The number of girls that are being exploited for prostitution in Nepal has increased in recent years, and girls suffer a high risk of being exposed when they come from already poorly conditions. Previously, uneducated girls could be found in the adult entertainment sector, but nowadays even educated girls are being exploited. This thesis aims to gain further understanding to why girls are being exposed and why it is difficult to protect them. By conducting qualitive interviews with employees from several NGOs working to protect girls from being exploited for prostitution, insights has been given about socio-structural factors that influences the situation for girls. By examining these factors with support from theoretical approaches that highlights social injustice, gender discrimination and structural oppression this thesis presents how different factors affect the work of protecting girls, and how the same factors also are contributing to why girls get exposed. The state of Nepal shows several efforts in trying to eradicate the problem and have ratified both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The state has also made changes in national law that shall promote and strengthen children's rights. Although the laws are strong, the protection for girls is insufficient and girls are vulnerable to being exploited by traffickers. The Government of Nepal, NGOs and several other authorities are working together to eradicate the problem, but the work needs be strengthened, coordinated and responsive to influencing factors simultaneously in order to achieve a long-term solution. This thesis suggest that cultural norms need to be challenged more and that the Government of Nepal needs to oversee how structural injustices affect opportunities for girls to take part of social benefits. In addition, knowledge about legal and moral rights needs to be increased among girls and in society as a whole, moreover the knowledge about trafficking and prostitution needs to be spread.

Questa tesi ha come scopo quello di investigare la relazione tra etnicità, modalità di commissione del crimine e struttura relazionale di differenti reti etniche coinvolte nella tratta per sfruttamento sessuale. E’ realizzata un’analisi di due reti criminali dell’Africa occidentale e di due dei Balcani mediante l’applicazione di due metodi: la crime script analysis e l’analisi di rete. I risultati ottenuti sono stati uniti per capire come le relazioni tra gli individui sono distribuite all’interno della cornice criminale. Da ultimo, i casi studio sono stati comparati per verificare se esiste una relazione tra etnicità e tratta per sfruttamento sessuale, anche indipendentemente dall’ambito di sfruttamento. I risultati mostrano che l’etnicità ha un impatto sulla tratta per sfruttamento sessuale. In particolare, influenza il modus operandi e le caratteristiche socio-biografiche degli attori che operano nelle reti impegnate nello stesso ambito di sfruttamento. Se sono considerati differenti ambiti di sfruttamento, messi in atto sia dallo stesso che da differenti gruppi etnici, l’etnicità non sembra influenzare né le modalità di commissione del crimine né le caratteristiche dei soggetti. Infatti, anche l’ambito di sfruttamento indoor/outdoor sembra essere rilevante. Al contrario, la struttura relazionale e la relazione tra questa e le modalità di commissione del crimine non sembrano essere influenzate dall’etnicità. / This thesis aims at investigating the relationship among ethnicity, modalities of crime commission and relational structure of different ethnic networks involved in sex trafficking. A case study analysis of two West African and two Balkan networks is carried out by the adoption of two methods: crime script analysis and social network analysis. A merger of the results obtained in these analyses is performed in order to understand how relationships among individuals are distributed within the criminal framework. Finally, the case studies are compared to verify whether a relationship exists between ethnicity and sex trafficking, also apart from the field of exploitation. The results show that ethnicity has an impact on sex trafficking. In particular, it influences modi operandi and the socio-biographical characteristics of the members of the networks operating in the same field of exploitation. If different fields of exploitation are considered, both carried out by same or different ethnic groups, ethnicity appears to affect neither the modalities of crime commission nor the features of the people. Indeed, also the outdoor/indoor exploitation context seems to be relevant. Conversely, the relational structure and the relation between the latter and the modalities of crime commission do not seem to be affected by ethnicity.

This study questions the way sex trafficking is constructed by the EU in their public policy exploring what potential implications exist by the way sex trafficking is problematised. Hence, the objective of this study is to understand how the EU constructs the problem of sex trafficking in their policies, and how this can lead to further policy implications for eradicating sex trafficking. This research analyses the three main policy documents by the EU; Directive 2001/36/EU, its strategy document The EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012–2016 and Council Directive 2004/81/EC. The discourse analysis called What’s the problem represented to be? will be used as method. It also analyses through the theories of Intersectionality and Governmentality. The results reveal that sex trafficking is a problem of law enforcement, welfare, and illegal immigration. Sex trafficking is constructed as a crime that violates fundamental rights, encourages gender inequality, and threatens the security in the EU. The way the EU constructs victims endorses gender and racial stereotypes. Furthermore, not much efforts are on reducing root causes for trafficking, as main the focus is on the transportation rather than on the exploitation of the victim.

No description available.

No description available.

For this dissertation, I conduct an ethnography of three antitrafficking programs; interview 38 activists and survivors of trafficking; and analyze organizational texts, websites, and social media. I examine the history of the antitrafficking movement. Among the three organizations, activists provide housing; food, clothing, and hygiene items; medical services; mental health services and counseling; mentorship; education for survivors; a 24-hour hotline; outreach; case management and referrals; training for law enforcement; a drop-in center; and education and awareness events. I examine activists’ diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing of sex trafficking, and other framing tactics, such as frame alignment, frame diffusion, frame resonance, and cycles of protest. Activists within the three organizations connect sex trafficking to the Atlantic Slave Trade, referring to human trafficking as “modern-day slavery.” Activists also frame trafficking as happening in “our own backyards;” happening primarily to girls and women; and conflate sex work and sex trafficking. Activists believe that sex trafficking is caused by childhood sexual abuse, pornography and pornography addiction, and systems of oppression. I find that evangelical Christianity influences the organizations through services for survivors, training for staff and the public, the recruitment of staff and volunteers at church, and the practice of Christianity in front of and with survivors. I also find that evangelical activists employ language and strategies that cast them as white saviors seeking to ‘rescue’ survivors. There are several factors that have contributed to the success of the antitrafficking movement, such as increased political opportunities, resource mobilization, effective leadership, strategic use of grievances, and cultural context. Activists face several challenges in their work, namely lack of funding and resources, like housing. For the future, activists would like to see increased punishment of clients and traffickers; reductions in pornography and pornography addiction; increased education and awareness about trafficking; installation of survivors in leadership; and increased funding. I conclude by recommending that sex work and sex trafficking be distinguished in research, legislation, policies, and practice; rehabilitation of traffickers and clients; and make systematic changes to lessen the factors which contribute to trafficking.

No description available.

No description available.

Within the U.S. there is a growing interest in the case of female adolescents being coerced into the sex industry (Bernstein, 2010; Estes & Weiner, 2001; Soderlund, 2010; Williams and Frederick, 2009). This interest, which emerged due to U.S. involvement in the international trafficking phenomena and grassroots organizing, has resulted in a movement to end commercial sexual exploitation of children (also known as "child trafficking)". Feminist activists have mobilized around this issue seeking recourse for youth who have been victims of exploitation. This thesis presents a study of a prevention/early intervention program, the "Girls Coalition," founded for adjudicated girls who are deemed "high risk" for commercial sexual exploitation. The Youth Resource Center, a non-profit organization, began the Girls Coalition in order to prevent exploitation by empowering the youth to better their lives. While not an openly identified feminist organization, the Girls Coalition does espouse feminist goals and its mission emulates feminist processes. Through qualitative methods my study explores how the staff understand their role in the lives of the youth they serve as well as the organization in which they work. Findings reveal themes centered on feminist management and organizational functioning, which includes the processes and dynamics present within the running of the organization. Results also reveal themes that include how participants enact ethics of care and empowerment of the youth whom the Girls Coalition serves. / Graduation date: 2012