By Amber Horning, Loretta Stalans,

In 2019, the National Institute of Justice funded the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Loyola University Chicago to understand how sex traffickers learn how to facilitate sex work. This study sought to address Priority Area 3 of the NIJ solicitation: Building Knowledge of the "Grooming" Process of Traffickers (i.e., how does one become a sex or labor trafficker?). Previous studies funded by NIJ examined "traffickers' decision-making and organizational processes"; however, much of how one becomes a sex trafficker and its processes remain unexplored. This study provides empirical data to address this critical gap in the knowledge. We use the broader term of sex market facilitator (SMF) rather than sex trafficker as persons involved in facilitation change roles and jobs. Because of their varying roles and tasks, legally qualifying as a sex trafficker can change by day, week, month, or year and often change across the life course. Typically, individuals are involved in multiple roles in the sex trade; these roles can include sex work, recruitment, assisting sex workers or facilitators, and primary facilitation. Sex market facilitation can involve recruiting and scheduling clients for sex workers, protecting workers during interactions with clients, managing operations, and profiting from the sex workers' earnings. In this study, we use the broader term SMF because it includes those who legally qualify for pandering or sex trafficking. As previously mentioned, their legal designation can change quickly or over time. We use the term sex worker as a neutral and inclusive term and are not implying the voluntary or involuntary nature of selling sex. Individuals who sell sex can drift between voluntarily selling sex and being coercive or physically forced to sell sex. The goals of this study were to 1) provide an understanding of the social learning process involved in sex market facilitation, such as who passed down those skills, what is passed down, and how this impacts their recruitment and management strategies 2) evaluate how these social learning processes vary based on participants' prior traumatic experiences and master status designations.1 and 3) establish how participants are socially and criminally networked and how this impacts facilitation. There have been many studies about how sex traffickers recruit sex workers. However, very few studies evaluated how sex traffickers are recruited and learn to recruit sex workers or sex trafficking victims or facilitate sex work, along with facilitation strategies, including interpersonal and economic coercion. This study aimed to close the gap in the literature by investigating the etiology of becoming a sex trafficker or a sex market facilitator and how this knowledge is transmitted across the generations. Research Questions This study aimed to answer three research questions. 1) Are there patterned processes or mechanisms from which older/experienced traffickers teach or model these skills to the pimps2 , main sex workers3 , sex workers, or sex trafficking victims who, over time, recruit other trafficking victims? a) How do the early experiences of SMFs, particularly trauma, contribute to their social learning and recruitment into facilitation? b) Using an intersectional4 lens, how does social learning explain the social processes of sex market facilitation, passing those skills to family, boyfriends/girlfriends, friends, sex workers, sex trafficking victims, or even other SMFs? 2) How do traffickers detect potential recruits' vulnerabilities, and what are the key individual and structural vulnerabilities they target? How is grooming similar and different in New York City and Chicago? 3) How are traffickers socially networked to other traffickers, pimps, and main sex workers, and how is grooming similar and different across social networks in New York City and Chicago?

Lowell, MA: University of Masachusetts Lowell, 2024. 219p.

By  Kelle Barrick, Rebecca Pfeffer, Stephen Tueller, Michael Bradshaw, Natasha Aranguren, Kyle Vincent

To advance knowledge about promising methods for estimating the prevalence of human trafficking in the United States, the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) and the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) funded a study, conducted by RTI International, to field test two methods of prevalence estimation within one industry in one geographic location in the United States.  

This study, conducted between 2020 and 2024, measured the prevalence of labor trafficking within the construction industry in Houston, Texas, using both time-location sampling (TLS) and link-tracing sampling (LTS). TLS involves developing a sampling frame of venues, days, and times where the population of focus congregates and using a random selection procedure (e.g., every fifth person) to select a representative sample of the population. LTS is a network sampling approach that relies on study participants to recruit their peers to participate in the study. 

  Central to decisions among policymakers, funders, and researchers concerned with addressing human trafficking is the question of the size of the problem. Understandably, these groups seek evidence about the prevalence of human trafficking to guide choices around policies and interventions to prevent and address human trafficking in communities. Several empirical efforts have been established in recent years in response to this quandary, including a series of seven studies included in the Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum (PRIF) initiative (Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach, n.d.), which aims to build evidence about methodologies to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking by testing various estimation methods in various industries in six other countries. In each of these seven studies, two estimation strategies are used to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking among a certain population in a certain area. This dual estimation approach offers insight about both (1) the logistics and feasibility of carrying out each estimation strategy and (2) how the prevalence estimates that they generate compare to one another. The current study was designed as a domestic counterpart to the seven international PRIF studies. Following a comprehensive review of prior human trafficking prevalence studies (see Barrick & Pfeffer, 2021) and a consideration of factors such as industries of identified interest and feasibility of estimation strategies, we chose to focus this study on the prevalence of labor trafficking within the construction industry in Houston, Texas, using both time-location sampling (TLS) and link-tracing sampling (LTS). TLS involves developing a sampling frame of venues, days, and times where the population of focus congregates and using a random selection procedure (e.g., every fifth person) to select a representative sample of the population. LTS is a network sampling approach that relies on study participants to recruit their peers to participate in the study. The objectives of the study were to advance knowledge of promising methods for estimating human trafficking prevalence and to better understand substantive issues around the experiences of construction workers with labor trafficking and other labor exploitation.

Study Findings The LTS sample did not yield a high response rate, and we only include high-level findings from this sample in this report . Even with financial incentive, workers were hesitant to refer their peers to participate in this study, and relatively few referral chains developed. Given the limited number of chains available for analysis and the potential for misleading findings, LTS sample findings are only presented to highlight differences in prevalence estimation strategies. More than one in five construction workers had experienced labor trafficking victimization in their lifetime . Among the TLS sample (n = 903), 22.3% had experienced labor trafficking in construction in their lifetime, 13.2% had experienced labor trafficking within the past 2 years, and 4.2% had experienced or were experiencing labor trafficking in their current job. An additional 42% of construction workers reported experiencing other labor abuses that did not meet the threshold of labor trafficking . Just over one third (35%) of workers had never experienced any labor trafficking or exploitation in the construction industry. Although individual characteristics were assessed as potential risk and protective factors, no significant differences emerged . Given the limited extant research focusing on risk and protective factors for experiencing labor trafficking or other labor abuse in construction, additional work is needed to substantiate the lack of significant findings regarding individual characteristics. Construction work related to natural disaster recovery and reconstruction is associated with a higher prevalence of labor trafficking and other forms of labor abuse . Construction workers who had worked in natural disaster recovery and reconstruction settings were significantly more likely than those who had not to have experienced labor trafficking or other labor abuse. Conclusions and Implications Labor trafficking and other labor abuse in the construction industry are common. About two-thirds of Houston construction workers experienced at least one form of exploitative or abusive labor practice. The types of abuse most frequently experienced by construction workers include working without a contract, deception about working and living conditions, working long and unusual hours without adequate compensation, and paying recruitment fees to get a job. However, nontrivial percentages of construction workers were subjected to more serious forms of abuse, including having their pay withheld, deception about the work they would be doing, and being subjected to emotional or psychological abuse. These findings have implications for policymakers, law enforcement, Departments of Labor and other regulatory agencies, construction unions, workers’ advocacy groups, and anyone concerned about workplace exploitation in the construction industry. Related to prevalence estimation methodologies, we confirmed that data collection and prevalence estimation strategies matter. Although both TLS and LTS are promising approaches for identifying and recruiting construction workers, only TLS proved to be effective in reaching the population. All prevalence estimation research should clearly highlight challenges that occurred during data collection that may impact the validity of the findings and exercise caution in reporting potentially misleading estimates.    

Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2024. 51p.

By Ada Pecos Melton, Rita Martinez | American Indian Development Associates Christina Melander, Elizabeth Tibaduiza, Rebecca Pfeffer | RTI International

The Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF’s) Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) established the Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the Response to Victims of Human Trafficking in Native Communities (VHTNC) Program to address the significant need for supports to respond to human trafficking in Native communities. In September 2020, six projects received 3-year awards to build, expand, and sustain organizational and community capacity to deliver services to Native Americans (i.e., American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and/or Pacific Islanders) who have experienced human trafficking. RTI International and American Indian Development Associates conducted a formative evaluation of the VHT-NC Program, overseen by ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), in collaboration with OTIP.

This brief describes how the six VHT-NC projects used culture as a resource, which we define as using or integrating cultural values, beliefs, traditions, and activities into various project strategies and services offered.

We explore how the projects incorporated culture within four programming areas: (1) project staffing, (2), education and training, (3) outreach, and (4) case management and supportive services (see Exhibit 1). This brief is informed by self-reported data from award recipients’ performance progress reports submitted quarterly to ACF and by virtual and in-person interviews conducted between March 2022 and August 2023 with VHT-NC project leadership, advocates,1 partners, and participants.

, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2024. 14p.

By Paolo Campana

Internet, and information communication technology (ICT) more generally, play a major role in shaping our lives. The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the extent to which the Internet and ICTs are now integral to a variety of activities and social interactions – and it has accelerated their relevance. The criminal landscape is no exception – and this extends to trafficking in human beings (THB). There is little doubt that technology poses challenges – as well as opportunities – to law enforcement and NGOs alike. At the same time, the evidence base on online and technologyfacilitated THB remains limited and patchy. At the moment, the best evidence available comes from a rather small set of studies, typically based on a small number of interviews with police officers and NGO personnel – often carried out in a very limited number of countries – as well as from a handful of reports from international organisations. This study moves beyond anecdotal evidence by offering an analysis of online and technology-facilitated THB based on evidence systematically collected from State Parties to the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. Such evidence has been supplemented with information from NGOs providing assistance to THB victims as well as tech companies. The scope of the present study is rather broad. It offers an assessment of the extent to which technology impacts THB as well as an exploration of the traffickers’ modus operandi in the context of online and technology-facilitated THB. At the core of this study is an exploration of the operational and legal challenges that State Parties – and to some extent NGOs – face in detecting, investigating and prosecuting online and ICT-facilitated THB, as well as identifying victims and raising awareness among at-risk groups. Crucially, the study also explores the strategies, tools and ‘good practices’ adopted by State Parties and NGOs to overcome such challenges and enhance their response to online and technology-facilitated THB. This work teases out similarities across countries as well as country-specific experiences. Particular emphasis is placed on training – as investments in human capital are as important as those in technical tools. This study has been conducted as part of a long-standing interest of the Council of Europe in the issue of technology and human trafficking. Besides offering a systematic assessment of the current evidence base, this study also seeks to provide the Council of Europe Group of Experts of Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) and other entities with a tool to carry out future assessments and track changes in both the technological and behavioural landscapes.

the impact of technology on trafficking of human beings is of particular concern during two stages of the trafficking process: recruitment and exploitation. Evidence submitted by State Parties points to an “increasing” relevance of technology in the context of THB, with the majority of State Parties now considering the impact of technology on THB to be either “very important” or “important”. State Parties have noted the increasing relevance of online materials, advertisements, and sites/applications (or ‘apps’) in the search for jobs as well as the increasing relevance of online socialisation and personal interactions. In turn, both create opportunities for THB offenders and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. Technology has changed the way people interact and this is reflected in the criminal landscape, including THB. This is a structural change that law enforcement and criminal justice systems need to adapt to. Technology can play a role in the recruitment stage by facilitating the identification, location and contact of potential victims. Different mechanisms are at play depending on the type of exploitation. In the context of recruitment for sexual exploitation, several State Parties have identified cases of job advertisements linked to THB and uncovered evidence of recruitment via social media platforms as well as dating applications. A common strategy is the so-called “lover boy” technique: a type of online recruitment in which a trafficker identifies and contacts a potential victim via an online platform, gets to know their hobbies and interests as well as their personal and family situations. The trafficker then offers empathy and support to the T potential victim in the context of a romantic relationship – seeking to gain trust and subsequently establish control over the victim. There is ample evidence from several countries of cases of victims’ blackmailing. This is often done by first collecting “compromising” information about the victims—for instance, by asking for naked pictures or videos—and then using the information to coerce them into prostitution. During the exploitation stage, technology can facilitate the sale of sexual services provided by THB victims. There is ample evidence from several countries of Internet websites used to advertise sexual services. Among such advertisements, there are services provided by THB victims. Moreover, while live-streaming is often connected to child sexual abuse, a handful of countries have suggested that such live streaming might also involve adult victims of THB. Further, technology can be used to coordinate activities. Crucially, technology allows for a separation between the place where the sexual activity is performed and the place where coordination takes place. This has important implications for law enforcement. Countries have provided evidence of technological tools used by traffickers to monitor and control victims during the exploitation stage. Blackmail and the use of compromising information against victims can also be used to exert control during this stage. Emerging trends in the context of sexual exploitation noted by various countries include the expansion of “live web cams” and “pay-as-you-go” video chat applications and increasing use of apps to control victims. Such web cams and video chat applications can be used to live stream sexual acts performed by THB victims. A few countries have noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the opportunities for traffickers to establish online contacts with vulnerable individuals. In the context of trafficking for labour exploitation, evidence provided by State Parties indicates that ICTs are mainly employed to recruit victims, particularly through online job advertisements. Such advertisements are not only published on classified job websites, but also posted and circulated on social media in specialised job searching groups and mutual aid groups. Several countries have highlighted the relevance of webpages meant to foster information exchange among migrant workers as a recruiting space targeted by traffickers. An emerging trend in the context of labour exploitation, reported by some countries, includes a rise in cases of recruitment through the Internet and social networks. This is believed to have been accelerated by the outbreak of Covid-19. While technology does not seem to play a noticeable role in the exploitation stage, countries have flagged up the increase of opportunities to exploit THB victims offered by the ‘gig-economy’, particularly delivery platforms. There is no evidence of any relevant role played by the Dark Web in the context of adult THB (the circulation of child sexual exploitation materials is outside the scope of this study). Similarly, cryptocurrencies appear not to be widely used in the context of THB (on the contrary, they are used to purchase live streaming of child sexual abuses). Evidence submitted by NGOs paints a similar picture. They have identified the use of Internet and social media in all stages of human trafficking, and particularly in relation to (a) recruitment; (b) exploitation; and (c) exertion of control and pressure over victims. In addition, traffickers can use ICTs, including social media and encrypted apps, to continue contact with THB victims after they have left the exploitative situation, often to prevent them from filing complaints and seeking justice. Emerging trends based on evidence from NGOs suggest an increase in the exploitation of children via webcam and social media. There have been suggestions that offenders have started to use online games to approach potential victims. Finally, the available evidence base suggests that the use of technology complements rather than substitutes personal, offline interactions. Technology and in-person interactions are best seen as integrated.

Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2022. 39p.

By Ximena Canal Laiton

This paper explores the use of smugglers by migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean on their journeys through South America. It is based on 1,129 4Mi surveys and 29 interviews with migrants in Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay conducted between July and October 2024, along with 11 key informant interviews. This paper presents findings on the profiles of migrants who hired smugglers along their journey, the motivations for using them, the services sought, and their general perceptions of smugglers. It also provides information on smugglers’ profiles and modes of operation on South American migration routes. This paper offers empirical evidence to inform decision-makers and humanitarian actors. Key findings 1 4Mi is MMC's flagship quantitative data collection project. 4Mi questionnaires cover why people leave their places of origin, the alternatives they explored, destination options, influences on decision-making, and other topics (global data and data on Latin America and the Caribbean can be accessed through 4Mi Interactive dashboards). For more information on MMC terminology, see: Mixed Migration Centre, MMC (2024a) MMC’s understanding and use of the terms Mixed migration and Human smuggling. | The international instrument defining migrant smuggling is the 2000 Protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. • The use of smugglers is not the norm on migration routes through South America, with only one in five survey respondents reporting having used smugglers during their migration process. Low smuggler use is likely the result of freedom of movement under regional agreements, established migrant networks, and familiarity with well-trodden migration routes, and limited financial capacity. • Smuggler use among Venezuelan respondents is higher than among other South American nationalities (23%, compared to 9% of Colombians, 5% of those from the Southern Cone, and just 2% from other Andean countries), likely due to increasing entry restrictions placed upon them. • Smuggler use increases when movements are more restricted, for example crossing into Peru and Chile, where migrants surveyed and interviewed commonly reported relying on smugglers. • The main services provided by smugglers to respondents were assistance with crossing borders (83%), transportation (65%), the provision of food and water (50%), the provision of documents (33%), and dealing with authorities (31%). • Smugglers in South America have diverse profiles and operate via multiple methods. The majority come from local communities or are migrants who live and operate in transit locations. However, a few smugglers operate in countries of origin—primarily Venezuela—offering “all-inclusive packages” from Venezuela to the intended destination. • Most migrants who use smugglers perceive them as service providers. Some see them as a buffer against the dangers along the route, and another small portion as a potential perpetrator of abuse. • Smugglers were the least mentioned possible perpetrator of incidents among surveyed migrants (7%); other actors, such as members of criminal gangs (55%) and host communities (53%), rank considerably higher as possible threats.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2025. 22p

By Eva-Maria Egger

Research suggests that the social effects of internal migration may be substantially different from those associated with international immigration. In this paper, I provide the first evidence of the effect of internal migration on crime with panel data from Brazilian microregiões (microregions). Using local labor demand shocks as an instrumental variable, I find that a 10% increase in the in-migration rate translates to a 9.4% increase in the homicide rate in destination areas. I propose that the effect is driven by intermediating labor market effects and not by the migrants themselves. Exploring these possible channels, I do not find that crime-prone migrants drive the results. The effect is only significant in locations with high past crime rates, indicating crime inertia, and in places with a small informal sector, suggesting that the impact of internal migration is conditioned by the ability of local labor markets to accommodate migrants. This finding is supported by a negative effect of in-migration on formal employment in rigid markets and a positive effect on unemployment among young men, with the latter explaining most of the total effect.

Economic Development and Cultural Change, Volume 71, Number 1, October 2022, 37p.

By Amalia Campos-Delgado, Karine Côté-Boucher

By focusing on the externalisation of US bordering into Mexico, we consider the institutional setting that both limits and channels gestures of care and empathy in migrant detention. Working within a framework that highlights the connections between the global and the intimate, and by proposing to read these connections as they unfold into an intimate geopolitics of humanitarian borderwork, we unpack the effects of Mexico’s recent shift towards humanitarian border politics on the interactions between detained migrants and border agents. Together with the material scarcity in which border officers operate, horrendous detention conditions and increased investments in detention facilities, this shift produces care-control dynamics that are specific to bordering in transit countries. We identify three ‘tactics of empathy’ deployed by Mexican border officers as they attempt to morally legitimise border control in this new environment, while concurrently avoiding legal liabilities and taming migrants under their custody. We argue that these tactics are less a manifestation of an ethics of care than a response to situations occurring in transit migrant detention where morality and instrumental rationality become entangled.

Geopolitics, 29:2, 471-494, DOI: 10.1080/14650045.2022.2039633, 2024., 22p.

By Lucy Hovil, Sasha Jesperson and Jennifer Vallentine, with assistance from Julia Litzkow, Maël Galisson and Hugo Eduardo Jovel Majano

Against the backdrop of increasingly restrictive migration policies, this study explores recent irregular migration dynamics to the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom(UK). It aims to understand how migration and smuggling dynamics have shifted since 2023 and the impact of these shifts on people on the move. It also considers the trends and changes that may continue to emerge in the face of increasing migration restrictions in Europe.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2025. 43p.

By After Exploitation + Hibiscus Initiatives

There are many ways in which victim-survivors of modern slavery are criminalised, often due to activity they were forced to commit by exploiters such as drug or gang-related activity, theft, or fraud.[1] However, survivors can be at risk of criminalisation even where they are not victims of criminal exploitation. For example, survivors of adult or child sexual exploitation may face arrests or cautions for activity relating to sex work.[2] Survivors can be criminalised for reasons relating to but not caused by their exploitation. The same vulnerabilities which led to exploitation can also put people at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system, particularly children and women marginalised because of race, ethnicity, disability, or care experience. Victim-survivors may also be criminalised for defending themselves against their perpetrator, but this phenomenon is better understood in the United States where a number of civil rights groups actively monitor cases of this nature. More than half of women in prison or under community supervision are victim-survivors of gender-based violence or abuse, including exploitation.[3]

Criminalised survivors of modern slavery often face life-long disadvantage from receiving a criminal record. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), of which the UK is a member, recognises a number of disadvantages entrenched by criminalisation, including the presence of trauma, social and economic disadvantage, restricted access to the labour market and justice, social stigma and generational impacts.[4] Experts with lived experience of modern slavery told After Exploitation as part of their evidence submission to the Independent Criminal Sentencing Review 2024-25 that having a criminal record restricted their access to education, employment, and travel.

Under international law, survivors should not be punished for crime they were compelled to commit. This is called the ‘non-punishment principle’.[5] Governments also have a responsibility to identify and support victim-survivors, including those in contact with the criminal justice system.[6] In reality, the burden often falls on survivors to self-identify as survivors and share their experiences of exploitation in order to prevent their criminalisation.

After Exploitation + Hibiscus Initiatives | 2025. 14p.

By Lucy Hovil, Sasha Jesperson and Jennifer Vallentine, with assistance from Julia Litzkow, Maël Galisson and Hugo Eduardo Jovel Majano

Against the backdrop of increasingly restrictive policies, this study explores recent irregular migration dynamics to the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom(UK). The study combined desk research with 43 key informant interviews and 52 in-depth interviews with migrants in Europe who had travelled between mid-2023 and the time of the interview in 2024. It focuses on three key routes into the EU, including the Central Mediterranean route (CMR), the two major routes into Spain – the Western Mediterranean route (WMR) and the Northwest African (Atlantic route) – as well as the English Channel crossing into the United Kingdom1, to understand how migration and smuggling dynamics have shifted since 2023, as well as the impact of these shifts on people on the move. It also considers the trends and changes that may continue to emerge in the face of increasing migration restrictions in Europe. Key findings Despite a downturn in arrivals between 2023 to 2024, the demand for irregular migration remains strong Overall, the numbers of arrivals into Europe in 2024 was lower than in 2023. However, the drivers of migration remain strong, and the hostile environment toward migrants in transit countries also continues to rise. As a result, demand for irregular migration continues, as do movements across the Mediterranean and Atlantic into the EU, and across the channel into the UK. The recent decline in numbers is likely indicative of a short-term fluctuation, rather than the beginning of the end of irregular sea movements to the EU. The push to attempt the Mediterranean or Atlantic crossing to the EU is likely to remain constant – if not grow. There have been considerable fluctuations across the major routes into the European Union; as one route declines, others surge or re-emerge An overall decrease in numbers between 2023 and 2024 was aided by decreased movements along the Western Mediterranean and Central Mediterranean Routes. However, simultaneously there were upticks in movements along the Atlantic route, English Channel crossing and Eastern Mediterranean route2. Figures towards the end of 2024 on the CMR also suggest an upwards trend that may continue into 2025. While politicians have claimed that the various agreements and policies implemented in 2023 and 2024 appear to have successfully reduced arrivals, along the CMR in particular, it still remains the most frequented irregular sea route into mainland Europe. Further, other routes, for example the Atlantic route, have (re)emerged. Historically the CMR has seen fluctuations indicating it could easily increase once more, exactly as it did from 2021 onwards after the previous big decrease post-2017. Smuggling operations continue to adapt (and thrive) in the face of policy changes Smuggling networks are agile and adaptable, deploying new strategies to circumvent counter-smuggling initiatives. Instead of extinguishing supply, stricter policies, particularly on the CMR, English Channel and Atlantic routes, have resulted in increasingly adaptive and professionalised smuggler operations. While the WMR has been the least prominent route between 2023 and 2024, smuggling networks have not disappeared. Instead, they have diversified their operations, with evidence of involvement in other criminal activity, to ensure a continued income stream. This suggests that smuggler networks could easily be ready to return to, or expand migrant smuggling if demand returns. Hardline policies have not prevented irregular migration and only heightened risks for migrants Policy approaches across Europe continue to be led by political pressure to be seen as ‘tough on migration’, leading to prioritising the control of movement and anti-smuggling measures over the creation of legal pathways and the protection of those moving. From the perspective of migrants, there is little evidence to suggest that deterrence policies do, indeed, deter people from seeking to move to Europe irregularly. As demand for irregular migration remains, migrants are likely to be more reliant on smugglers, as a way to bypass restrictions. The impact of restrictive policies on migrants is that sea crossings are taking longer, migrants are taking more circuitous journeys to avoid detection, and larger numbers are being crammed into boats lacking adequate safety equipment by unscrupulous smugglers. In addition to the risks at sea, migrants face increasingly hostile conditions when stuck in key transit countries, as those countries receive continued pressure from the EU to curb movements.

Denmark: Mixed Migration Centre (2025) 36p.

By ioleta Moreno-Lax EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service

This study constitutes a targeted substitute impact assessment of the Commission's proposal for a revised Facilitation Directive (COM(2023) 755), presented on 28 November 2023 as part of a package to address migrant smuggling. It provides a critical review of the existing legal and policy framework at EU level and its shortcomings regarding transposition and implementation. It also undertakes a critical and thorough appraisal of the proposed objectives and measures in terms of coherence, effectiveness and efficiency, including with a view to assessing the adequacy of the interplay between this proposal and the related draft regulation on enhancing police cooperation (COM(2023) 754). It highlights the misalignment of the proposal with relevant international and key European Union legal standards. It raises concerns about definitional issues, the lack of sufficient human rights safeguards, and the absence of a clear distinction between facilitation offences and the legitimate provision of services and humanitarian assistance. The study also examines the legality and proportionality of the proposed measures and stresses the need for a thorough evaluation of wider impacts on civic space and democracy at large.

Brussels: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2025. 120p.

By Baroness Bertin

The Independent Pornography Review is an assessment of the legislation, regulation and enforcement of pornography. The review provides recommendations for government, regulatory bodies, and the sector to ensure that harmful impacts of pornography are addressed.

London: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology2025. 215p.

By Human Rights Watch

  Over the last year, over half a million people have crossed the Darién Gap, a swampy jungle between Colombia and Panama, on their journey north, often to the United States. Venezuelans, Haitians, and Ecuadorians, but also people from other regions like Asia and Africa, risk their lives in this difficult terrain. “This Hell Was My Only Option”: Abuses Against Migrants and Asylum Seekers Pushed to Cross the Darién Gap, the first in a series of Human Rights Watch reports on migration via the Darién Gap, documents how a lack of safe and legal pathways has pushed migrants and asylum seekers fleeing human rights crises in Latin America to cross the Darién Gap. Data analyzed in the report suggests restrictions on movement to Mexico and Central America, often promoted by the US government, have contributed to sharp increases in the number of people crossing the Darién Gap, exposing them to abuses, including rape, and empowering organized crime in the area. Whether seeking international protection or economic opportunities, asylum seekers and migrants deserve safe, orderly, and dignified paths to make their claims or to offer their skills. In all cases, they are entitled to safety and respect for their human rights during their journey.   

New York: Human Rights Watch, 2023. 68p.

Edited by Marijke Malsch and Janine Janssen

Sex work is often called the oldest profession in the world. It manifests itself in a plethora of forms. A move to private locations is now taking place: contacts are established via the Internet and meetings take place at appointed places. This makes it more difficult to monitor forced work, and exploitation therefore risks remaining undetected. This book presents empirical findings regarding exploitation in various countries, considering sex workers, traffickers and clients, and the fight against human trafficking. Countries differ vastly in their legislative approaches, ranging from highly repressive to very liberal. This volume asks whether the ongoing process of making and changing laws is sufficiently effective in fighting human trafficking. Other interventions could obtain better outcomes, such as promoting more independence among women and helping trafficked individuals to get out. Less ideology and more attention to the facts of exploitation and sex work might help to achieve these aims.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2025. 313p.

By Jason Douglas Porter

Classical Athenian slavery is often discussed as a single phenomenon and Athens’ enslaved as a unitary group. Yet the single legal status that the enslaved shared often obscures the very different characteristics of slavery evident in our evidence. This book provides a nuanced picture of Athenian slavery and its consequences from the perspective of slaveholding strategies, evidencing the varying ways in which Athenian slave owners employed their enslaved and the different methods of social control they utilised to do so. This approach, drawn from the work of historian Joseph Miller, eschews static definitions of ‘the institution of slavery’, in favour of a more dynamic progression of varied, though interrelated, phenomena. Applying this methodology to classical Athenian evidence sheds light on the complexity of the city state's slave system and explicates the wide variations in the lives of Athenian slaves. Jason Douglas Porter furthers academic understanding of the complex relationships between slavery, Athenian society and economy through recognising the diverse motivations and contexts that drove these varied forms of exploitation.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025. 249p

By Ethan B. Kapstein† Adityamohan Tantravah

Among its many deleterious effects on social well-being, violent conflict can undermine the economies
of the countries in which it is ongoing. From a macroeconomic perspective, internal conflict can lead
to reduced investment, output, and growth. We show that it can also increase the borrowing costs on
government-issued debt. Specifically, we examine the effects of drug-related homicides on the spread
between the monetary policy rate and short-term Mexican treasury bills, called ”CETES,” during the
period 2010-2017. We show that homicides have a statistically significant effect on the spread, and in
drawing a connection between violence and interest rates, we make a novel contribution to the literature
on the macroeconomic effects of conflict.

Princeton, NJ: ESOC Working Paper No. 26). Empirical Studies of Conflict Project, 2021. 22p.

By Sébastien Hervieu

Born in the chaotic days after the disputed election of 2010, violent youth gangs, dubbed microbes by the local population, terrorised the streets of the poorest areas of Côte d’Ivoire’s capital. Marginalised and deprived of hope, these microbes are easy prey for the vié pères who run the criminal economy of the city, especially its drug markets. They are also used by politicians to intimidate opposition supporters. Attempts to reintegrate them into society have been few and largely unsuccessful. Although the microbe phenomenon appears to be declining, its extent is still worrying and helps to shape Abidjan’s urban illicit markets. Key findings • The microbe gangs emerged in Abobo and Attécoubé, two of Abidjan’s most deprived neighbourhoods, following Alassane Ouattara’s inauguration in April 2011 and are characterised by extreme violence. • Their emergence is linked to impoverished informal settlements and fractured communities resulting from uncontrolled urban expansion. • The youth gangs have a significant impact on local illicit markets and politics. They are used by local mafia groups, including as drug dealers and enforcers against rivals, and by political figures to disrupt opponents’ events and attack rivals during electoral campaigns. • Former gang members are reportedly gaining seniority within criminal networks.

ENACT Africa, 2022. 16p.

By The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)

USCIRF’s groundbreaking report examines the enforcement of blasphemy laws worldwide. Blasphemy laws criminalize expressions that insults or offends religious doctrines. Focusing on five-year period of 2014 to 2018, this report provides extensive data and illustrative examples to demonstrate the plethora of ways that governments’ enforcement of blasphemy laws undermines human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression.

Key findings from this study include the following:

There are 84 countries across the globe with criminal blasphemy laws on the books as of 2020.

Researchers, using publicly available sources, found 732 reported blasphemy-related incidents from 2014-2018 across 41 countries, or 49%, of countries with criminal blasphemy laws.

Of those 732 incidents, 674 were reported cases of state criminal blasphemy law enforcement. Of the 674 cases of state enforcement, mob activity, violence, or threats occurred in 78 cases.

81% of the cases of state enforcement were in only 10 of the countries: Pakistan, Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Yemen, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

Together, the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions accounted for 84% of the world’s enforcement of blasphemy laws.

In 43, or 51%, of these 84 countries, researchers did not find a single case of enforcement of criminal blasphemy laws. Researchers found no reported cases of state enforcement of criminal blasphemy laws in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Of the 732 incidents, 58 were incidents of mob activity, violence, or threats around blasphemy allegations that occurred in situations where there was no state enforcement of the blasphemy law.

Nearly 80% of the incidents of mob activity, violence, or threats (with or without state enforcement), took place in only four of the countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Egypt.

In just over half the cases of state enforcement, news reports identified the religion or belief of the accused. Of those cases, Muslims accounted for more than half (56%) of the persons arrested, prosecuted, and/or punished for alleged blasphemy crimes. Other groups frequently targeted for criminal blasphemy law enforcement, where identified, included: Christians (25%), Atheists (7%), Baha’is (7%), and Hindus (3%).

More than one-quarter (27%) of reported cases implicated alleged blasphemous speech posted on social media platforms.Washi

Washington, DC: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 100p.

By Julius Rogenhofer

Decisiveness and Fear of Disorder examines how democratic representatives make decisions in crisis situations. By analyzing parliamentary asylum debates from Germany’s Asylum Compromise in 1992-1993 and the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, Julius Rogenhofer identifies representatives’ ability to project decisiveness as a crucial determinant for whether the rights and demands of irregular migrants were adequately considered in democratic decision-making. Both crisis situations showcase an emotive dimension to the parliamentary meaning-making process. As politicians confront fears of social and political disorder, they focus on appearing decisive in the eyes of the public and fellow representatives, even at the expense of human rights considerations and inclusive deliberation processes. Rogenhofer shows how his theoretical approach allows us to reinterpret a range of crisis situations beyond the irregular migration context, including democracies’ initial responses to Covid-19, the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, and United States climate politics. These additional case studies help position concerns with decisiveness amid the challenges that populism and technocracy increasingly pose to representative democracies.

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2024, 209p.

Edited by Ewald Frie, Thomas Kohl and Mischa Meier

Why do things change at certain times and not at others? The contributions collected in this volume approach this question from the perspective of threat. Defined as the self-alerting which goes on within societies and social groups, threats open up windows of opportunity for change – though not always the ones hoped for by those who raised the alarm in the first place. But once threatened, social orders previously taken for granted become visible, debateable and therefore changeable. Looking at the relationship between threat and social change with thematic, spatial and temporal foci, the contributions of this five-section volume treat topics ranging from systems of belief in Ancient Europe to droughts in twentieth century Australia, from medieval urban riots to organized crime and peaceful protest nowadays.

Mohr Siebeck, 2024. 261p.