Since there's so very little written (at least that I've come across) on the intersections between 'anti-trafficking,' sex work and migration, I thought I'd put the following article by Saunders up here.
Migration, Sex Work, and Trafficking in Persons
Penelope Saunders
(A condensed version of this article was published as "Working on the Inside: Migration, Sex Work and Trafficking in Persons," in Legal Link (Australia), Vol. 11, No. 2, 2000.)
The prevention of "trafficking in women and children" has become a priority for service agencies and policy makers throughout the world. New wording on trafficking has been included in documents about women's rights such as the progress report on the Beijing Platform for Action ("Beijing Plus Five") and a new protocol on trafficking in persons is currently being drafted by the UN Crimes Commission in Vienna. However, even though millions of dollars of funding are being pumped into initiatives to research, define and prevent the phenomenon known as trafficking, this framework remains tied to fears about sexuality, sexual slavery and the "White Slave Trade" which have existed since the nineteenth century. Thus, even though some progressive advocates of women's rights have come to see that "trafficking in women and children" is not synonymous with prostitution and vice versa, this new international concern is one that must be thoroughly understood by supporters of sex workers rights.
