Much of the research on human trafficking focuses on the prosecution of traffickers and protection of survivors after the crime has occurred. Less is known about the social disparities that make someone vulnerable to trafficking. This project examines human trafficking from a preventive focus, using data from a case study of service providers working with at-risk populations in the Kansas City, MO-KS area. The research team conducted 42 in-depth interviews with service providers working in the medical, educational, legal, and social services sectors from 2013 to 2016. Participants identified risk factors that could make someone vulnerable to labor or sexual exploitation. These factors clustered into four key areas: economic insecurity, housing insecurity, education, and migration. The research findings also suggest that human trafficking may be driven by an accumulation of risk factors that move vulnerable persons closer to labor exploitation and sex trafficking, fitting with a chain-of-risk model. We propose a model that reconceives of trafficking as a continuum that includes a range of vulnerabilities, violence, and traumas. In order to address human trafficking, policy makers and advocates need to focus on upstream prevention factors to address vulnerabilities that can lead to sex and labor exploitation.
South Africa continues to top international rankings of incidence of reported rape and sexual violence. Rooted in the patriarchies of oppression found in colonialism, apartheid and the Cold War, these deeply ingrained patterns of sexual violence did not end with the transition to democracy. Many fear the level of gender-based violence may be increasing because of a backlash against the constitutionally-enforced gender equality of South African women. In response, one of the most viable parts of the women's movement in South Africa is the movement to end violence against women. Organisations in this sector have become the primary contract agents for the government, yet many women's groups remain thwarted by the complexities of their new bureaucratic relationship with the government institutions they used to oppose during apartheid. This article examines how organisations concerned with violence against women are redefining their mission, securing effective leadership and utilising new methods of activism. Organisations are fighting to maintain their autonomy rather than become 'technocratic handmaidens' for the new government; they are attempting to engage masculinities within 'feminist' frameworks, and they are witnessing the growing institutionalisation and NGO-isation of the South African women's movement.
Human trafficking justice centers on the "Three Ps" model of prevention, protection, and prosecution. While protection and prosecution efforts have been moderately successful, prevention remains elusive, as "upstream" structural factorsclass, gender, and sexuality inequalities-remain difficult to target. Individuals who are affected by these factors are not fully served within linear service frameworks. Based on a 12-month study in Kansas City, we find that service providers recognize the limitations of a "one-size-fits all" approach. Using a public health model, our research team conducted a public health surveillance, explored risk and protective factors, and facilitated organizational self-assessments of services. Our findings support a prevention approach that supports a survivor-centered model, which creates new, nonlinear or queered avenues of agency and community for trafficking survivors. This model allows survivors to make use of services in moments of vulnerability and opt out of others in moments of resilience. Given the systematic cuts in funding that have affected service providers, this research contends that prevention is cheaper, more effective, and more ethical than relying on prosecutions to curb trafficking. Developing a model that fosters survivor empowerment is a key step toward individual justice and survivor resilience for vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Based on interviews with 75 women transitioning from incarceration, our research identifies technology access and skills barriers facing this population and their underlying concerns and motivations in navigating privacy online. Our results suggest precarious housing and financial situations, concerns about ex-partners, mental health issues, and lack of self-efficacy pose challenges for their access to and use of digital technologies and influence their online privacy perspectives. Many participants reported relying primarily on cellphones for various tasks including job applications. Closing public places including libraries amid the COVID-19 pandemic put them at an even greater disadvantage, as many of them depend on computers or Wi-Fi available in those places. Nothing-to-lose attitudes were salient among this group resulting in many not taking precautionary measures online or choosing to go offline. Our research highlights the importance of building academic-community partnerships to provide technology and privacy education tailored for this population’s particular needs and desires.
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