Trafficking in human beings: human rights and ... - unesdoc - Unesco

The perhaps most innovative report made with UNESCO support is ‘Poverty, Gender
and Human Traffi cking: Rethinking Best Practices in Migration Management’ which
in the author’s words “tries to unpack the interconnectedness between human traffi cking
and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on a critical analysis of migration processes in
relation to human rights abuse.” Linking poverty, traffi cking and policy responses as this
report does is most interesting from various points of view: it shows how traffi cking
is linked to poverty and to human rights violations directly and indirectly related to
poverty and it demonstrates how migration policies infl uence traffi cking patterns and
possibilities. It thus demonstrates how traffi cking must be addressed in both a wider
human rights framework but also in a wider migration framework. Showing examples of
best practices and presenting suggestions such as involving former traffi cked persons in
policy development shows how this report can be used by practitioners, policy-makers
and academics alike by having a fi rm base in theory applied to practice. As is concluded
in the report:
The arenas of action are both social and political. Anti-traffi cking organisations and the
practices they adopt are bearers of beliefs derived from their moral and cognitive visions. From
the institutional standpoint – even if an organisation recognises that the problem of traffi cking
has multiple roots, makes sure that the planned interventions are ‘multi-pronged’ and ‘multilevel’,
and employs participatory measures – it cannot address the occurrence of human
traffi cking at all levels. Practical responses need to be scrutinised regarding the discrepancy
between fi eld analysis and choice of intervention.
The need to have a holistic approach when combating traffi cking, to understand that
traffi cking is not just a potential violation of human rights in the traffi cking situation, but
a consequence of larger human rights violations and that looking at traffi cking outside
e.g. poverty, gender and migration discourses simply has no sense is also emphasised in
the report: The diversity of forms of human mobility in the contemporary context of global
linkage requires an analytical approach which can explain why the needs of the constituents
of social structures and human agency (gender, class, generation and ethnicity) have converged
to produce what is known as human traffi cking. Without adequate explanation policy tends
to shift stance and direction. Reactions premised on human rights concerns have contributed
to new international, regional and national legislative frameworks that oppose abusive and
exploitative practices in migration. A key concern remains the wide landscape of policy issues
underlying the problem, and how policy approaches – in diverse areas such as migration
management, crime control, labour standards, poverty reduction and particular needs of
communities at risk – can be coordinated to curtail practices of human traffi cking and ensure
human rights protection.
The study also gives interesting insight into the mechanisms behind especially child
traffi cking and the various forms this takes in the region.
The approach to describing and using best practices is also extremely interesting, particularly
with the mentioning of the necessity of including and using “epistemic communities”:
Haas defi nes epistemic communities and their role in problem-solving in the context of
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