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We discuss the issue of bringing human trafficking and forced prostitution within the purview of Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia marked a turning point by classifying forced prostitution through human trafficking under Article 4. However, in the judgment in S.M. v. Croatia, the ECtHR further reinforced its view that human trafficking and forced prostitution constitute a violation of Article 4. We explain human trafficking and forced prostitution both theoretically and through a number of international legal acts. We then explain Article 4 of the Convention and provide a comprehensive analysis of the material and procedural guarantees against human trafficking and forced prostitution. We also comment on the positive obligations that the ECtHR set for Member States. The authors believe that, despite numerous criticisms, the ECtHR's position is correct and that both human trafficking and forced prostitution violate the principles of democratic society. Therefore, victims must enjoy the protection afforded by Article 4 of the Human Rights Convention and other conventions if their life situation falls within their scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating appreciative inquiry (AI) and pastoral care may help address the complex issues of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. This article explores the benefits of incorporating AI principles into pastoral care for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking involve exploitation, degradation, and violence, making them complex issues. By understanding the sex trade, we can recognise that prostitution is an act of exploitation. Some scholars believe that prostitution and human trafficking are interconnected, with a focus on exploiting the poor, especially women and children. Commercial sexual exploitation can cause mental, emotional, and spiritual distress. Survivors require comprehensive aftercare to address their spiritual, self-esteem, and dignity needs. Organisational development-based AI is constructive and strength-based. Appreciative inquiry promotes positive development, community and individual strength, and resilience by re-contextualizing narratives and envisioning brighter futures. The use of AI could improve pastoral care and holistic rehabilitation. Pastoral caregivers using AI can promote reconciliation, development, and rehabilitation. Using strengths-based strategies, pastoral care practitioners can help survivors regain agency and purpose. Survivors receive spiritual support through the Appreciative Way, which combines contemplative spirituality and inquiry. Narrative exploration can help trauma survivors envision a bright future based on love and resilience. This study suggests that AI principles may benefit pastoral care recipients who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Pastoral caregivers can help survivors regain dignity, calling, and well-being by implementing an appreciative healing approach. Contribution: The article sheds light on the dehumanising consequences of sex trafficking on vulnerable populations in South Africa, particularly women and children. This article aims to explain how AI concepts can be applied to Practical Theology. Specifically, this article will demonstrate how the Appreciative Way can be utilised in pastoral care for healing from sex trafficking trauma.

Introduction Human trafficking (HT) is a public health issue that adversely affects patients’ well-being. Despite the prevalence of trafficked persons in health care settings, a lack of educational modules exists for use in clinical contexts. We developed a 50-minute train-the-trainer module on HT. Methods After piloting the workshop for faculty, fellows, and residents (n = 19) at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) national conference, we implemented it in medical students’ curricula during their emergency medicine clerkship at the University of Iowa (n = 162). We evaluated the worskhop by (a) a retrospective pre-post survey of self-reported ability to (1) define HT, (2) recognize high-risk signs, (3) manage situations with trafficked persons, and (4) teach others about HT, and (b) a 3-month follow-up survey to assess longitudinal behavior change. Results In both contexts, results demonstrated improvement across all learning outcomes (pre-post differences of 1.5, 1.3, 1.9, and 1.7 on a 4-point Likert-type scale for each learning objective above, respectively, at the SAEM conference and 1.2, 1.0, 1.3, and 1.3 at the University of Iowa; p < .001 for all). In the 3-month follow-up, we observed statistically significant changes in self-reported consideration of and teaching about HT during clinical encounters among learners who had previously never done either (p < .001 and p = .006, respectively). Discussion This train-the-trainer module is a brief and effective clinical tool for bedside teaching about HT, especially among people who have never previously considered HT in a clinical context.

The issue of sex trafficking and of commercial sexual exploitation of children is not a new one, it represents a serious concern at international level, considering the enhancement of this phenomenon. The development of information and communication technologies, and the evolution of the Internet, contribute to the growth of illegal activities involving children, including such offences as prostitution, child trafficking, sexual exploitation by means of technologies of information and communications, pornography and sexual tourism. In this field, states must constantly strive to update the domestic legislation and to reconfigure the legal framework which must be adapted to the social reality.

Background: Men's violence against women, including human trafficking for sexual exploitation, is a severe threat to global health. Healthcare providers are uniquely positioned to identify and care for women subjected to human trafficking for sexual exploitation. They are among the few professionals the women interact with while being exposed to human trafficking for sexual exploitation. This study aims to describe healthcare workers' experience of identifying and caring for women subjected to human trafficking for sexual exploitation seeking women's healthcare. Method: A qualitative design was chosen and nine qualitative interviews with healthcare providers were conducted and analyzed using the content analysis method. Results: Three main categories were revealed: (1) the importance of being attentive, (2) the importance of providing safety, and (3) the importance of collaborating, followed by a number of subcategories: behavioral and physical signs, limited time to interact, security measures, value of confidence building, organizational collaboration, essential external network, and information transmission. Conclusions: As the women subjected to sex trafficking have limited time in healthcare, it is important for healthcare providers to be attentive and act immediately if suspecting human trafficking for sexual exploitation. It may be the only possibility for the healthcare providers to care for these women and reach them. They must endeavor to provide the women with safety due to their vulnerable position at the hospital. However, these women may leave the healthcare setting unidentified and unaided, which highlights the importance of collaboration on multiple levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the international movements against sex-trafficking, identifiable for 150 years. We critically assess actor-centric approaches within IR that assume a tight connection between intentional actors and a singular norm. We build on critical research to develop a cultural institutional approach that focuses on the intertwining of actors and institutions and on how outcomes are loosely coupled from actors' actions. Several empirical implications are delineated that guide and are assessed by our analysis of the anti-sex-trafficking history. Using the lens of cultural institutionalism, the resulting interpretative history identifies patterns that support the implications and utility of the theory and that actor-centric perspectives have slighted: actors and norms are embedded in institutions, change was multidimensional and repeatedly difficult to label as success or failure, outcomes often were long-term through weak connections, anti-sex-trafficking movements were affected by distinct issue areas, change occurred episodically through institutional workspaces from early conferences, and conventions of the League of Nations to Vienna 1993 and Palermo 2000. We discuss the contributions of our analysis and the implications for critical theories of how a social problem and its solutions are constructed leading to international socio-political change. Les mouvements de lutte contre la traite à des fins d'exploitation sexuelle : La construction sociale d'un problème mondial et de ses solutions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In young drivers of both sexes traffic offences are rare while under supervision. • Offence rates increase greatly after the first provisional phase (P1) is attained. • Excluding GDLS offences there are small increases after reaching the next phases. • Novices aged 17 at first licensure had the highest rates in the provisional phases. • Speeding was most common but unsafe driving was common shortly after reaching P1. This paper aims to add to the sparse research on patterns of traffic offending in young novice drivers by examining the trajectories of young Australian novices throughout the graduated driving licensing system (GDLS). Data on licensing, crashes and traffic offences for all persons aged under 25 years first licensed from July 2007 to June 2008 in New South Wales were supplied by transport authorities, with follow-up to January 2014. Eight hierarchical categories of offence were defined by seriousness. Total numbers of offences per month were plotted for one year after initial licensure while under supervision (L), after transitions to the first (P1) and second (P2) provisional licence phases and to unrestricted licensure (U). After excluding novices not transiting to P1, 75,470 novices (51.5 % male, 77.7 % 16 years old at L) remained. Of these 63,070 had a year of follow-up after P2 (52.5 % male, 82.3 % 16 years old at L) and 28,861 had a year of follow-up after U (55.5 % males, 91.7 % 16 years old at L), Offences were uncommon under at L but spiked after P1 and again after P2. Omitting GDLS offences there was a small increase after U. Patterns were broadly similar by age at L and time in L. Novices aged at least 18 years at L had the highest offence rates in the learner phase; those aged 17 years at L had the highest rates in P1 and P2. The longer novices spent in the supervised driving phase the lower their subsequent offence rates even allowing for age at P1. Urban or regional residence had little influence on offence rates but lower aggregate socio-economic status as measured by a census-derived index was associated with appreciably higher offence rates. Speeding was the most common offence type; dangerous/negligent driving was common immediately after P1, declining thereafter. These results are in broad agreement with previous research in noting the increase in offending as GDLS restrictions eased. They highlight the need for better understanding of the function of a GDLS in improving the safety of young drivers. They may also inform future enforcement and education policies for novice drivers. For example, rehabilitative interventions should occur coupled with enforcement soon after citation. Visible display of GDLS status would assist their identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a review of four recent books that delve into various aspects of our current era of anxiety. The books cover topics such as fear in America, Covid-19 conspiracy theories, girlhood sexualities, and myths about sex trafficking. The author emphasizes the importance of disciplinary perspectives in understanding contemporary concerns and raises questions about the influence and impact of different claims and voices. Two of the books explore fear and conspiracy theories in society, with one presenting findings from a survey on American fears and the other focusing on the QAnon movement and its conspiracy beliefs. Both books highlight the complex nature of fear and the different types of evidence used in social science research. [Extracted from the article]

For years, survivors of sex trafficking, people compelled by force or circumstance to engage in sex acts, were often wrongly convicted of prostitution and many collateral crimes in the United States. These convictions became a permanent part of survivors' criminal records, inhibiting their ability to satisfy necessities for a dignified life—finding work and a place to live, or going to school. Since 2010, forty-five state legislatures across the US have sought to solve this problem by passing vacatur laws. These laws allow the survivors of sex trafficking a means to erase certain charges and convictions from their records. The American movement to support the human rights of sex trafficking victims is part of a larger, global non-criminalization movement to support survivors' human rights. This article surveys the recent and robust diffusion of American vacatur laws, situates them amidst the larger, global non-criminalization movement, and highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of the current US vacatur laws with an eye toward closing the rights gap for sex trafficking survivors. We argue that extant vacatur legislation should be expanded to include all crimes traffickers compel victims to commit, should incorporate trauma-informed means for establishing victimhood, and should be passed at the federal level to ensure complete and uniform protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As forced migration increases dramatically due to such factors as climate change, rising conflict, and authoritarianism, more legal cases on human trafficking and sex work are sure to arise. To date, very few cases on these issues have been decided in international human rights tribunals, and they have been subject to extensive criticism, especially for their conflation of slavery, human trafficking, forced prostitution, and consensual sex work. This article analyzes recent jurisprudence from Europe and Africa to address this conceptual confusion and argue that tribunals must interrogate their use of the terms dignity and exploitation or risk further marginalizing already marginalized people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the emergence of Argentine women writers in the crime novel genre in the new millennium, such as Patricia Suárez and Florencia Etcheves. This phenomenon highlights a break from the literary machismo traditionally associated with the crime genre. One focus of this study is the portrayal of tyranny over women in the 20th and 21st centuries, revealing the ongoing issues of sexual slavery and human rights violations. Through a comparative analysis of these authors' works, it illustrates how the oppression and exploitation of women persist over time, emphasizing the victims' need for survival and the social control mechanisms that perpetuate such situations. La Varsovia and Cornelia present a universe that resonates in the present, confirming the persistence of these power systems with different actors, yet with the consistent suffering and vulnerability of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is known about human trafficking, particularly for the purpose of sexual exploitation, has long been shaped by social constructions, including of gender, such as in mainstream and social media, which have directly impacted how sex trafficking, victims, and survivors are presently understood, as well as past and current efforts to prevent and address it. Much of what is known about sex trafficking has been presented through a white, western, and positivist lens, with little consideration of race, culture, and other intersectional factors, or how structural oppression, and the trauma that results from these factors can impact risks for sexual violence and trafficking. As such, existing gaps in reliable sources of knowledge on sex trafficking are explored and discussed, prioritizing a critical intersectional and trauma-informed approach and intersectional considerations for knowledge building, prevention, intervention, and advocacy through research, practice, education, and policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex trafficking narratives tend to follow the same storyline: a young, female victim is lured into sexual slavery by a foreign offender, and in the end, she is rescued by a Western hero. This article examines the sex trafficking narrative, and its accompanying characters in popular media, with a specific focus on the victim. It combines sex trafficking research with theories about folk tales and concepts of purity and the sacred. Empirically, the article explores the narratives of sex trafficking in six internationally influential films and books. The analysis creates an understanding of why one particular victim, and one metanarrative of sex trafficking, continue to dominate contemporary popular media. It traces the moralistic narrative continuities of sex trafficking, and creates an understanding of why we keep repeating this particular narrative, and why we seem to need it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work features in human trafficking discourses as a remedial approach, but the profession's potentials in Nigeria have not been fully realised. Thus, our research seeks to understand how social work has fared across the Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Partnership (4Ps) of anti-human trafficking in Edo (a prime source destination for sex trafficking in Nigeria), and what can be done to scale up the presence and efficacy of social work. Qualitative research was conducted with twenty-three participants comprising qualified social workers, allied social work professionals and operational staff of ten anti-human trafficking agencies. Data were sourced using in-depth interviews, deductively coded and analysed based on the 4Ps framework. An important finding was the recognition of the social work profession by most anti-human trafficking agencies, as they employed qualified social work staff or outsourced social work roles to allied professions. Across the 4Ps, Prevention and Protection fared better, unlike Prosecution and Partnership. We provide insights on how to scale up all 4Ps using a social work lens. This research has the potential to strengthen the social work component of anti-human trafficking and presents an in-road to conduct more social work analysis in anti-human trafficking and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The trafficking of refugees has become a priority in discussions about the efficacy of human trafficking law in recent years. While the number of studies concerning this phenomenon has increased, there is a paucity of literature about the effectiveness of anti-human trafficking laws in the Arab world. This article focuses on Syrian refugees trafficked into Lebanon, and evaluates the strength of Lebanese Law No. 164 Trafficking in Persons in its mandate to (i) prevent the act of trafficking, (ii) protect the trafficked, and (iii) prosecute the traffickers. Using original interviews conducted with participants in Lebanon's 'Chez Maurice' sex-trafficking case, results indicate that the preventive and protective services the law purports to provide are largely supplied by civil society organizations, and that victims may face prosecution or deportation for sex work. These findings present particular challenges to women trafficked during wartime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks the question: What does the term status mean with regard to women without legal status in Israel? Ostensibly, status represents a sovereign state's formal classification system. In practice, however—according to the accounts of statusless women, civil society activists, and welfare and health officials, as analyzed in this article—status, or its lack thereof, is not a one-off, absolute condition, but an ephemeral and vulnerable position. This article examines two concurrent processes: the blurring of boundaries between status and statuslessness; and the process of differentiating groups of racialized, undesired, and unwelcomed women foreigners: Palestinian women residents of the Occupied Palestinian Territories; asylum-seeking women from Africa; and women from the Former Soviet Union, who have either been trafficked by the sex industry, or separated from their Israeli-citizen spouse before completing their naturalization. Drawing on feminist and critical race renditions of bare life, we explore the ways in which statusless women are positioned in relation to violent power. Moving away from a polarized and emancipatory discussion of legality, we argue that in the absence of full access to legal status, the body may serve as a more fitting alternative in the analysis of abandonment and violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set at the intersection of debt and deportability, this article analyses how undocumented migrant sex workers in Europe navigate deportability and its effects. While sex trafficking into the EU has received mounting attention as part of global migration dynamics, the role of debt in the lives of migrant women has been overlooked. The migrant women in this study arrive in Europe heavily indebted after traveling through the Sahara Desert and across the Mediterranean, or via migration facilitators in Southeast Asia, to find work in the European sex industry. Their deportation might therefore entail returning to their home countries still indebted. The article draws on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the home areas of two of the largest groups of undocumented migrant sex workers in Europe –Thailand's Isaan province and Benin City in Nigeria's Edo State – where women's migration has become a familiar social phenomenon. Moving away from either a criminalizing or a victimizing framework for understanding sex-work migration, I argue for the concept of 'indentured sex-work migration' as a meaningful corrective to the narrative on sex trafficking and that the situation of 'indebted deportation' need to be better understood within the study of contemporary border control and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the powerful currency of notions of feminine virtue among enslaved women in the antebellum US South. Early nineteenth-century white American ideas of "female virtue" were limited to white womanhood and legitimized US white supremacist and patriarchal imperialism. Exploited for their reproductive and productive labor, enslaved women were denied the assumption of feminine virtue. Rather, they were positioned at the center of slavery's sexual economy. Yet, enslaved women developed a transnational and multifaceted understanding of feminine virtue that they enlisted and passed on to their daughters as a form of subversion. This article argues that enslaved women's concerns with and actions around virtue reveals a strategy through which they struggled for sexual autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of academic work on internet governance focuses on the 'deplatforming of sex', or the removal and suppression of sexual expression from the internet. Often, this is linked to the 2018 passing of FOSTA/SESTA – much-criticized twin bills that make internet intermediaries liable for content that promotes or facilitates prostitution or sex trafficking. We suggest analyzing both internet governance and the deplatforming of sex in conjunction with long-term agendas of conservative lobbying groups. Specifically, we combine media historiography, policy analysis, and thematic and discourse analysis of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation's (NCOSE, formerly Morality in Media) press releases and media texts to show how conservative moral entrepreneurs weaponize ideas of morality, obscenity, and harm in internet governance. We illustrate how NCOSE has, directly and indirectly, interfered in internet governance, first by lobbying for rigorous enforcement of obscenity laws and then for creating internet-specific obscenity laws (which we argue CDA, COPA, and FOSTA/SESTA all were for NCOSE). We show how NCOSE adjusted their rhetoric to first link pornography to addiction and pedophilia and later to trafficking and exploitation; how they took advantage of the #metoo momentum; mastered legal language, and incorporated an explicit anti-internet stance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades after the mobilization of comfort women from the late 1930s to 1945, disagreements over the issue continue to escalate, fueled by limited information and differing perspectives. This article aims to foster an academic consensus by employing a law and economics framework, contrasting with an opposing viewpoint. By examining the bilateral relationship between the Japanese authorities and comfort agents, previously overlooked aspects are brought to light. The analysis reveals varying levels of contractuality in different bilateral relationships, with comfort women lacking basic contractual requirements. However, the relationship between the Japanese authorities and comfort agents demonstrates greater fulfillment, albeit with an inherent imbalance. Notably, credible commitments between the authorities and agents, independent of written contracts, facilitate reciprocal agreements. Historical records shed light on this relationship, providing a basis for logical deduction. Resolving the current disagreements requires considering these perspectives, potentially alleviating longstanding antagonism and reconciling incompatible views surrounding the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Law enforcement's ability to obtain accurate and complete disclosures from trafficked minors is crucial for the identification of victims and prosecution of perpetrators. Yet, little is known about how this population is questioned by investigators. The purpose of this study was to assess the techniques and approaches investigators endorse to question suspected minor sex trafficking victims who vary in age and cooperativeness. Individuals across the USA with experience investigating sex trafficking cases were recruited to complete an online survey about their experiences and perceptions related to interviewing suspected minor trafficking victims. Participants (N = 189) were asked to read four hypothetical scenarios that described suspected sex trafficking victims of varying ages (13 vs. 17) and cooperativeness (high vs. low) and to select the interviewing techniques they would employ. Interviewing techniques were categorized into witness-focused, suspect-focused, and a mix of victim/suspect techniques. A mixed-model ANOVA was conducted to determine if investigators varied their endorsement of techniques based on victim age and cooperativeness. Investigators recognized and changed their techniques based on victim age. However, this was primarily the case when victims were cooperative. When victims were in the low cooperativeness condition, investigators reported they would use similar techniques with the 13- and 17-year-old victims. Our findings provide insight into how investigators approach suspected victims of varying ages and cooperativeness. More research is needed on how techniques used to question suspected victims with these and other characteristics actually impact disclosures and disclosure reluctance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human sex trafficking represents a pressing social problem that has garnered a significant amount of attention. A great deal of research has focused on key issues related to human sex trafficking, including factors associated with being trafficked and where human sex trafficking is most likely to occur. A body of research has also examined some of the potential consequences associated with being a victim of human sex trafficking. The current study adds to these findings by analyzing unique self-reported data to examine whether human sex trafficking in adolescence is associated with adulthood depression, suicidal ideation, intimate partner violence victimization, and criminal involvement. To do so, data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) were analyzed. The results revealed statistically significant associations between four human sex trafficking measures and the outcome measures for males and females. However, these associations were somewhat inconsistent, relatively small in magnitude, and the patterns of significance varied between males and females. We conclude by discussing limitations of the study and offering avenues for future research on human sex trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]