself in a foreign country, with formidable recruitment debt and possibly even ancestral family land hanging in the balance, on a work visa that ties her to one employer and a job that doesn’t remotely resemble the salary and conditions that were promised to her by her labor broker, she has fallen into what Verité calls a HIRING TRAP. There are few global workplace problems in more urgent need of attention. This report begins by offering key findings from recent Verité research on the intersection of brokers, migrant workers and slavery. This research was performed in a variety of sectors and locales across the globe, including: the migration of adults from India to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States of the Middle East for work in construction, infrastructure and the service sector; the migration of children and juveniles from the Indian interior to domestic apparel production hubs; the migration of adults from Guatemala, Mexico and Thailand to work in U.S. agriculture; and the migration of adults from the Philippines, Indonesia and Nepal to the Information Technology sector in Malaysia and Taiwan.

Amherst, MA: Verité, 2010. 72p.

By Quinn Kepes, et al.

This report describes research conducted on the relationship between labor brokerage and the risk of forced labor among Nepali migrant workers employed abroad. The research examines forced-labor triggers in Nepal and India and receiving-country mechanisms that encourage forced labor in Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Israel. The role of Guatemala and Mexico as transit countries for Nepali workers traveling illegally to the U.S. is also explored.

Amherst, MA: Verité. 2012. 108p.

By Verité

Verité’s research indicates that Peru is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of gold. Verité’s research also suggests that over 20 percent of Peru’s gold is produced illegally, and that indicators of vulnerability to forced labor are present in the illegal mining sector. Verité found evidence that illegal gold is often “laundered,” after which it makes its way into Peru’s exports and the global supply chain. Although there are few official statistics on the amount of illegally produced gold that makes its way into global markets, Verité found cases in which gold exported to Switzerland could be traced back to areas in which the vast majority of gold is produced illegally and/or in which indicators of vulnerability to forced labor and human trafficking were present. In addition to using a large amount of gold in its banking sector, Switzerland is a global clearinghouse for gold, with much of the gold it imports eventually making its way into gold bullion, jewelry, watches, and electronics that end up in the hands of consumers in countries around the world.

Amherst, MA: Verité , 2013. 120p.

By Verité

Malaysia’s electronics sector workforce includes hundreds of thousands of foreign migrant workers who come to Malaysia on the promise of a good salary and steady work – an opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families. But many are subject to high recruitment fees, personal debt, complicated recruitment processes, lack of transparency about their eventual working conditions, and inadequate legal protections. Unscrupulous behavior on the part of employers or third-party employment agents can exacerbate vulnerability to exploitation, but the system in which foreign workers are recruited, placed and managed is complex enough to create vulnerability even in the absence of willful intent to exploit. The conditions faced by foreign electronics workers in Malaysia have the potential to result in forced labor. In 2012, Verité received funding from the US Department of Labor to conduct a study to determine whether such forced labor does, in fact, exist in the production of electronic goods in Malaysia.

Amherst, MA: Verité, 2014. 244p.

By Verité

More than twenty million men, women and children around the world are currently believed to be victims of human trafficking, a global criminal industry estimated to be worth $150.2 billion annually. As defined in the US Department of State’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), the terms “trafficking in persons” and “human trafficking” refer broadly to “the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion,” irrespective of whether the person has been moved from one location to another. Trafficking in persons includes practices such as coerced sex work by adults or children, forced labor, bonded labor or debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers. Many different factors indicate that an individual may be in a situation of trafficking. Among the most clear-cut indicators are the experience of coercive or deceptive recruitment, restricted freedom of movement, retention of identity documents by employers, withholding of wages, debt bondage, abusive working and living conditions, forced overtime, isolation, and physical or sexual violence. The United States Government is broadly committed to combating trafficking in persons, as guided by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, and the UN Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. In September 2012, the United States took an unprecedented step in the fight against human trafficking with the release of a presidential executive order (EO) entitled “Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking in Persons in Federal Contracts.” In issuing this EO, the White House acknowledged that “as the largest single purchaser of goods and services in the world, the US Government has a responsibility to combat human trafficking at home and abroad, and to ensure American tax dollars do not contribute to this affront to human dignity.” The EO prohibits human trafficking activities not just by federal prime contractors, but also by their employees, subcontractors, and subcontractor employees. Subsequent amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Defense Acquisition Regulations System (DFARS) in the wake of the EO will affect a broad range of federal contracts, and will require scrutiny by prime contractors of subcontractor labor practices to a degree that has not previously been commonplace. Top level contractors will now need to look actively at the labor practices of their subcontractors and suppliers, and to consider the labor involved in production of inputs even at the lowest tiers of their supply chains.

Amherst, MA: Verité , 2017. 355p.

By Maureen Moriarty-Lempke, and Estacio Valoi

Stakeholders in the spheres of human rights and development have contributed literature describing how the use of exploited labor – including labor as the result of human trafficking – can contribute to deforestation. There is a parallel field of literature that documents the impacts that environmental degradation and deforestation can have on human populations. What both of these spheres lack, however, is documentation of the specific patterns of labor exploitation, human trafficking, and child labor experienced by workers directly involved in forestry and/or adjacent sectors, as well as the means by which deforestation can create vulnerabilities to human trafficking.

Amherst, MA: Verité , 2020. 165p.