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The number of individuals trafficked to the UK is increasing year on year and shows no sign of slowing. The risk of mental health problems is increased for survivors of human trafficking compared to the general population. Psychological interventions are being developed and provided by both private and public sector organisations, with the aim of addressing survivors' mental health needs. However, a review of the relevant literature identified a paucity of studies exploring psychological interventions for survivors of trafficking. Additionally, even fewer studies were identified which privileged the voices of survivors themselves, or examined the wider socio-cultural and political contexts within which their narratives were heard or understood. The present research aimed to explore the lived experience of one specific type of therapy, Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET). Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with six survivors of trafficking who had received NET at the Helen Bamber Foundation, a London-based human rights charity. A hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry inspired by Max van Manen was utilised, as this methodology supported and complemented the personal values of the researcher and those of Counselling Psychology more generally, specifically a commitment to engaging with issues of social injustice. The research found that, from the perspective of the survivors, to both commence, and continue, with NET was an ongoing dilemma. NET was experienced as psychologically and physiologically difficult for individuals. However, these difficulties could be mitigated by the survivors' desire to achieve a better future, their trust in the therapeutic relationship, and support with other stressful life events outside of therapy. The research aims to provide a platform for these individuals' narratives to be heard, offering a more rounded representation of the diversity and individuality of survivors of trafficking. Additionally, it can also provide Counselling Psychologists with important insights into the lived experiences of NET, taking into consideration the wider context in order to inform practice when working with survivors of trafficking.

Background: Despite the continuous increase of trafficking in the UK, there is limited understanding of the experiences and circumstances of trafficked individuals, and how service providers should best support their rehabilitation. Existing studies with this population, tend to reduce trafficked people's multidimensional experiences to health issues such as classifying individuals as a function of symptoms and conditions experienced due to trafficking, which restricts our understanding of the complex realities faced by them. There is therefore a need for a more nuanced understanding of trafficking requires the consideration of individuals' insights, reflections and experiences from their perspectives. Aim: The aim of this research is to systematically explore trafficked people's lived experiences in the UK. Methodology: This study builds on Arts-based and narrative methodologies, to incorporate respondents' creativity and active engagement in knowledge construction. By means of facilitating a reflexive process, participants, men and women who have accessed posttrafficking services in the UK, chose their preferred methodology for relaying their experiences through visual and/or narrative methods, and were subsequently invited to discus, interpret and illuminate their findings. Recruitment and Sampling: Participants (n=57), men and women who have accessed or are accessing post-trafficking services in the UK, were recruited from three support centres within two umbrella organisations, one aligned to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and another independent organisation within the voluntary sector. Conclusion: Findings from this study convey marginalized discourses which have been largely overlooked in the research literature. Despite dominant perceptions of inherent vulnerability associated with trafficked people, participants in this study demonstrated strengths, resilience and agency, alongside areas of difficulties following trafficking. Findings further establish that the post - trafficking period is characterised by instability, perceptions of being under surveillance, as well as experiencing economic and immigration uncertainties. Original Contribution to Knowledge: Apart from adopting a holistic approach to affirming the views and experiences of those who are mostly affected by trafficking, recommendations inform best practices aimed at supporting trafficked people's integration in the host community and the development of appropriate support services. Further, this study adds to the body of the literature on arts-based methodologies and highlights the therapeutic potential of the use of research as intervention.

Across the globe, there are 26 million refugees and 4.2 million asylum seekers (RAS), a figure which is continually on the rise as drivers of displacement persist in multiple contexts. Among the challenges facing RAS is the risk and reality of human trafficking. This thesis focuses on the role of international law in addressing this problem. The emphasis is on understanding what international law can and does do so that its potential can be maximised, and its weaknesses mitigated. The assessment centres upon three regimes within the body of international law: international anti-trafficking law, international refugee law, and international human rights law. Throughout the comparative analysis, which encompasses global, regional African and European, and domestic planes, international law's nature is presented as iterative and interactive, particularly insofar as it offers protection to individuals. The thesis argues that, at its core, international law offers considerable promise in its ability to address the problem, both in terms of scope and in relation to the creation and empowerment of various state-empowered entities, which inform, develop, and supervise the implementation of the applicable regimes. Nevertheless, weaknesses remain. Content and implementation gaps persist alongside problematic clashes between the underlying rationale of the applicable frameworks and the overarching policy objectives of states. While not ignoring its weakness, the thesis presents - to borrow Sikkink's phrase - 'evidence for hope' in terms of international law's capacity to play a meaningful role in addressing trafficking among refugees and asylum seekers.

The securitisation of migration by European States, where irregular migrants are seen as threats to the State's border security, continues to have negative consequences for victims of human trafficking. Instruments such as the Dublin III Regulation, the 'hotspot approach' and detention and deportation have been used to deal with victims of trafficking. In addition, States like Greece and Italy have used the so-called pushbacks and pullbacks and inadequate provision of legal aid to impede victims' access to the protection mechanisms existing in the State. These have received criticism from academic literature and practitioners, mainly because victims of trafficking face human rights abuses from State actors. Human rights scholars have also advocated for a rights-based approach in the anti-trafficking discourse, where putting victims' rights at the centre of migration policies is key to their protection. However, one strong critique of emphasising that victims have rights is that enough attention is not paid to what States should be doing. Victims of trafficking do have rights like every other human being. States have positive obligations to protect those rights, and these obligations can be asserted against the State and not individual traffickers. As such, there should be an increased focus and pressure on States because they are under international obligations to protect victims of trafficking. In line with this, this thesis applies the concept of due diligence, which has been used concerning State obligations in public international law and international human rights law, to address the harmful State behaviour of securitising migration. Specifically, it uses due diligence to address detention and deportation; and pushbacks and pullbacks, including the lack of legal aid that impedes victims' access to protection, even if protection mechanisms exist within the relevant State. There is limited academic literature concerning the use of due diligence in the obligation to protect, and it does not engage with the systemic problem of securitisation of migration as an aspect that adversely affects victims of trafficking. This limitation is also stark because due diligence is an adaptable standard that focuses on the vertical relationship between the State and the individual. It can contribute to the putting of pressure on States to fulfil their obligations. The thesis argues then that the value of due diligence lies in its potential to redefine existing standards in response to harmful State behaviour. Such potential can be used to delineate a corrective standard of conduct that can specifically address the problematic consequences of States' securitisation of migration in victim protection. The significance is that a delineated standard of conduct through the use of due diligence can also form a template upon which to hold States accountable in respect of their international obligations. Concomitantly, this thesis contributes to understanding the role and purpose of due diligence in international law. Using due diligence to prescribe the standard of conduct in a specialised area is also underpinned by fragmentation theory in international law. As such, this thesis sits within the contestations between migration control and victim protection.

Every year an unknown number of people are trafficked to the UK for the purpose of exploitation. The literature identifies numerous psychological methods traffickers use to exert power and control over individuals (e.g. UNODC, 2021). Oath-taking ceremonies form part of a traditional spiritual belief system and have been identified as a method of psychological control within human trafficking through the exploitation of this existing belief system (Millett-Barrett, 2019; Ikeora, 2016). A systematic review of the literature showed a gap for research exploring survivors' relationship to oath-taking as part of being trafficked and the subsequent impact it has had on their lives. This study takes a qualitative approach using inductive thematic analysis to explore survivors' accounts of their relationship to oath-taking. Ten West African women who have accessed and engaged with support following being trafficked were interviewed. Four main themes were identified through analysis: (1) The shifting of power, (2) The use of fear of "Juju" within human trafficking, (3) Loss, and (4) Moving on whilst living with the impact of "Juju" and the oath. The principal finding was the significant harm survivors have endured due to oath-taking as part of being trafficked and the devastating impact it has had on their lives. Findings are discussed in relation to past research and within the context of psychological theory, including the operation of power (Hagan and Smail, 1997). The clinical implications and recommendations which arise from this study are relevant for all professionals who encounter survivors who have experienced oath-taking as part of being trafficked and could lead to better support provided to survivors going forward.

Human trafficking (HT) is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon transgressing in the most egregious way an entire web of basic human rights. In 2015, HT was identified by the UN Security Council (UNSC) as a 'serious crime' and a threat to international peace and human security. Since the adoption in 2016 of the landmark UN resolution 2331 condemning HT in the context of armed conflict and post-conflict situations, trafficking in persons in all its forms has been more widely documented as a direct or indirect consequence of conflict and fragility. Empirical evidence suggests that HT is most likely exacerbated in fragile, migratory, and conflict contexts. Priority is often given to other humanitarian emergencies. The thesis focuses on HT in fragile and conflict affected situations (FCAS) and seeks to identify how the victims of HT can access adequate standards of protection. Even in conflict settings States remain the primary duty-bearers but are often unwilling or unable to comply with their legal obligations arising from the international legal framework addressing HT to provide human rights protection on the ground. The thesis examines the contribution as well as the interaction of international human rights, humanitarian, refugee, labour, criminal laws in protecting individuals against HT practices. The thesis identifies challenges in the implementation of the legal framework addressing HT and faced by States in fragile contexts. The research conducts an in-depth single case study which confirm generic challenges faced by FCAS identified in chapter 7 and investigate specific and unique challenges in the context of Palestine. The study examines the Palestinian legal framework and legal system, the role of Palestinian institutions, civil society organisations and external actors in the building of a harmonised rule of law, with the difficulties experienced regarding the domestic implementation of Palestine's international human rights commitments. The findings of the research confirm that in the presence of conflict and instability associated with generic components of fragility applicable to other FACS examined in chapter 7, such as the absence of a stable rule of law, and more specifically in the case of Palestine, experiencing a complex legal system due to its plurality, linked to political uncertainties, the implementation of human rights and HT legislation are jeopardised and are not practically as well as judicially enforced. The thesis contributes in a modest way to understanding the practicalities of implementing a protective framework against HT in Palestine and possibly other conflict settings.

Over the last decade, jurisdictions across the UK have paid increased attention to the problem of human trafficking, as exemplified by the enactment of new specialised legislation (reserved and devolved), the increase in criminal justice and border control efforts, as well as the adoption of the UK-wide National Referral Mechanism ('NRM'), based on the system designed by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe ('OSCE'), to identify and deal with potential victims of human trafficking, perpetrators and their respective cases. This Mechanism, along with the UK's wider approach to human trafficking, have been criticised by NGOs and scholars for various reasons, such as poor identification skills of those officials who first come into contact with victims (known as first responders), lack of sufficient support and benefits to victims, as well as inequalities in decision outcomes between UK/EU and non-UK/EU victims, leading to governmental reviews and planned reforms. Despite efforts to understand and tackle the issues of the NRM by NGOs, researchers and policy makers, there has been limited attention paid by commentators to the policy context in which the NRM has been implemented and what this might reveal about the aforementioned problems of the Mechanism. In addition, efforts to examine human trafficking, arguably, have failed to fully capture all its angles and in particular to understand its tripartite nature: the victims' rights/needs aspect of it, the traffickers' side, as well as the state side (origin, destination and transit states) and particularly how a destination state regulates trafficking in relation to broader overarching issues affecting trafficking, meaning mainly immigration. Through documentary analysis of the main policies on human trafficking issued by the UK government at Westminster and the devolved governments, which constitute the NRM's foundations and context, a series of qualitative interviews with professionals involved in UK's anti-trafficking efforts and a case study of a female domestic survivor trafficked for sexual exploitation, this thesis offers a critical examination of how the UK regulates human trafficking, focusing on adult trafficking victims. Building on a theoretical framework, which draws on Christie's notion of ideal victims and offenders and Sharapov's examination of the images of trafficking victims and perpetrators in early-2010s UK policies, the thesis highlights how the dominant narrative of UK policies still tends to revolve around the idealisation of trafficking victims and demonisation of traffickers, often not paying respect to the full spectrum of human trafficking as underlined by literature, while promoting unrealistic goals, such as total trafficking elimination, primarily aiming to the UK's heroification as a leading anti-slavery force. Still, a slowly growing tendency to start focusing on a wider range of trafficking cases, on the range of victims based on varying levels of consent or trafficking experiences, the range of traffickers based on varying levels of organisation and the frequent fluidity between victims-traffickers was identified mainly in Westminster policies and much less in policies issued by the devolved governments. Simultaneously, the thesis pinpoints a polarisation between interviewees depending on their professional background, meaning between NGO interviewees and law enforcement interviewees. The former tended to idealise victims more and recognise the existence of a spectrum for traffickers and the latter underlined the spectrum for victims between those who consented to exploitation and those who were deceived/forced, whilst presenting traffickers as almost exclusively organised criminals. NGO interviewees also appeared to be more critical towards the NRM compared to law enforcement participants. Further, the idiosyncrasies of the UK constitutional setting and the deep-rooted ideological differences between Westminster and the Scottish Government have contributed to a fragmented approach across the UK. The different approach of the Scottish Government compared to Westminster renders the prospect of a devolved Scottish NRM worthy of further examination. The structure of the UK as a state that is neither federal nor unitary feeds and will continue to feed on the shortcomings of the UK's approach to trafficking, with the prospect of the UK regulatory practices radically improving, being thus quite limited. This thesis concludes by confirming and enriching existing literature, which has long pinpointed the existence of a spectrum of trafficking cases, also revealing how the UK's NRM impacts negatively on domestic victims. Finally, combining left realism in criminology, International Relations currents of thought (realism-idealism) and the theory of conflict of rights, this thesis also tries to enrich the teachings of the contemporary Criminology on immigration, trafficking and asylum, which often restricts itself to heavily moralising judgments on destination state practices. Through the theoretical framework of Criminological Moral Realism, this thesis tries to take into consideration all the crucial angles of such phenomena, as well as the regulatory challenges faced particularly by the destination state, as it seeks to balance between internationally legislated minimum standards of humanitarianist protection, on one hand, and the conflicted duties states have to satisfy (e.g. budget restraints, criminal justice successes) on the other, with the goal to fuse criminological thinking with a strong sense of realism to promote applicable policy improvements.

This thesis critically examines the procurement frameworks of the US and the Australian federal government in addressing human trafficking (hereinafter trafficking). Addressing trafficking through procurement is a socially responsible procurement agenda that governments must take seriously as part of their existing international and national obligations to protect against human rights abuse by their suppliers. Early discussions in the thesis considers international obligations from the perspective of key international institutions such as the UN, OECD, ILO and the OSCE, as these institutions encourage governments to lead by example by adopting public procurement policies, regulations and legislation to prevent, tackle and address trafficking with their supply chains. Despite international obligations placed on governments to address trafficking as a sustainable procurement agenda, many governments are yet to take a lead in this area, thereby leaving trafficking practices within their supply chains to continue largely undisturbed. The overarching objective of this thesis is to encourage governments to adopt provisions in their public procurement framework that adequately address trafficking. This objective urges governments who have implemented anti-trafficking provisions in their procurement framework to re-examine such provisions to determine whether they adequately deal with this illegal practice in their supply chains; and bring to the attention of governments who are yet to address this issue in their procurement framework, to do so, by following the recommendations set out in this thesis. By adopting a doctrinal legal approach, this thesis sets out to achieve these objectives by examining the relationship between public procurement and trafficking. Specifically, the thesis examines the definition of trafficking, examples of trafficking practices found in the US and Australian supply chains and discusses why governments should address this criminal activity through their public procurement frameworks. Furthermore, the thesis analyses procurement frameworks of the US and Australian federal government (The Federal Acquisition Regulation and the Commonwealth Procurement Rules) with the intent of highlighting provisions that prevent, address or tackle trafficking, and discusses the adequacy of such provisions in meeting their stated aim. The key finding from the analysis of the FAR and CPR is that both frameworks are inadequate in preventing and addressing trafficking as significant weaknesses allow contracts to be awarded to suppliers tainted with trafficking. The thesis examined how the shortcomings highlighted in the CPR, and the FAR can be improved to adequately prevent, address and tackle trafficking practices adopted by their suppliers. While there may be numerous reasons for the lack of action from various governments in tackling this issue of trafficking through their procurement policies and legislation, the study of different approaches taken by the US and Australian federal government furnishes other governments with a blueprint or template to emulate, leaving little room for governments to escape their existing international and national obligations of protecting citizens from human rights abuses perpetuated by their commercial partners.

In 2009 four men were trafficked from their native Bangladesh to work in the Scottish Highlands. They were promised jobs as professional chefs. Instead they were forced into modern-day slavery. This is their story.

This study will explore the role of female authors and their female protagonists in contemporary Scottish and Nordic crime fiction. Authors including Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Lin Anderson and Liza Marklund are just a few of the women who have challenged the expectation of gender in the crime fiction genre. By setting their novels in contemporary society, they reflect a range of social and political issues through the lens of a female protagonist. By closely examining the female characters, all journalists, in Val McDermid’s Lindsay Gordon series; Denise Mina’s Paddy Meehan series; Anna Smith’s books about Rosie Gilmour; and Liza Marklund’s books about Annika Bengzton, I explore the issue of gender through these writers’ perspectives and also draw parallels between their societies. I document the influence of these writers on my own practice-based research, a novel, The Invisible Chains, set in post-Referendum Scotland. The thesis will examine and define the role of the female protagonist, offer a feminist reading of contemporary crime fiction, and investigate how the rise of human trafficking, the problem of domestic abuse in Scotland and society’s changing attitudes and values are reflected in contemporary crime novels, before discussing the narrative structures and techniques employed in the writing of The Invisible Chains. This novel allows us to consider the role of women in a contemporary and progressive society where women hold many senior positions in public life and examine whether they manage successfully to challenge traditional patriarchal hierarchies. The narrative is split between journalist Megan Ross, The Girl, a victim of human trafficking, and Trudy, who is being domestically abused, thus pulling together the themes of the critical genesis in the creative work. By focusing on the protagonist, the victims and raising awareness of human trafficking and domestic abuse, The Invisible Chains, an original creative work, reflects a contemporary society’s changing attitudes, problems and values.

The way in which the concept 'human trafficking' has been constructed in the UK (in the words and actions of law enforcement bodies, state-funded NGOs and courts, for example) has changed significantly since the early 2000s. Yet legal and policy definitions of trafficking have remained largely consistent. This is surprising if we expect the state, through instruments like legislation and policy statements, to authoritatively define particular concepts and categories in a way that then shapes how others think and act. This did not happen - at least not straightforwardly - in the case of trafficking. What, then, was the state's contribution to the construction of 'human trafficking' in the UK? To answer that question, this thesis explores the three most significant state interventions relating to trafficking: a 2007 policy statement, a 2009 set of administrative rules and a 2015 piece of legislation. Each had different characteristics and was used in a different way. I argue that the state used these instruments not to authoritatively define 'human trafficking' but to shape already existing or incipient ideas and assumptions about trafficking. The state collated, codified and legitimised certain configurations of ideas and assumptions through the three instruments discussed. To place the state's activities in context, the thesis also investigates how the state first came to recognise 'human trafficking' as an issue and what influence the concepts and categories shaped by the state went on to have. The former is addressed through identifying the ideas and assumptions that fed into the state's early efforts and tracing their historical development. The latter is addressed through examining the ways in which actors who are engaged in implementing the concepts and categories shaped by the state have had to adapt their ideas and practices in order to do so.

This thesis focuses on the British human trafficking prevention policies adopted for the 2012 London Olympics using mixed methods including participation-observation, qualitative interviews, theoretical analysis and policy evaluation. I was invited to observe the Human Trafficking Network and London 2012, the Mayor of London’s official response to the claim that human trafficking would increase at the London Olympics. My presence enabled me to witness first-hand the key policy debates surrounding human trafficking intervention and to conduct a series of in-depth interviews with members of the Human Trafficking Network as well as associated professionals such as the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre, MPs, governmental and non-governmental agencies, law enforcement officials, anti-trafficking groups, sex workers, sex workers outreach services and academics. In addition to collecting rich empirical data, I contexualise these policy debates within two relevant theoretical frameworks. First, I draw upon the work of Weitzer (2007) to examine the construction of the four underlying claims that human trafficking increases before and during large sporting events. Significantly, this perspective is built upon an anti-prostitution agenda of the partial criminalisation proponents, which collapses all migration for prostitution together with human trafficking (Weitzer 2005, Kempadoo 2005, Milivojevic and Pickering 2008, Kinnell 2009, Mai 2009, Mai 2012, Weitzer 2014). This same conceptualisation of human trafficking as the nexus of prostitution, migration and crime is replicated within the global anti-trafficking framework (Milivojevic and Pickering 2013), resulting in two approaches to human trafficking prevention policies — Security Governance and Human Rights — which together resulted in preventions measures that target prostitution and control migration. Finally, I draw upon my empirical evidence to critically examine the effects of the claim that human trafficking increases over the Olympics and, moreover, situate the response by the Mayor of London within the global anti-trafficking framework. This framework highlights the contradictions and, in some instances, failures between the approaches to human trafficking and the stated purpose of the Human Trafficking Network. The thesis concludes with two innovative policy recommendations for human trafficking prevention programmes.

This thesis examines the effect of combating of human trafficking as a crime. Special emphasis has been placed on forced labour and the rights of trafficked victims and their protection. The study explores various legislations undertaken at regional, national and international levels and considers rights of trafficked victims under international human rights and Islamic rights. The aim of the thesis is to provide a critical and comparative analysis of the legal systems of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Kingdom (UK) in terms of human trafficking. The thesis consists of eight chapter; each covering a different aspect of the study. It begins by providing background information regarding the issue of human trafficking and proceeds to examine developments of legal frameworks across the two jurisdictions to combat this crime and penalize the criminals. It seeks to examine the legal system pertaining to human trafficking for forced labour and analyse the three distinct platforms, that is, prevention, protection, and punishment, by comparing the legal systems of the KSA and the UK. The examination of both countries aims to identify the strength and weaknesses of the KSA system as compared to the UK system. Thus, it concludes that the KSA can improve its ranking from Tier 2 watch list to Tier 1 if reforms are introduced in the legislation and enforcement domains. The study also demonstrates how the UK and the KSA portray ‘human trafficking’ in their regional laws. A problem often faced during the information-gathering and investigation stages is the lack of available evidence against traffickers, a particular issue in the KSA. The thesis concludes that the transnational aspect of this phenomenon makes it necessary to establish a thorough and comprehensive legal framework to cover all matters pertaining to this crime, including the protection of victims and punishment of criminals in the KSA and the UK, including immigration and ‘kafala’ strategies that may be of value in future researches.

This thesis seeks to address the complex forms assumed by the problem of human trafficking in the contemporary world and in particular to analyse and overcome certain identified shortcomings in existing models of intervention. It begins by locating the problem historically through its foundations in slavery, and explores the incomplete nature of the abolition of that institution. These observations provide the context for the emergence of contemporary forms of exploitation. The complexity of the problem of human trafficking is reflected in the variety of approaches to intervention thus far attempted and in the lack of consensus among stakeholders concerning the effectiveness of competing models. The tendency towards institutional failure in current approaches, and the consequent growth of the trafficking phenomenon are compounded by the ability of criminal networks to infiltrate and corrupt the very systems that are meant to safeguard vulnerable populations. This thesis argues that the shortcomings of existing models are themselves evidence that one of the foundational reasons for the emergence of human trafficking as a networked global crime is the security deficit created by the replacement of the structures of state with criminal networks embedded within communities. These observations are supported by empirical evidence in the form of i) a detailed review of records relating to a number of prosecutions and ii) first-hand observations and interviews with officials and civil society organisations in India, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. I argue, in conclusion, that the evolution of models of intervention, leading to the creation of a preferred multidisciplinary model, show that this security deficit is best countered by emergent partnerships between the structures of the state, communities and civil society groups. Such innovations prefigure new hybrid structures, which offer a degree of hope for holistically tackling common global problems and networked crimes such as human trafficking.

What is the state's duty to penalize serious interpersonal exploitation using the criminal law? Does the state discharge this duty appropriately? These are large questions and this thesis sets out to reassess one part of the puzzle of exploitation. The focus is upon interpersonal exploitation and property offences in England and Wales. Criminal law commentators frequently state that several property offences are justified on the basis that they penalize exploitation. For example, the tendency has been to assume that section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006 performs this function, together with its accompanying sentencing guidelines. One of the objectives of this thesis is to expose the precarious foundations of relying upon existing property offences to censure exploitation. For example, it is not clear what the scope of the wrong of exploitation under discussion actually is. This thesis argues that analysis of the relationship between wrongful interpersonal exploitation and property offences has been woefully superficial in English law and is ripe for reappraisal. The second objective is to identify and to elucidate a hitherto neglected wrong of acquisitive exploitation. An analytical account of the wrong is presented which will be of interest to criminal law theorists. Acquisitive exploitation represents a distinctive method of using vulnerable persons, under the cover of dishonesty. With a careful account of wrongful acquisitive exploitation in hand, the third objective is to raise questions about criminal liability for acquisitive exploitation. Ought the criminal law to penalize acquisitive exploitation, and, if so, how? Are there grounds for penalizing acquisitive exploitation more consistently and with improved labelling? These questions must be thoroughly debated. A credible opening bid is presented in relation to them - first, by considering whether acquisitive exploitation might be used to more fairly label property offences; and second, by assessing justifications for a substantive acquisitive exploitation offence.

This thesis analyses the crime of trafficking in persons under international law with a special focus on Jordanian legislation, arguing that efforts to address the crime of trafficking in persons require a holistic approach, but it will focus on questions of jurisdiction and legal definitions. After analysing the definitions, elements, forms, and typologies of the crime of trafficking in persons under the Trafficking in Persons Protocol (TIPP) as the main legal international instrument, this thesis further examines whether or not Jordanian legislation is in line with international standards. Then, under the holistic approach to addressing the crime of trafficking in persons, this thesis examines trafficking in persons as a transnational organised crime. Subsequently, it examines trafficking in persons as a crime against humanity by examining whether or not the International Criminal Court (ICC) might be regarded as an effective organ for addressing trafficking in persons as a crime against humanity. Later, the thesis examines the efforts made in Jordan to address the crime of trafficking in persons. Accordingly, this thesis concludes that trafficking in persons is a multi-dimensional problem and that long-term success will not be achieved by taking a disjunctive approach to addressing its many facets. Therefore, achieving a unified approach will lead to a permanent solution or will at least make a major contribution to addressing the problem.

This thesis critically examines the responses to trafficked adults in the four regions of the UK in terms of both policy and practice. It critiques the inadequacy of the 2005 Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (CAT) to protect trafficked persons and their human rights. It is argued furthermore despite the inadequacies of the CAT, the UK’s responses to trafficked adults still do not uphold all of its minimum requirements. The research argues that the CAT does not provide a genuine human rights approach. The thesis proposes such an approach is necessary to protect trafficked persons and their human rights and to provide the possibility of physical and psychological recovery. It details how each of the principles essential to a genuine human rights approach are contradicted. The research establishes how the responses prioritise the conviction of traffickers and the protection of immigration controls over the protection of trafficked persons. The thesis goes on to contend that adopting a genuine human rights approach would prove beneficial to realise those interests in the long-term. More specifically, the chapters offer a critique of the ‘victim discourse’ employed in the representation of trafficked persons, chart the provision of physical and psychological support and healthcare and accommodation for trafficked persons; and document cases in which trafficked persons are denied access to justice for the human rights violations they have suffered and are instead punished for criminal offences which they only committed because they were trafficked. The thesis exposes the contrasts between the UK government’s powerful and emotive rhetoric around trafficking in persons and its actual policy and practice.

This thesis addresses how to combat the offence of human trafficking, with particular emphasis on the development of trafficked victims' rights, their protection and traffickers' convictions. The study analysed legal responses to human trafficking at three levels: international, regional, and national; identifying it as a threefold phenomenon, involving criminal law and human rights. The main purpose was to critically analyse United Arab Emirates legislation against the offence of trafficking, and compare it with United Kingdom legislation. The study comprises five chapters, proceeding from the general background of the phenomenon to the modification of the framework for convicting traffickers in the UAE system. The actual application of criminal law relating to the trafficking offence in the UAE and UK was investigated through case law, as was the protection extended to victims of trafficking. From the literature review, it was discovered that human trafficking is a multi-faceted problem; thus, a comprehensive approach to tackle it is needed. The thesis concludes that, although the UAE and UK have adopted/amended their anti-trafficking legislation, they have yet to create an effective protection framework for its victims. In particular, UAE law fails to convict those who commit the trafficking offence in the period before the exploitation has taken place. This thesis calls for an amendment to UAE law, moving toward development of the conviction issue, by adopting the principle of presumed exploitation or the principle of probable (belief) exploitation.

This investigation explores the international perspectives of causality of human traffic, specifically, traffic into commercial sexual exploitation. Current Western approaches to combat trafficking centre around law and order, immigration issues, and victim protection programs. While these are important for a holistic effort to deter traffic, these foci overlook prevention endeavors, thereby acting as a band-aid on a bullet wound, addressing the symptoms, but not the foundation of trafficking. Western perspectives toward prevention concentrate on economic aspects of supply and demand while crediting the root cause to be poverty. Using social exclusion theory, this thesis demonstrates that the current paradigm of viewing human trafficking in purely economic terms is an oversimplification. This project proposes to widen the focus of prevention efforts those cultural and social structures which push and pull victims into trafficking. The research is a response to an international call for further initiatives to prevent human trafficking, the recent rise of human traffic in Guatemala, Central America and the lack of research which focuses on the social links with trafficking and mainstream society. Research conducted in Guatemala, included a thirteen-month ethnography and involved one-hundred and thirteen qualitative interviews conducted in nine Guatemalan cities strategically located along trafficking routes. The target research population included women sex workers and former traffic victims from Central America and included insights from non-governmental organizations workers. Twenty-three interviewees were Central American migrants which provided insight in the wider regional structures of traffic and commercial sexual exploitation. The interviews aimed at understanding the lived experiences of exploitation in order to determine whether social exclusion affects human traffic within commercial sexual exploitation. The findings revealed the underlying social and cultural structures which reinforce human trafficking. Empirical data collected provides real-time data on trafficking networks, commercial sexual exploitation and reveals the geo-political significance of Guatemala as a hot-spot for traffic. Analysis of interviews illustrates variations in the experience of human traffic and commercial sexual exploitation which challenges current western stereotypical ideas on traffic victims. Conceptually, macro-structures—political, economic, social, and violence—are presented as a back drop for the formation of wider networks of exploitation. The exploration of violence as a push factor challenges international forced repatriation policies. Micro-structures—gender roles, family, violence, and coping strategies—are examined in the ways they perpetuate social systems of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Theoretically, the thesis argues against the current paradigm which narrowly focuses on economics, but calls for the incorporation of social exclusion theory to understand the multi-dimensionality of human traffic and its wider links to society in order to open up new dialogue for prevention between the West and the majority world.

The question regarding what makes child trafficking persistent in conflict and post-war settings has been subject to intense debate. The human trafficking literature makes general conclusions that trafficking is a by-product of civil wars, and in the process child traffickers exploit the breakdown of the rule of law. As such it is perceived that the governance of the problem of child trafficking can be effective whenever peace and stability is realised and when legal frameworks for protecting children are in place. Prompted by these assertions, I conducted a field study in South Sudan, a country emerging from one of Africa’s longest running and most brutal civil wars fought between the government in Khartoum and Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The Sudan’s civil wars ended after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. Whilst the termination of the war raised expectations that the international anti-trafficking conventions, treaties and customary laws protecting children would have enforcement powers and would guarantee the rights and safety of the child, the peace failed to deliver on these expectations. Based on empirical data obtained through an intensive micro-level qualitative research conducted in South Sudan over three months, the research findings reveal that a number of challenges pose serious difficulties in enforcing international counter-trafficking legislations and child protection instruments. These challenges are compounded by the interplay of the emerging socio-economic and political development in the post-independent South Sudan.

Despite its long pre-existence, the issue of human trafficking (especially for sexual purposes) has become the epicentre of attention since the closing of the past century. The globe-wide attempt of politicians, academics, practitioners, technocrats, activists, and journalists to define, advocate, measure, and ‘control’ people trafficking has brought to the fore particular (re)actions. One such example is the EU and international law that aim to facilitate the legal framework within which national administrations should embark upon to ‘better deal’ with human trafficking. While EU and international law can only go so far as to lay the theoretical basis that signatory states must follow for dealing with human trafficking, ultimately, planning and implementing public policy become the prerogative of the individual state. In light of this, the central contribution of this study is the exploration of the application of EU and international law in concern with human trafficking within the Cypriot context. In other words, how EU and international law on human trafficking are applied in day-to-day interactions between state employees, civil groups, and trafficked women. For this purpose, the study examines the interpretation and application of the local legislation by the criminal justice agencies as well as the local NGOs. Notably, such undertakings are informed by past and present geopolitical and socio-economic developments that have been taking place since the British colonisation of Cyprus. Research findings (based on ethnographic fieldwork and documentary study), demonstrate that EU’s attempt to enforce legislative cohesion, common policies, and harmonised practices over the issue of human trafficking across its Member States is yet to materialise. The case of Cyprus, and at times of other EU States, are used as a paradigm in which both, the EU acquis and international law fail to impose legal prescriptions on national authorities. To illustrate, the dimensions of prevention, detection, identification, prosecution, and adjudication of human trafficking, as well as trafficking victims’ protection, rehabilitation, and repatriation are explored in piecemeal and they all testify of systemic deviations from EU and international guidelines. Both Cypriot public services and local NGOs assigned to handle human trafficking are not in a position to bear the standards laid out by the EU and the CoE. Consequently, victims of trafficking are often predisposed to adverse conditions and as a result, they are often undertreated. Moreover, it is often the case that law on paper—both EU and Cypriot— and law in practice are diametrically different.

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to identify the need for specialized training in identifying and investigating human trafficking cases to be provided to law enforcement officers. Approximately 40 million people are victims of human trafficking, and the numbers continue to grow each year. Front-line officers are generally under-prepared to recognize and handle human trafficking cases which shows the need to provide effective and appropriate training to help identify victims and investigate human trafficking cases. Research to provide a solution is guided by a qualitative case study investigation for the purpose of developing and proposing actionable changes law enforcement agencies may take when training officers on human trafficking. A collective case study was used to answer two central research questions; What and how much training are law enforcement officers currently receiving on identifying and investigating human trafficking? What are the recommendations for training law enforcement officers in identifying and investigating human trafficking? Yin’s cross-case synthesis method of analysis is utilized.

Previous research has examined the complex mental and social health deficits of those who were trafficked that clinicians have to treat therapeutically (Litam, 2017; Pascual-Leone et al., 2017). Other research has explored how continuing education workshops often change the knowledge, competence, and attitudes of attendees to use more effective and evidenced techniques and skills (Neimeyer et al., 2009; Raghavan et al., 2008). However, there is a lack of understanding about how a complex topic, specifically treatment considerations of those who were trafficked, changes the knowledge and competence of continuing education workshop attendees. The purpose of the current study is to explore how mental health clinicians' knowledge and competence of working with human trafficking survivors changes as a result of a continuing education workshop on human trafficking. The study also examines the feasibility of conducting a continuing education workshop on human trafficking. A sample of psychologists completed self-report measures before and after a continuing education workshop on human trafficking. As hypothesized, results indicated sampled psychologists had about the same competence in human trafficking as general samples. However, data indicated sampled psychologists had a greater level of base knowledge of human trafficking. However, it is difficult to generalize these findings to other psychologists and mental health professionals given the low sample size. Additionally, analyses indicated a continuing education workshop changes perceptions of competence in working with individuals who were trafficked, but no significant changes in knowledge were observed. Also as hypothesized, the workshop was feasible to construct and promote to teach mental health professionals about human trafficking. Other clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Human trafficking is a significant crime and human rights violation that impacts more than 27.6 million individuals globally and is incredibly complex in nature (U.S. Department of State, 2023). Survivors are subjected to extreme conditions of abuse, neglect, and coercion leading to the need for competent and compassionate service providers and community support efforts (Kenny et. al, 2022). Service providers working with survivors of human trafficking are exposed to traumatic stories and events daily putting them at high risk for developing symptoms of vicarious trauma (Cohen & Collens, 2013). Due to the nature of their work, it is important to identify protective factors and methods of self-care for service providers that can prevent or reduce the impact of vicarious trauma. The goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of trauma-informed yoga on the symptoms of vicarious trauma felt by service providers working with survivors of human trafficking.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to discover the knowledge of human trafficking of the pastors in the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware churches and their responses to this crime. The guiding theory was the words of Jesus in Exodus: Chapter 3 concerning slavery and the tribulations of Israelites. A questionnaire provided enlightenment regarding the levels of knowledge in the church communities, how pastors viewed it, the methods by which they received the information, and how they responded to it. This study reflected a gap in the knowledge of pastors in their congregations. The data were collected through emails and phone calls. Two-hundred-forty emails were sent, and 17 were returned, yielding 15 useful responses. The rest was completed through phone calls to pastors. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v 27.0) for the quantitative portion. A phenomenological design with an open-ended questionnaire was used for the qualitative study. The findings revealed that most pastor participants were aware of the problem of human trafficking, either by researching or seeing the local news. Still, they had not duly informed their congregants. The current study's main limitation was the lack of representative data from additional denominations and geographic areas. The findings and results were critical in forming recommendations for overseeing human trafficking and suggesting how further research should be completed. The study provides critical points that can show insights and make it helpful for leaders combating human trafficking.

I explore two questions in this thesis: how can computer science be used to fight human trafficking? And how can computer vision create a sense of touch? The United States illicit massage industry (IMI) is a multi-billion dollar industry that offers not just therapeutic massages but also commercial sexual services. Illicit massage parlors number in the thousands and exist in every major city in the United States. Employees are often immigrant women with few other job opportunities, leaving them vulnerable to fraud, coercion, and other facets of human trafficking. By creating datasets using three publicly-accessible websites: Google Places, Rubmaps, and the AMPReviews forum, I show how we can use natural language processing tools such as bag-of-words combined with machine learning classifiers to help monitor spatiotemporal trends in the IMI. Monitoring plays an essential role in preventing trafficking and protecting employees within the IMI. I further show how to use word embeddings such as Word2Vec to derive insights into the labor pressures and language barriers affecting IMI employees. Similarly, I analyze the income, demographics, and societal pressures (such as relationship status) affecting sex buyers. Other insights include linked domains and using the word embeddings as a tool for acronym expansion. I also consider counter-trafficking in the banking sector. Human trafficking is about money, much of which will eventually flow through the legal financial system. Banks are legally required to have safeguards to guarantee they are not aiding or abetting criminal activity. My preliminary work focuses on creating synthetic transaction data so that researchers can more easily prototype, evaluate, and collaborate on developing anti-money laundering algorithms. This work adopts agent-based modeling and is inspired by red-flagged transactional behaviors from the United States and the Canadian financial regulatory agencies. I show both the uses and limitations of my model in generating timestamps and payee-recipient graphs for transactions. Finally, I consider the role of computer vision in creating tactile sensors. Tactile sensors are critical for robots that seek to manipulate and interact with the world, a prerequisite for helping with household tasks. Existing sensors include the Gelsight sensor, which consists of a camera facing a gel that is lit from multiple angles. The surface of the gel is slightly translucent and slightly reflective (semi-specular), and when objects are pressed into the gel, the image becomes a tactile image. Adapting a Gelsight sensor to the task of finding buried objects in sand required several modifications. Creating a wedge-shaped sensor allows for digging down into the granular media. The novel use of fluorescent paint instead of LEDs for gel lighting allows for significant sensor size reduction. Finally, an integrated vibrator motor counteracts jamming in the granular media, reducing force requirements for moving through the media. This work also shows how to use a webcam and a printed reference marker, or fiducial, to create a low-cost six-axis force-torque sensor. Commercial six-axis force-torque sensors cost thousands of dollars and often contain delicate strain gauges. By contrast, this sensor is inexpensive, made using readily-available rapid prototyping technologies, and easy to modify. All code and hardware design files are open sourced, opening up six-axis force-torque sensing to a wider range of applications.

The challenges faced by survivors of trafficking are harsh and devastating. Service providers in the anti-trafficking movement also face obstacles, as they navigate through systemic inequities and other barriers. Through ethnographic research, I interviewed trafficking survivors and service providers in order to try to understand and amplify the stories about the challenges they face. By doing so, I explore reframing rites of passage, as it operates within a framework that I suggest includes the concept of “cruel optimism”. As themes emerged, it became evident that survivors and service providers both battle uncontrollable factors within systems, inadequate social services, inflexibility of services, transient services, and a rigid anti-trafficking movement that limits growth and positive change. While there are tangible recommendations, there is also an overarching need for a space for grace and reframing survivorship. Empathy is the key to moving toward such compassionate frameworks that may make tangible recommendations possible.

Human trafficking (HT) is a heinous crime that has gained international attention. Millions of people (specifically young girls and women) are affected by prostitution and sexual exploitation, the most common forms of human trafficking. Currently, anti-trafficking law enforcement agencies are struggling to respond to human trafficking due to the lack of data, the hidden nature of the crime, the current service providers, and the strategies of human trafficking task forces. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study will be to understand better the challenges of law enforcement officers and the impact of law enforcement officers in combatting human trafficking. The goals of the study are threefold: (1) to illustrate the experiences in their own words, (2) to identify themes surrounding efforts to combat human trafficking, and (3) to better understand how law enforcement officers perceive the challenges they must endure. A transcendental phenomenology research design will be used to obtain a detailed description that provides the basis for the essences and meanings to emerge from the perspectives of the law enforcement officers. In this study, the researcher will conduct semi-structured open-ended interviews with ten local law enforcement officers in Alabama. The data will describe the lived experience of each of the ten officers. The transcendental phenomenological research design will also utilize Moustakas' processes: epoche, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, structural-textural, composite textural, and synthesis. The study’s findings will have implications for the criminal justice field and professional practice.

Despite the new wave of laws and victim advocate services implemented to treat all children involved in sex trafficking as victims, many law enforcement officers have some difficulty in identifying potential victims of child sex trafficking. The purpose of the study was to understand how law enforcement officers perceive child sex trafficking victims in South Carolina and how law enforcement officers respond to child sex trafficking victims in South Carolina based on those perceptions. The theory that guided the study was Becker’s (1963) labeling theory. This multiple case study investigated how law enforcement officers perceive child sex trafficking victims in South Carolina and how law enforcement officers respond to child sex trafficking victims in South Carolina based on those perceptions. The data collection method used for this study was individual interviews. Individual interviews were utilized to answer the three research questions. Data analysis occurred through a triangulation process consisting of analyzing logged data for consistent patterns and themes. Triangulation provided validity of the data analysis. The findings of this study showed that law enforcement is beginning to change their perceptions and how they respond to child sex trafficking victims in South Carolina. The participants viewed all potential victims as victims while a few viewed them as victims and offenders. The findings also showed that services are provided to potential victims, but victims are still hesitant to cooperate with law enforcement due to the fear of being prosecuted or retaliated against This study was guided by Becker’s (1963) labeling theory which correlated with existing research labeling young victims as offenders. This study also showed an increase in law enforcement treating child sex trafficking victims as victims.

Higher education students are vulnerable to being sex trafficked (Campus Law Enforcement-DHS, n.d.). As a means of prevention, an online training was developed for higher education students. The purpose of this training was to provide awareness and education about sex trafficking and promote safety in terms of relationships, jobs, and the internet. The intention of this study was to research the effectiveness of this training in building an understanding of sex trafficking. A convergent mixed methods study was conducted using pre and post surveys to assess awareness around sex trafficking in higher education. The training was found to be effective in educating participants about “discerning legitimate and safe websites and apps.” In addition, participants’ questions and concerns about sex trafficking are included for future course development and awareness training. Ideas for future steps to help prevent sex trafficking are also included. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https:// etd.ohiolink.edu).

Background: Human trafficking (HT) is a global and domestic concern that impacts individuals, families, and communities. Over the last ten years, HT has become a significant public health concern intersecting with the health care community in various settings. HT abuse and oppression have both short- and long-term health consequences. Approximately 50 to 88% of trafficked individuals visit a health care provider, and 63% of those visits are evaluated in the emergency department (ED). Nurse practitioners (NPs) working in the ED interact with HT individuals but have not been represented in recent research scholarship. Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to explore perceptions of NPs working in the ED, centering on their interaction with individuals who are being trafficked. The study focused on understanding personalized narratives of the NP experiences, constructed memory, and applied meanings of interactions with HT individuals. Methods: A qualitative narrative inquiry was used to explore individual NP stories. Targeted purposive and network snowball recruitment was obtained through the American Academy of Emergency Nurse Practitioners (AAENP) membership organization. The sample included 17 NP participants in 60–90-minute semi-structured interviews through the Zoom internet platform. The NP narratives were analyzed using Clandinin’s thematic, structural, performative, and storying methods to identify emerging themes. Findings: Analysis revealed six themes that emerged from the narratives illuminating complex barriers NPs face daily in the ED. The themes included environmental challenges, performance pressures, the bias of presentation, knowledge deficits, lack of trust during encounters, and the overlapping sixth theme of moral distress. Findings support existing research but also reveal a deeper understanding of the complexities of HT identification in the ED. Implications: NPs can improve the care and identification of potential and/or actual human trafficked individuals in the ED. The findings of NP’s construct themes can assist the health care community with focused education to improve recognition of identification barriers, implement screening strategies, collaborate with policymakers, improve guidelines in the complex ED environment, and decrease moral distress in NP providers.

Human trafficking is a global issue. Denying its existence creates an atmosphere where it can thrive. Therefore, visibility is a key step in prevention. Human trafficking screening tools bring visibility to this hidden issue. Identifying individuals who have experienced human trafficking is essential for preventing it from happening in the future. Identifying survivors of trafficking allows them to be provided aftercare and opens the doors for prosecuting those who perpetrate harm against others. This study validated a human trafficking screening tool and developed a standard for interpreting the results. This study aimed to develop a tool that could identify human trafficking victims among women who return to Uganda after migrating to the Gulf States for domestic work. It is designed for use at Entebbe Airport by immigration officials to determine a decision in less than three minutes. The tool was validated through content and face validation, as well as through testing its sensitivity and specificity. The tools classified 100% of the previously known trafficking survivor participants in the study as trafficking survivors. It also identified an additional nine women who were not known to be trafficking survivors prior to the study as individuals who experienced conditions consistent with human trafficking. The research identified three questions for each of the three areas critical to human trafficking. These areas are referred to as Ends, Means, and Process.

This thesis describes a research study to understand the current state of human trafficking data collection practices and reporting in the province of Alberta, Canada, and gather end-user design considerations for cyberinfrastructure that will enable data sharing between multiple and diverse stakeholders. The research also examines the barriers to change and the needs of stakeholders to improve the collective understanding of human trafficking in the province. Virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted with nineteen organizations including law enforcement and community serving non-profit agencies. While the research resulted in design considerations for a cyberinfrastructure prototype, findings revealed the complexity of the human trafficking ecosystem in Alberta and suggestions for how the community of stakeholders can shift towards a sustained collaborative data sharing culture. This study responds to the need to collect actionable data from multiple sources to reflect the prevalence and context of human trafficking more accurately.

This is a quantitative-comparative analysis that focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms that assist law enforcement agencies as they combat human trafficking. Human trafficking is a Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) which means it can impact every country in the world, and in doing so, impact every person in the world. AI uses machine-learning capabilities to identify clusters, odd and/or unusual font, words, numbers, and other markers in advertisements that promote the sale of human beings. Human trafficking affects males, females, and children of all ages and can include different types of trafficking such as sex and labor trafficking. By using these AI platforms, law enforcement officers are able to identify and help more human beings than ever before in a quicker timeframe. This quantitative-comparative analysis compared Spotlight, Traffick Jam, Traffick Cam, and Domain Insight Graph (DIG) to determine if these platforms were helping law enforcement. The study revolved around the questions of accuracy, consistency, and effectiveness with each platform and found that the majority of AI platforms led the way to promote better, more efficient platforms by the same companies that learned how changes could assist law enforcement more in the future. While each platform assisted in their own ways, there were deltas in each area that leads to the need for future research in the area of AI and how it can be used to help victims of human trafficking and convict human traffickers more in later years.

Human trafficking (HT) is a form of contemporary slavery that affects individuals in every state of the United States. Despite the existence of government and non-profit rehabilitation services, HT-affected individuals often miss out due to improper resource allocation. To address this issue, we propose an optimization model that efficiently allocates resources to rehabilitate and reintegrate HT-affected individuals where they are most needed. Our strategy uses a Mixed Integer Linear Programming model to optimize the net societal value (NSV) gained from offering support services while considering the three stages of HT-affected people's healing path, including victim, survivor, and thriver. This model determines the optimal type, quantity, and location of services while also integrating HT risk scores that account for the risk of HT in those areas. Our model's efficacy is demonstrated in an Ohio case study, allocating housing, detoxification, and food services across the state's eighty-eight counties and three stages of the healing path of HT-affected individuals. Through Monte Carlo Simulation in the solution approach, uncertain demand is accounted for, leading to improved NSV under such conditions. Moreover, we illustrate the impact of an increased budget, showcasing extended service reach and allocation possibilities. Our work aims to support decision-makers in efficiently allocating resources to rehabilitate and reintegrate HT-affected individuals effectively.

Survivors of human trafficking experience trauma that causes profound, sometimes lifelong effects. The abuse experienced during a trafficking episode can result in physical injuries, emotional and psychological problems, and challenges with executive functioning skills (Gorman & Hatkevich, 2020). Current policies and resources focus on trafficking prevention and rescue, but there are few programs that address the survivors’ recovery needs after exiting the trafficking episode. This results in a gap in care that leaves survivors with few options as they try to regain their independence and engage in meaningful occupations. Occupational therapists are ideally suited to addressing this gap. This author developed a comprehensive, evidence-based program that demonstrates the vital role occupational therapy (OT) can play in post-trafficking recovery and rehabilitation. Pathways Nepal is a six-week OT program developed for the women living in the SASANE residential home in Pokhara. The program is grounded in well-established models of care and incorporates occupation-based activities, trauma-informed care, and the use of social support – approaches that have been shown to be effective in facilitating positive change for the post-trafficking demographic (Amadasun, 2022; Cerney et al., 2019; Edwards et al., 2023; Johnson, 2018; Hardy, 2013; Hopper et al., 2018; Rafferty, 2017). Findings from the initial iteration of Pathways Nepal will be used to facilitate the program expansion throughout Nepal and eventually, to other post-trafficking residential facilities globally. In doing so, Pathways Nepal serves to help define the role of OT in post- trafficking care, while also helping to establish the role of OT on the global healthcare stage.

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of professionals working with minor-aged survivors of human trafficking in nonmetropolitan environments throughout the Northeast. Husserl's noematic process, integrated with Maslow's theory of human motivation, provided this study's theoretical framework, which strived to answer the fol-lowing research questions: What are the experiences of professionals working with minor-aged human trafficking survivors in Northeast nonmetropolitan communities? and How do professionals describe their experiences helping minor-aged survivors of human trafficking obtain their basic needs after exploitation? Data collection involved demographic questionnaires and inter-views. The data was analyzed by using Moustakas' phenomenological methodology. Two primary themes emerged from the data analysis. The first theme was the participant's experience meeting the needs of survivors, containing subthemes of needs being met through their vocation and community resources. The second primary theme included the challenges participants experienced when meeting the survivors' needs; the subthemes contained the challenges they experienced through their vocation and community. The most prominent result was the differences in challenges experienced by participants depending if their employer was a nonprofit organization, or a state agency. These vocational discrepancies are imperative for ensuring that nonmetropolitan communities best understand how to provide services to minor-aged survivors of human trafficking.

Human trafficking is a global public health crisis catastrophically threatening the health and well-being of those trafficked. Limited studies measure health care providers’ confidence in their ability to recognize, treat, and refer those being trafficked. This integrative review synthesizes current knowledge on human trafficking and identifies gaps in research on educational interventions aimed at increasing provider knowledge and awareness as well as confidence in treating and referring those being trafficked. A systematic search of five databases identified peer-reviewed published papers between 2015 and 2021. The integrative review followed the framework of Toronto and Remington (2020), and the systemic search was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Revies and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Melnyk’s Levels of Evidence framework was used for appraising the quality of evidence (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015). Findings across studies (N = 11) reveal that providers (nurses, doctors, social workers, and hospital staff) have low knowledge and confidence in their knowledge surrounding human trafficking and their role in identification, treatment, and referrals related to an array of barriers. Further findings across studies (N = 13) reveal that providers’ knowledge and confidence knowledge about human trafficking and identification, and referral of those being trafficked increased significantly with an array of educational interventions, but the transfer of this new knowledge to practice is a gap in research, as few studies reported this (n = 2).

This study explored the topic of human trafficking with a focus on the perspectives of local law enforcement officers located in California, Florida, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine officers’ perceptions relating to the under-identification of sex trafficking victims and the victim-centered approach to human trafficking. The problems addressed in this study are that the identification of victims of human trafficking has not been effective, under-identification has long been a problem, and victims are undercounted. The theory guiding this study is Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance, as officers may experience cognitive dissonance during their routine law enforcement work. The study utilized an email survey instrument consisting of open-ended questions that were sent to officers who held the rank of police officer or sergeant (or the equivalent). The survey was administered through SurveyMonkey®. The survey responses were manually coded and analyzed; the results were then analyzed using QSR®NVivo 12 to ensure correlation with the manual coding analysis. The major findings of this study are as follows: officers believe the victim-centered approach to human trafficking is a compassionate tool for empowering individuals who are powerless and that mistrust in law enforcement remains a significant barrier to implementing the victim-centered approach to human trafficking and building relationships with victims. The officers’ agreed almost unanimously that sex trafficking victims are under-identified and that more training on prostitution and human trafficking is needed.

In-person trafficking reports and recent journalism on temporary marriage in refugee camps raise concerns about the exploitative nature of such marriages. This exploratory thesis examines the temporary marriage of refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. First, the research explores the profile of eloped refugees in temporary marriage. Second, it explores the institutional factors that allow the exploitation of refugees via temporary marriage. Last, based on the United Nations definition of human trafficking, the thesis explores how and under what conditions temporary marriage of refugees becomes human trafficking. Applying the elements of human trafficking to the analysis makes it evident that the temporary marriage of refugees to men from the host and Gulf nations under most conditions constitutes trafficking in persons. Furthermore, the findings suggest that traffickers target ethnic and religious minority women and girls, underage girls, and widows and that governmental and non-governmental intuitions play a vital role in the growth of temporary marriages. The thesis concludes and recommends that temporary marriages of refugees be considered prima facie as trafficking.

Sex traffickers often force their victims to work in both commercial sex markets and perform other illicit activities (e.g., drug dealing, theft, and fraud). Current literature has failed to address interdiction models that aim to disrupt all components of a sex traffickers’ operation, including these other illicit activities. In this thesis, we present a interdiction problem, and its single-level linear optimization reformulation, to reduce the profit of a human trafficking network concurrently operating in the commercial sex market and other illicit activity markets. Our novel formulation aims to investigate the practical implications of interdiction decisions made to disrupt a human sex trafficking network operating in several illicit markets. Our work directly models inputs given by our Modeling Effective Network Disruptions (MEND) Advisory Group, whom are domain-level experts in the operations of sex trafficking networks. These suggestions highlight how sex traffickers will force victims to perform other illicit activities in addition to their commercial sex work. Once our interdiction model was created, we investigated several practical disruptions activities that reduced the capacity a victim could work in a targeted market which significantly reduced the profit of the trafficker. Our results show the importance of focusing interdiction activities on disrupting markets in which trafficker could potentially operate, especially market-level disruptions that reduce demand for commercial sex.

No one knows the true extent of human trafficking in America today, yet law enforcement officers may encounter victims during routine assignments. There exists a growing body of research associated with law enforcement officers and human trafficking. However, few researchers have explored the connection between human trafficking training and officers’ ability to recognize human trafficking situations. Grounded in schema theory, this quantitative study surveys law enforcement officers in West Tennessee. Survey questions assess officers’ awareness of human trafficking generalities, their ability to recognize possible locations of human trafficking, and training related to human trafficking. Questions then describe potential human trafficking indicators to elicit officer responses. This study fills gaps in the existing literature by examining connections between officers’ training, assumptions, and ability to recognize human trafficking situations. A lack of human trafficking awareness and inappropriate officer responses are likely both associated with training deficits. With information identifying these deficits, law enforcement agencies and training organizations may better equip officers with the skills necessary to recognize human trafficking situations.

“Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will make you aware.” Eph. 5:14 Earlier this year I stopped at a table under a sign reading “January Is Human Trafficking Awareness Month.” The table’s material did awaken me to the scope of human trafficking (global), the amount of money traffickers are making (billions), and where to send money to help fight the problem – but there was little information on being more aware of human trafficking within MY town. A lifetime focus on community safety helped me realize that a high level of awareness of the signs of trafficking occurring within my community directly correlates to its’ safety… and that being awake isn’t enough – being aware is critical! If my community’s ‘trafficking awareness level’ (TAL) is low, the probability of trafficking occurring is high. I also realized that the smaller the scope, the greater the hope for dealing with this ‘hidden crime,’ for at the community level human trafficking is less able to hide. In the verse from Ephesians 5 Paul pleads with Christians to awaken from their sleep. When we truly wake up, we become aware and this awareness keeps us alert and alive – especially if that awareness includes Jesus Christ as Lord. Similarly, to protect lives in our Avalon community, the Community Awareness Core (CAC) – in partnership with the Avalon Community Church (ACC) – proposes to assess Avalon’s TAL and, if low, raise it by training community members to identify, or ‘see,’ the signs and indicators of trafficking as they occur in daily interactions. When community members ‘see something,’ they’ll be trained to ‘say something’ (report to law officers). This project offers faith-based and civic organizations a grassroots approach to collaborating with law enforcement agencies to keep their communities safe from human trafficking.

Among the many issues facing sex trafficking survivors, the bonds they develop to their traffickers or other perpetrators are one of the most complex and least understood concerns. In part due to the sensitive quality of the issue at hand and the often-hidden nature of the population, too few studies have sought to give voice to survivors themselves and their own experiences with trauma bonding. It is important to hear from survivors directly about how trauma bonds are formed and how they manifest, and most importantly, how individuals can sever these bonds and experience healing and freedom from a life of exploitation. Furthermore, little research has examined survivors’ experiences in human trafficking specialty docket courts. Trauma bonds likely affect survivors who are involved in these courts, but no prior research has sought to explore how these survivor-participants experience these bonds. This study sought to fill these gaps by seeking to understand how survivors have experienced trauma bonding, how they have experienced healing from trauma bonding, and how their participation in a human trafficking specialty docket has affected their healing from trauma bonding. This phenomenological study seeks to center survivors’ lived experiences and to prioritize and honor survivors’ voices. The sample consisted of 19 female survivors of sex trafficking who were all participants in or graduates of a human trafficking specialty docket. The first research question was: How have survivors of sex trafficking experienced trauma bonding? Two themes emerged from the data. The first theme is the source of the trauma bond. Participants in the focus groups and interviews discussed in depth with whom they had trauma bonds with. The second theme is aspects of trauma bonds, which included three subthemes. Specifically, survivors have experienced trauma bonds as being (a) involuntary, as having a (b) lingering power, and as consisting of both (c) love and hate. The second research question was: How have survivors of sex trafficking experienced healing from trauma bonding? Three themes emerged from the data regarding how survivors of sex trafficking have experienced healing from trauma bonds. Survivors shared that (a) building trusting and honest relationships, (b) their relationships with themselves, and (c) education all played a pivotal role in the healing they had been able to experience. The third research question was: What are the experiences of trauma bonded survivors of sex trafficking in a human trafficking specialty docket? Three themes emerged from the data. Survivors shared that (a) love and support from specialty docket staff contributed to their ability to flourish in the court program and to overcome effects of their trauma bonds. Survivors had conflicting (b) views on change the specialty docket had undergone regarding their rules and procedures, and how effective or ineffective they felt these changes were for survivors with trauma bonds. Finally, survivors expressed that how trauma bonding affects a survivor in the court program ultimately (c) depends on the individual and their willingness to change and be honest. These findings contain significant implications for theory, practice, policy, education, and future research.

It has to be recognized that human trafficking is a problem in all American states. Small towns do, in fact, face this international problem. Human trafficking can happen in any community, large or small, in cities and rural areas alike. Globally, society lacks a complete and accurate understanding of the nature of human trafficking. Rural towns, such as Billings, Montana, are just now comprehending the size of the problem they have in their area. With the help of community organizations, residents are becoming aware that it is happening in their state, despite being a relatively secluded area of the United States. As small rural towns, large cities, and entire nations fully understand this crisis, society can effectively create the best solutions for combatting human trafficking: first, understanding how widespread the issue is locally and internationally, and second, through theories such as conflict theory, constructivism, and trauma theory, we can properly identify victims and perpetrators. By comprehending how demographic, economic, and political variables impact how human trafficking occurs, society can see how prevalent human trafficking is in any community or part of the world.

Human trafficking is a worldwide injustice that happens everywhere. Men, women, and children, of all ages, and all ethnicities are enslaved throughout the world. There are two main types of human trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor. There is new legislations and policies being signed into law to help fight against human trafficking, but what is working? Where are there still gaps? This paper will review the public policies in place to combat human trafficking at the international, federal (United States), and state (Georgia) level as well as provide recommendations to inform future policies as well as education and awareness campaigns.

Human trafficking, the cruel and inhumane crime that it is, exploits the lives of millions of people around the world. My study explores the common vulnerabilities that exist for victims of cross-national human trafficking. First, I analyze literature discussing individual and country- level victim demographics to identify characteristics that predict recruitment or abduction into human trafficking. Using the 2017 Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative, I demonstrate the applicability of Cohen and Felson's 1979 Routine Activity Theory (RAT) to explain the vulnerabilities to victimization further. More specifically, I use VIVA to assess the methods of control and types of exploitation utilized by domestic and international traffickers. A sociological study that combines the work of RAT and VIVA in relation to human trafficking victimization is yet to exist, therefore I am seeking to fill this research gap. The overarching goal of this study is to form a victim profile through cluster analysis and logistic regression in order to locate the unique patterns of victimization. My findings demonstrate that there is a significant relationship between the three clusters formed, the methods of control used by the perpetrator (physical, psychological, and economic abuse), and the types of exploitation suffered by the victim (sexual and labor exploitation).

Human trafficking is a global problem that takes many forms, making it difficult to identify. Published research has drawn a connection between children who suffer neglect by their caregivers and children who are trafficked. This thesis will present an exploratory body of research that examines the screening tools from 20 states across the country. A qualitative study was conducted on all the screening tools to determine what tools are being used for both trafficking victim identification as well as establishment of victimization history. This research will present the importance screenings tools serving a dual purpose, by including prior victimization and victim services in addition to trafficking identification. Using a well-rounded screening tool allows investigators to obtain a full history of victimization, as well as establishing services needed, while limiting the number of times the victim must relive their trauma.

My dissertation focuses on the journeys an Afro-Panamanian basketball player, to unmask the discrimination and exploitation that shapes his efforts at achieving class mobility through sports. I utilize Multi-Sited Person-Centered Ethnography, underpinned by Critical Race Theory and Post/Coloniality Theory, to capture the complexity of the personal, including the macro and the micro of being an Afro-Panamanian male youth basketball player, who is spatially mobile and ultimately victimized by basketball trafficking. By employing this methodology, I explore the point at which basketball trafficking begins for the young men at the center of my study who are caught within this system. Basketball trafficking is a term I have coined that captures the exploitative and unregulated migration of youth to the United States as part of interscholastic athletic programs that abuse the F-1 student visa system. My research problematizes the idea that the trafficking and exploitation of young men within basketball solely begins in the United States and instead argues that histories of and ongoing practices of discrimination within Panama largely contributed to teenagers finding themselves in the precarious situation, where their international student-athlete visa status is used as a tool of exploitation. Additionally, my dissertation argues that U.S. intercollegiate athletics works in tandem with U.S Immigration Customs & Enforcement(ICE) to police and enforce the removal of non-citizen Black youth from the U.S. once their athletic labor is no longer needed.

Human trafficking impacts an estimated 25 million people per year. In the Philippines, human trafficking has reached an epidemic proportion as many migrant workers becomes victims of human trafficking each year. The Philippine government, aware of this growing dilemma, imposes legal sanctions and assists victims by providing medical aid, legal counsel, vocational training, and temporary safe housing. However, reintegration and trauma-focused support are rarely provided. The victims, as a result, often go back to their communities, where they remain in a state of isolation and despair. The purpose of this qualitative research is to assess if the study of biblical principles in a group-based setting has a notable impact on the hope experienced by Filipina trafficking survivors. This study will introduce these trafficking victims to the redemption and reconciliation found in Christ. It is believed that understanding and embracing God’s redemptive promise will result in freedom from shame, a greater capacity for forgiveness, and a renewed sense of optimism for the future. The implications of this study will not only be applicable to trafficked victims but also others who have suffered abuse and exploitation. Hannah’s Home, a center for counseling abused women in Metro Manila, will be the venue for this project and qualitative assessment.