WUNRN
|
Trafficking in Human
Beings in the European Union Gender, Sexual
Exploitation, & Digital Communication Technologies |
Donna M.Hughes* University of Rhode Island USA
October
24, 2014
ABSTRACT
In
this article, the intersection of gender, trafficking for sexual exploitation,
and use of digital communication technologies are analyzed based on data from
the European Union (EU). Over the past two decades, an increase in trafficking
in human beings in the EU has been accompanied by an increase in the
development and availability of digital communication technologies. The first
statistical analysis of trafficking in human beings (2008-2010) carried out by
the European Commission found 23,632 victims of human trafficking in the
reporting member states. Eighty percent of victims were women and girls; 20%
were men and boys. The majority of the victims (62%) were trafficked for sexual
exploitation. Digital communication technologies are widely used for
trafficking for sexual exploitation, and more rarely for trafficking for forced
labor. This article concludes that the combination of gender, trafficking for
sexual exploitation, and use of digital communication technologies has created
a nexus of victimization for women and girls. Based on this analysis and other
sources of information, the European region is the world’s leading region for
trafficking for sexual exploitation.
Introduction
Over the past 20 years, the use of digital communication technologies,
particularly the Internet, has greatly expanded criminals’ capacity to traffic
human beings for different types of exploitation (Council of Europe, 2003; Hughes, 1996, 1999a; Latonero, 2011; Sykiotou, 2007). As new
technologies have been developed, criminals have quickly adopted them to assist
with their criminal enterprises. Seekers of justice have countered with new
laws and policies to lawfully combat the misuse of new technologies. Law
enforcement agencies have become skilled in the use of digital technologies and
forensics to combat these serious crimes. The development of new types of
communication media and devices keeps the race going between traffickers and
law enforcement.
Although communication technologies are frequently used by
perpetrators of trafficking, the underlying crime of trafficking in human
beings remains the same: a trafficker tricks, coerces, or exploits the
vulnerability or the age of a victim to compel the victim to work, provide
services, engage in commercial sex acts, beg, or commit criminal acts.
Trafficking in human beings became a European Union (EU) crime in 2004 with the
implementation of the Council Framework Decision (2004)
on combating trafficking in human beings. Trafficking in human beings is a
serious violation of the law and human rights that is frequently compared with
slavery. Therefore, the EU is committed to eradicating it (European Commission, 2012).
This article will analyze the trafficking in human beings in the EU and the use of communication technologies. Recent statistics on the number and type of victims will be used as a basis for the analysis. Finally, the nexus of gender, trafficking for sexual exploitation, and use of digital communication technologies will be discussed.
Trafficking in Human Beings in the EU
Trafficking in human beings is recognized as a serious criminal enterprise
in the EU. It has been called one of the “most prevalent” types of organized
crime activities in the EU by Steve Harvey, then Acting Head of Europol’s
Operational Department (“Monitoring Mechanisms,” 2010).
The United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC; 2010) estimates the market for sexual exploitation in
Europe to be €2.5 billion annually.
The EU has acted to combat the problem of trafficking in human
beings. In August 2004, the Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA (2002)
criminalized trafficking in human beings at the EU level. In 2006, the European
Commission issued the EU Action Plan (2006), which set combating
trafficking in human beings and money laundering as priority areas. In 2011,
the European Parliament and the Council issued Directive 2011/36/EU on Preventing
and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting Its Victims (European Parliament & Council
of the European Union, 2011).
In 2012, the European Commission adopted a Communication on the EU
Strategy toward the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012-2016. One
of the strategic actions was to collect and publish data on trafficking
disaggregated by age and gender.
The collection of data on the number of victims of trafficking in
human beings has been a challenge for organizations, agencies, and governments (Laczko & Gozdziak, 2005).
Although no methods of data collection are without flaws, analyses must be made
on the best existing data. Researchers and The International Organization for
Migration (David, 2007) have made the
case that data collection on trafficking in human beings needs to constantly be
improved, but data on the number and type of victims are an essential tool for
combating trafficking.
In 2013, the European Commission issued the first EU statistical
report on the trafficking in human beings in the member states and affiliated
countries. The Eurostat report includes data from all 27 of the EU member
states and 7 acceding, candidate or associated countries, but the total number
and percentages are based on data from the EU member states. The report
included data on victims and traffickers. This is the first collection of
EU-wide data. Not all countries had complete data in each category for each
year, so interpretation has to be done with caution. Still, preliminary
findings show that there are differences and trends for types of trafficking,
the gender of victims, and source and destination of victims. These new data
provide bases for further analysis of trafficking in human beings.
The quantitative report on the trafficking victims in member states
of the EU from 2008 to 2010 reported 23,632 identified or presumed victims of
human trafficking in the reporting member states (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013). An “identified” victim is defined as “a person who has been formally
identified as a victim of trafficking in human beings according to the relevant
authority in Member States.” A “presumed” victim of trafficking is defined as a person who has met the criteria of EU regulations and
international Conventions but has not been formally identified by the relevant
authorities (police) as a trafficking victim or who has declined to be formally
or legally identified as trafficked. (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013, p. 20)
Data on “identified” victims mostly came from the police, whereas data on “presumed” victims mostly came from national rapporteurs, victim assistance services, immigration services, labor inspections, and border guards (Eurostat, European Commission, 2013, p. 23). Over the 3-year period of data collection (2008-2010), the number of victims increased by 18%. The authors of the report urge caution in assuming that the 18% increase in victims over the 3-year period from 2008 to 2010 means an actual increase in the number of victims. They suggest that the increase in numbers may reflect an increase in identifying victims (Eurostat, European Commission, 2013). This cautionary note is reasonable considering that this is the first report done for the EU. Still, the data indicate an increase in trafficking in human beings or new awareness of a serious crime. The goal of this article is to look at the intersection of type of trafficking, gender, and the use of communication technologies. The new EU report provides a basis for this analysis.
Type of Trafficking
Of the total number of victims, 62% were trafficked for sexual exploitation
and 25% were trafficked for forced labor. The remaining approximately 14% were
trafficked for begging, organ removal, criminal activities, forced marriages,
or selling of children (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013). Over the 3-year period, the percentage of victims of trafficking for
sexual exploitation increased each year and the percentage of victims of forced
labor decreased from 28% in 2008 to 23% in 2009 and 2010 (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013).
Another source of data lends support for the findings in the EU that
trafficking for sexual exploitation is the dominant form of trafficking. The UNODC (2012) found that
trafficking for sexual exploitation accounted for 58% of trafficking cases
globally, but when world regions were compared, Europe had the highest
percentage—62%—of trafficking for sexual exploitation, and the lowest—31%—for
forced labor. From these two sources of data, the percentage of victims
trafficked for sexual exploitation appears to be higher in Europe than in other
regions of the world.
Recently, there have been campaigns for increased awareness of forced labor and other types of trafficking, and it is likely that forced labor is still a largely unrecognized crime. Still, these statistics indicate that trafficking for sexual exploitation is the dominant type of trafficking in the EU, and it is likely increasing according to findings of this first collection of data.
Gender and Age of Victims
The EU recognizes that trafficking in human beings is gendered. Directive
2011/36/EU noted that there is “gender-specific” trafficking, and the women and
men are often trafficked for different reasons. A goal of the European
Commission in 2013 was to develop knowledge of the gender
dimensions of human trafficking, including the gender specificities of the way
men and women are recruited and exported, the gender consequences of the
various forms of trafficking and potential differences in the vulnerability of
men and women to victimization and its impact on them. (European Commission, 2012)
The EU data found that a majority of victims were women or girls. Of
the total number of identified or presumed victims, 80% were female (68% women,
12% girls) and 20% were male (17% men, 3% boys). Children were 15% of the total
number of victims of trafficking in the EU (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013, p. 10).
Of the victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation, 96% of them
were women and girls in 2010. Of the victims of trafficking for forced labor or
services, 77% were male in 2010. The majority of victims of forced begging,
organ removal, criminal activity, and selling of children were female, although
there was a gradual increase in the number of males over the 3-year period (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013).
The findings from the first EU-wide collection of data on
trafficking in human beings reveal that trafficking is a gendered phenomenon.
The majority of victims are women and girls (the predominant type of trafficking
is for sexual exploitation, and the majority of victims of trafficking for
sexual exploitation are women and girls). Also, trafficking for sexual
exploitation increased every year over the 3-year time frame (58% in 2008, 60%
in 2009, and 66% in 2010). In addition, UNODC found that the European region
ranked the highest of all regions in the world for trafficking for sexual
exploitation in the world (62%).
Women and girls are also the majority (72%) of victims in the
“Other” category, which includes forced begging, criminal activities, removal
of organs, forced marriages, and selling of children. Although the majority of
victims of forced labor were male, 25% of the victims were female.
These data indicate that trafficking in human beings in the EU is
largely comprised of exploitation of women and girls.
Although there may be less awareness and identification of male victims or victims of forced labor and other types of trafficking, this is still an overwhelming finding from the first round of data collection in the EU.
Country of Origin of Victims
The majority of trafficking victims in the EU come from other EU member
states. If victims are exploited within their own borders, this is called internal
trafficking. As a result of the Schengen Agreement, 22 of the 28 EU member
states are open to travel with each other without border controls. Of the total
number of victims, the majority, 61%, of victims came from other EU member
states. According to Europol’s (2013) EU Serious
and Organized Crime Threat Assessment, the levels of intra-EU trafficking
(internal trafficking) are increasing due to freedom of movement throughout the
EU.
There was also a gender difference for victims of internal
trafficking. More male victims (74%) were internally trafficked than female
victims (66%). This means that female victims are more likely to be recruited
outside the EU and transported into the EU (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013).
From 2008 to 2010, the percentage of the identified and presumed
victims from outside the EU increased. For male victims, the percentage from
outside the EU increased from 12% to 37%. And for the female victims, the
percentage from outside the EU increased from 18% to 39%. These are dramatic
increases in the number of female victims coming from outside the EU (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013).
One of the weaknesses of the Eurostat report is that some member
states were not adequately collecting data on the number of victims by country
of recruitment (Eurostat, European Commission,
2013). This indicates that although there were some countries that were
strong sending countries, more work needs to be done to ensure that all member
states give more precise information on the source of victims so more robust
analysis can be done.
In the next section of this article, the role that digital communication technologies play in human trafficking, particularly in the EU, will be examined.
Use of Digital Communication Technologies for Human Trafficking
Since the commercial use of Usenet and the Internet began, they have been
used for sexual exploitation (Taylor, Quayle, & Holland,
2001). For example, one newsgroup was called
alt.bin.pictures.child.pornography (Lanchet & Hornat, 2008).
They have been used to transmit pornography and child sexual abuse material,
previously called child pornography (Taylor et al., 2001). These
forums were also used to transmit information on venues for commercial sex acts
and sex tours (Hughes, 1996, 1999a). With the commercial
development of the Internet, it quickly became the site to purchase
pornography, exchange or purchase child sexual abuse images (Quayle & Taylor, 2002; Taylor & Quayle, 2003).
The Internet has been used to advertise sex tours. In the early to mid-1990s,
websites for sex tours could be found that openly advertised the availability
of children for sexual exploitation (Hughes, 1999a). And the
Internet has been used to advertise numerous locations and services for
commercial sex acts (Council of Europe, 2003; Hughes, 2004a).
As a venue for sexual exploitation, sexual predators using the
Internet were ahead of laws and law enforcement. Often laws had to be revised
to apply to digital material, storage and transmission of illegal images. In
addition, law enforcement needed training and tools to investigate crimes
facilitated by the Internet or digital technology. With the recognition of the
existence of human trafficking, almost every country has passed a law against
human trafficking for forced labor and sexual exploitation, and researchers are
documenting how digital technologies are used by traffickers.
As social forums on the Internet grew, they became sites for
traffickers to contact and recruit victims. Traffickers could place false
advertisements on employment sites, offer young women jobs as waitresses or
nannies, careers as models or dancers, and present themselves as boyfriends.
Later, the traffickers would force victims into prostitution (Sykiotou, 2007). Also women
who signed up at marriage agencies could be deceived (Hughes, 2004b).
Although anti–human trafficking laws are more than a decade old, as
the EU statistics show, trafficking is a continuing, even growing, crime. The
Internet is playing a major role in facilitating these crimes. There are now 2
billion Internet users worldwide (International
Telecommunications Union, 2010). According to the World Bank (2012), 75%
of the world’s population now has a mobile phone, and access is expanding into
rural areas. As more communication technologies are available, traffickers will
quickly adopt them. This growing access and use of digital communication
technologies will increasingly become the way that traffickers contact victims
and how victims of sex exploitation are offered to sex buyers.
What we call “online” no longer means using a desktop or laptop
computer or Internet cafe. As new communication technologies continue to
develop, they include wireless devices, such as smart phones, which are small
computers, with access to the Internet through telecommunications companies.
These sophisticated, hand-held digital devices have created a “mobile
revolution” and increase the capacity of criminals to engage in all aspects of
human trafficking.
As the growth and development of digital communi-cation technologies and devices continues, this area will continue to be important for research, investigation, and action for prevention and prosecution of human trafficking.
Cases of Trafficking in Human Beings Involving the Internet in EU
Member States
Digital communication technologies are used for trafficking victims for
forced labor and sexual exploitation. There are more documented cases of
technologies being used for recruiting, controlling, and advertising victims of
sexual exploitation than for forced labor. Here are a few typical examples of
cases of trafficking in human beings involving digital technologies in EU
member states.
·
United Kingdom, 2008: Police arrested three men
and one woman who trafficked women from Thailand. The perpetrators’ network
used an escort agency site on the Internet as a front for their activities.
Thirty women were recovered and taken to a victim support center. The offenders
were charged with controlling prostitution for gain, trafficking, and money
laundering (“15 Arrests as Internet Vice
Ring Smashed by Police,” 2008).
·
Czech Republic, 2010: Two perpetrators used the
Internet to advertise underage girls for prostitution. They were convicted of
human trafficking (UNODC Case Law Database, Czech
Republic, CZE0202).
·
Germany, 2001: A 16-year-old Polish girl was
transported to Germany and used for prostitution in a brothel. One of the
perpetrators took photos of her, which were used for an advertisement on the
Internet that read “girl for sale” (UNODC Case Law Database,
Poland, POL007)
·
Romania, 2003-2007: A trafficker contacted high
school girls between ages 14 and 17. His apartment was equipped with computers,
cameras, and video recorders used for producing pornography. He used the images
to coerce the girls into sex acts. He threatened to publicly expose the images
on the Internet or to their parents and friends if they did not comply with his
orders of exploitation (UNODC Case Law Database,
Romania, ROU003).
·
Sweden: A man met a woman who was diagnosed with
a mental disability on the Internet. He used her vulnerability to exploit her.
Another man assisted the first to take explicit photos of the woman. They
designed a website for the purpose of making money from the photos (UNODC Case Law Database,
Sweden, SWE021).
Although the focus of this article is on relatively new
communications technologies, “low” technologies are still used as well, and may
be the choice of some criminals because they can avoid detection that newer
digital devices allow.
·
Czech Republic, 2010: Perpetrators forced women
into “window prostitution.” The victims were provided with walkie-talkies and
had to report to the traffickers about the sex buyers and the earnings. The
victims had to hand over most of the money they received to the defendants (UNODC Case Law Database, Czech
Republic, CZE022).
A combination of high technology and old means of control is also
used to coerce and control victims, such as this case involving voodoo
religion.
·
Sweden, 2010: Two women from Cameroon coerced
women from Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, and Cameroon into prostitution. The
traffickers used religious rituals and voodoo to control a dozen African women.
Medicine Men used rituals, slaughtered animals, and made the women take an oath
to reimburse travel costs. They told the women that they would die if the debt
was not repaid. Advertisements were placed on the Internet for the women in
Sweden. The victims were given mobile phones. They had to respond to calls from
sex buyers (“Traffickers Intimidated
Victims,” 2010; UNODC Case Law Database,
Sweden, SWE014). Traffickers appear to make less use of digital
technologies for forced labor compared with sexual exploitation. There are many
documented cases of the use of digital technologies for sexual exploitation,
but fewer documented cases for cases of forced labor.
Use of Digital Technologies for Trafficking for Forced Labor
Research on the use of digital technology for forced labor in the United
States found that traffickers did not rely on technology other than
pay-as-you-go cell phones. Victims of forced labor in the United States were
recruited by word of mouth from impoverished villages in Latin American
countries. Once the victims were trafficked, they had little or no access to
technology (Latonero, 2011). An Organization for Security and
Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE; 2009) report on human trafficking for labor
exploitation in the agricultural sector in European countries reported that
people were recruited from newspaper advertisements and by word of mouth. In
one large case of forced labor for vegetable picking in Italy, workers were
recruited from Poland by newspaper and website advertisements (OSCE, 2009).
These findings are from a limited number of cases and from research
done in the United States. It appears that traffickers use job advertisement on
the Internet to recruit some workers, but do not use digital technologies to
maintain control of victims of work in agriculture, construction, or
manufacturing. It is more likely that traffickers contact each other and employers
with digital communication technologies. The researchers concluded that how
forced labor traffickers operate makes it harder to track them through digital
technology (Latonero, 2011).
It is likely that traffickers for forced labor use digital
technologies to transfer and launder profits, as they do with trafficking for
sexual exploitation, but more research is needed in this area.
In cases of trafficking of domestic workers, victims may be
recruited through employment agencies or exploiters make private arrangements
with contacts they know in source countries. The situation probably depends
widely on the level of available technology in the sending region, particularly
outside the EU. It seems likely that some victims of domestic servitude have
responded to advertisements online. One of the ways that exploiters of domestic
workers maintain control is to prevent the victims from having contact with
others and monitoring victims’ communications.
Domestic workers are increasingly remotely monitored by their employers. Following several cases in which domestic workers were accused of harming or killing children in the Gulf States, some employers are installing video cameras to monitor workers (Many Installing Cameras at Home to Monitor Maids, 2012). The activities of the domestic worker can be viewed on a smartphone or other remote computer. This surveillance is also a way to monitor and control a worker who is being abused and exploited (Home Surveillance, 2012). The monitoring of domestic workers is being discussed as an issue of privacy and worker rights, but video monitoring of workers is increasingly being recognized as a way that traffickers monitor and control victims (Immigration and Custom Enforcement, 2013).
Use of Digital Technologies for Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation
There are many documented cases of the use of digital communication
technologies for trafficking for sexual exploitation. In a recent report, Europol (2011) emphasized
the “key role that the Internet was playing in recruiting victims [of sexual
exploitation] and advertising their services” (p. 25).
Mobile devices and technologies create a more fluid environment for
traffickers, victims, and sex buyers. All of the concerned parties can be in
motion, with real-time communication among all of them. Traffickers can engage
in real-time communication, such as voice messages, videos, and texting, with
the victim. Traffickers can pose as the woman in the advertisement and set up
an appointment with a sex buyer. For online “adult entertainment” advertising
sites, the ads can be changed and updated throughout the time that sex buyers
are most likely to be actively looking for appointments. Sex buyers can search
for and make arrangements for sex acts from almost anywhere.
The following activities can be carried out online:
·
Recruitment of victims with false employment
advertisements
·
Contact and groom victims in online forums or
dating sites
·
Capture images and videos of victims that will
be used in advertisements or to threaten the victims with exposure to their
families or friends
·
Upload text advertisements, images, and videos
to brothels, entertainment businesses, or prostitution businesses that operate
only from the Internet, such as escort services and online advertisement sites
for prostitution
·
Arrange meetings between sex buyers and victims
·
Communicate with victims to monitor their
activities, give them orders, threaten them, and control them
·
Make business arrangements with criminal
colleagues or legitimate businesses
·
Transfer money
Previously, these activities could be done over the Internet with a
laptop or a desktop computer, but now, they can be carried out with a mobile,
wireless device, enabling criminals to be more mobile.
There are many documented cases of human traffickers using social
networking media, such as Facebook, and online advertisement sites, such as
Craigslist, and micro-blogging services, such as Twitter (Federal Agents Arrest Twitter
Pimp for Sex Trafficking of Child, 2012; Latonero et al., 2012).
Many of them are mainstream services commonly used by adults and children.
Online, traffickers often commit serious crimes such as human trafficking in
public or semi-public spaces.
Organized crime groups involved in human trafficking are flexible
and quickly change their tactics following changes in laws and law enforcement
investigations (Europol, 2013). New devices,
media forums, and mobility increase the flexibility for criminals.
On the “adult entertainment” websites, as they are called, the
images of women available for commercial sex acts are displayed. Some of the
images are made while the victim is engaged in sex acts. The Dutch Rapporteur
on Trafficking in Human Beings has noted that these images “constitute a new
dimension to victimhood” (“Monitoring Mechanisms,” 2010).
Traffickers for sexual exploitation can be flexible in how they
advertise victims to sex buyers. They may post advertisements on mainstream,
legitimate, public forums or post to a more marginal site that advertises
riskier, rougher sex acts. A website that offers women for prostitution may be
run by a criminal gang. A website like this can offer many women for sex acts
and also include a comments section, so men can write reviews of the women’s
performances (Gray, 2010). Digital
technology–assisted sexual exploitation is widespread in the EU, particularly
in countries where prostitution is legal or tolerated.
There are some positive aspects to the widespread use of digital
technology by traffickers. A record is made of all transactions and
communications. A smartphone holds a large amount of data that law enforcement
can use for investigation and prosecution of traffickers. “The internet has
been a good thing for police officers—it has brought all these worms to the
surface. We can now identify them and track them down,” said Jonathan Rouse,
Detective-Inspector with the Queensland Police in Australia in charge of a
taskforce on computer-facilitated crimes against children (UNODC, 2013).
Technologies are used for every aspect of sexual exploitation, from recruitment of victims, advertising the victims to sex buyers, coercing them with digital images, to monitoring their behavior. In addition, the financial management of the criminal business is often done online.
The Nexus of Gender, Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation, and
Digital Technologies in the EU
According to UNODC (2012), the European
region leads the world in trafficking for sexual exploitation. This specific
type of crime and human rights violation is the result of factors coming
together to enable the criminal victimization of thousands of women and girls.
This article reviewed the first statistical report on EU data on
trafficking in human beings by gender and type of exploitation. Then, the
article reviewed the use of digital technologies for trafficking for sexual exploitation
and forced labor. Three factors emerged—gender, trafficking for sexual
exploitation, and digital technologies—to create a nexus of exploitation of
women and girls facilitated by digital communication technologies. The nexus of
these factors is contributing to gender inequality in the EU, which all EU
governmental bodies are committed to eliminating.
Police and governmental bodies in the EU recognize the serious
nature of trafficking of human beings and combating it is a priority. In 2013,
Europol recommended a high-level response to trafficking in human beings (Europol, 2013).
EU governmental bodies also recognize the seriousness of trafficking
in human beings. For over a decade, they have issued directives and
recommendations on combating trafficking in human beings. Reports by EU
committees, police organizations, and rapporteurs call for making combating
trafficking in human beings a top priority, and almost all of them emphasize
the importance of understanding and combating the use of new technologies,
particularly the Internet. There have been calls for more research on
technologies used for trafficking to determine an appropriate response. The
Dutch National Rapporteur noted that the “Internet is becoming more anonymous
and more accessible at the same time” (“Monitoring Mechanisms,” 2010)
and called for more research on the use of the Internet for trafficking.
The important role that digital communications is playing in the
trafficking of human beings has been recognized as well by the European
Commission. In 2014, the European Commission intends to fund programs and
support projects that “aim to increase knowledge of recruitment over the
Internet and via social networks” (European Commission, 2012).
All aspects of trafficking in human beings need to be researched,
but when some factors, particularly gender, sexual exploitation, and digital
technologies, converge to create enhanced victimization, special attention is
needed to look at the nexus of the problem and not just the separate elements.
Trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation facilitated by digital
technologies has contributed to making Europe into the world region with the
largest amount of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
More research needs to be done on all aspects and categories of trafficking
in human beings. To date, most of the research and awareness raising has
focused on trafficking for sexual exploitation. More research is needed on
forced labor to better understand this type of trafficking in the EU. More
research is particularly needed on how digital communication technologies are
used to traffic women and girls for sexual exploitation in the EU.
This article looked at the data on gender and type of trafficking for all of the EU. It did not look at inter-EU regions or states or the intersection of gender, type of trafficking, and trafficking in human beings from regions and countries outside the EU. Further research and analysis is needed to look at the dynamics of sending and receiving countries, gender, type of trafficking, and the use of digital communication technologies.
Article Notes
·
Declaration of Conflicting
Interests The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
·
Funding The
author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of
this article.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).
Author *Donna M. Hughes is a professor and holds the Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed Chair in gender and women’s studies at the University of Rhode Island. She researches trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation. She teaches courses in human trafficking, slavery, and sexual violence and exploitation.
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