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Preventing Sex Trafficking
Preventing Sex Trafficking
This Dissertation is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of MA International
Community Development.
1. INTRODUCTION
This research is about the trafficking of women for the purpose of sexual exploitation, which is
also known as sexual slavery. It aims to explore the factors which shape women's choices
and how they enter the trafficking situation in order to contribute to the current knowledge
According to Kathleen Berry, a famous activist and author, 'pimping' is 'the oldest profession
and not prostitution' (Banerjee, 2003: 194). Popular discourse has it that those working in the
sex industry are there by choice, but as people go through our day-to-day routines, sex
trafficking is resulting in 'years of bondage, violent abuse and sometimes even death' (UNDP,
2009: 102) for countless women around the world. What is sex trafficking? It is 'the buying,
means such as coercion and deception, for the express purpose of exploiting them'
(Gallagher, 2006: 142) for sexual purposes. It is the largest specific sub-category of
international slavery (U.S. Dept. of State, 2007). According to the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act (ibid: 27), sex trafficking is a severe form of trafficking in which a person is
induced by 'force, fraud or coercion' to engage in a commercial sex act and/or in which that
person has not reached the age of 18. It is considered the most dangerous form of trafficking
as women are constantly exposed to many forms of abuse and Human Immunodeficiency
Virus (HIV) (Sulaimanova, 2003). It is a restriction of human freedom and a violation basic
human rights (UNDP, 2009); most women are never free, and they suffer various forms of
abuse meant to force them into compliance (Zimmerman, 2006). While traffickers are able to
launder the money made from exploiting these women, the women themselves usually end
up with nothing (Pyshchulina, 2002). Not only is sex trafficking a serious crime, it is also a
development problem (Laczko and Danailova-Trainor, 2009). Too many victims have to deal
with the results of trafficking on their own, with many of them being trafficked again
(Armstrong, 2008).
Routine Activities Theory used in Criminology (Siegel, 2003, as quoted in Broderick, 2005)
and the causes of trafficking according to Padre Cesare as quoted in Bastone (2007: 188).
SUPPLY DEMAND
Absence of
capable
guardians
+
Push+Pull Deciding Accepting of
Factors: + Factor: → Offer
vulnerabilitie credibility (suitable
s, hopes, of offer victims)
strengths
+
Motivated
Offenders
(traffickers,
pimps)
↓
Predatory + Customers → Sex
Crime (johns) Trafficking
(supplied
brothels)
take place. Traffickers take advantage of the vulnerabilities, hopes and strengths of these
women, making them false offers in order to lure them into their traps. This does not occur in
a situation without guardians, such as parents or law enforcement, but sometimes these
“guardians” are not capable in protecting these women for whatever reasons. This leads to
the women being brought to these “brothels” - this is the supply side. On the demand side,
there are the customers/johns who are willing to pay for 'sex work'. Without demand, there
would be no market for criminals to supply; without demand, there would be no “brothels” and
no sex trafficking.
Within this framework, the research looks at the topic of sex trafficking of women in Ukraine
and Thailand, two very different countries facing the same problem, and explores the key
factors in both locations to see what the similarities are and what the differences are. These
two countries were chosen, because they represent two different groups of women who are
well-known for being trafficking victims. However, while Thailand has been known as a centre
of sexual tourism for decades, prostitution is a new issue in Ukraine; only after the break-up of
the Soviet Union in 1991 did the trafficking of women to the West appear here (Sulaimanova,
How can sex trafficking and re-trafficking be prevented at the grassroots level?
b. What are the stories behind the women? Do these match the typical
What are the opinions of these women on how sex trafficking can be prevented? Do
So the push and pull factors along with the deciding factors which lead to the acceptance of
an offer are looked at. Throughout the research, it is kept in mind that there is also re-
The structure of the dissertation is as follows: after this chapter, there is the Literature Review
chapter, which briefly puts the issue in a global context, discusses the current knowledge and
then talks about the situation in Ukraine and Thailand separately. The next chapter is the
Methodology and Methods chapter, which covers the methodology, the original intentions
behind the research design, the difficulties that have been faced and the research that was
actually carried out including limitations. This chapter is followed by the Results: Presentation
and Discussion chapter, which contains a reflection on the expert interviews, a presentation of
what was captured in the focus group and then a discussion on how these findings compare
with each other. After this is the Conclusion chapter, which summarizes the key findings
3.1 Methodology
the belief that the external world is complicated and our having different
perceptions of this world reflects this complex, shared objective mind (Snape
and Spencer, 2003:16). According to Banfield (2004), this position lies between
the fallibility of human knowledge. Smith (1998) believes 'subtle realism', along
pragmatism', which values practical wisdom and reflexivity and should also
display transparency; this stance rejects generating knowledge for the sake of
bringing theory and practice together in order to assist social change towards a
This research also takes the position of Feminism, which hold theoretical and
belief in empowering women and gaining knowledge in order to help bring about
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changes and improve the situation of women (Wadsworth, 2001). The
'complex behaviours, needs, systems and cultures' (Richie and Spencer, 1994:
173). This preference is also to allow the women to give voice to their
experience, using the telling of their own stories to start critical consciousness,
This study is a cross-sectional one with the aim of obtaining a picture of the
issue at a certain point in time, obtaining from this picture the social
traffickers in order to identify the needs of the community (Kumar, 2005); this is
for the purpose of preventing the trafficking of new victims and re-trafficking of
re-integrated victims.
It was always the dissertation's intention that sampling be small and the results
Starting from the opinion that there are unmet needs which lead to people's
carried out. Based on the results, suggestions were made in hopes that they
organisations involved with the fight against trafficking. These groups included
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organisation in Thailand working in prevention, an organisation working with
migrants in general in the United Kingdom; this information was provided in the
Some studies used interviews with victims to carry out research, such as Farley,
M. et al, who carried out research in nine countries (2003); Zimmerman, who
studied seven different countries (2006); and Lisborg, who carried out studies in
two countries (2009). Other studies, such as Brunovskis and Surtees’ used
interviews of key informants along with trafficking victims (2007). Kiryan and van
Other studies did not require the participation of victims, such as Pukdeetanakul
(2007), who used literature reviews and consultations with government officials.
Another such study was Yamada’s (2007), which only used a literature review.
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3.3 Original Intentions
Both the specified methods used and the sampling were determined by the
organisations that gave access and the participants who volunteered for this
also offered for the researcher to tour one of their rehabilitation facilities. Two
experts, one from the same organisation in Kiev and another from a different
3.4 Difficulties
participation from the first organisation in Bangkok. When the contact person
started writing that there would not be enough time for the women to take part in
for this group instead even though it would mean mixing quantitative and
qualitative methods. The survey was also meant to be small-scale and not
the sensitive nature of the research, it was not possible to find another group in
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The second difficulty appeared immediately before the researcher was due to
fly to Kiev. Although able to endure the flights with health issues and, with the
help of the organisation, able to attend the focus group and expert interview, the
The next difficulty encountered had to do with access again - the organisation in
Ukraine had mentioned they would help carrying out a survey for this research,
group in Kiev and then translated into both Thai and Ukrainian, it was not used;
The fourth difficulty encountered was one of political nature. The “red shirt”
Asia, and hence, the expert interview had to be conducted via email.
Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, extra care had to be taken to ensure
that the research was ethical – in addition to requiring approval from the
Consent form to be translated into the local languages. The original English
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version is included in the appendices along with the Ukrainian and Thai
versions.
participate and which people the researcher would get to talk to within those
organisations.
In this study, a focus group was carried out with a group in Kiev. The focus
tool to allow the participants to talk about their experiences and opinions in the
first part of the focus group; however, the women only required the researcher's
asking about their childhoods for them to tell their stories. They were also
the second part of this interview, the participants were asked to brainstorm and
the organisation.
After this, the questionnaire was composed and translated into both languages.
analysed in any way, such as the way professional art therapists analyse patient
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drawings – instead, this activity was meant to allow the women to have an
information sheet containing the research's findings, which could visually remind
the women that they were not alone. Unfortunately, as mentioned in section 3.4
above, although the translated interviews were mailed out, the researcher was
not able to survey the women in these groups. The survey was not meant to be
The interviews of a key expert in Bangkok and a key expert in Kiev, were also
be used for the purpose of triangulation. The expert interview in Kiev was
conducted in-person after the focus group was finished, through the same
from the interviewer. The expert interview in Bangkok was changed to an email
stated among the difficulties faced; as such, the interview was conducted as a
3.5.2 Analysis
Analysis of the qualitative data will be carried out using the method named
Centre for Social Research (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994, as quoted in Ritchie et
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al., 2003) in the context of applied policy research, which aims to provide
easy access to the original material and also allows both inter- and intra-case
analysis (Richie and Spencer, 1994). This method has five key stages, and
indexing; charting and mapping and interpretation (Lacey and Luff, 2007). For
the Focus Group and Interview in Ukraine, thematic charts were constructed as
part of this process, from which summary tables were created in order to
organise and display results; afterwards, descriptive analysis was carried out
with the use of tables to illustrate the variety of responses. As the Thailand
interview was quite brief and structured, however, its analysis has been
shortened so that the charting was limited to the organisation of one that
3.5.3 Limitations
Disregarding the difficulties described above, there were other factors which
limited the research. It would have been helpful if in-depth interviews could
have been carried out with the women in Ukraine individually, after the focus
group. That would have allowed for more time and privacy for each woman to
more fully voice her story and opinions. However, this would not have been
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possible due to time constraints.
It would also have been helpful if the expert interview in Thailand were less
structured so that there could be more room for the expert to share
questions were asked via email, upon reflection, it may also have been better to
expert in person.
The strength of this research was the way in which the participants interacted
during the focus group, prompting the sharing of stories, opinions and feelings
without the need for much prompting. The generous sharing of knowledge by
the expert in Kiev was also helpful. Next is a presentation and discussion on
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Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 2
1.1 The Research .....................................................................................................2
1.2 Structure of the Research ..................................................................................5
3. METHODOLOGY AND METHODS .......................................................................... 6
3.1 Methodology ......................................................................................................6
3.2 Previous Studies .................................................................................................8
3.3 Original Intentions ............................................................................................. 9
3.4 Difficulties..........................................................................................................9
3.5 Actual Methods Used .......................................................................................10
3.5.1 Data Collection .................................................................................... 10
3.5.2 Analysis ............................................................................................... 12
3.5.3 Limitations........................................................................................... 13
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 18
Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 19
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Index of Tables and Figures
Figure 1.1: Framework for this study ................................................................... 9
Table 4.1: Descriptive Analysis of Expert Interview in Ukraine .......................... 40
Table 4.2: Descriptive Analysis of Expert Interview in Thailand ........................ 44
Table 4.3: Summary Chart for Focus Group in Ukraine ..................................... 47
Table 4.4: Descriptive Analysis for Focus Group in Ukraine .............................. 50
Figure 4.1: Childhoods of Women in Focus Group ......................................... ..53
Figure 4.2: Feedback Relationship between Marital Disruption and Economic Situation56
Figure 4.3: Entering the Trafficking Situation..................................................... 57
Table 4.5: Feelings of Victims............................................................................ 58
Table 4.6: Post-Rehabilitation Feelings ............................................................ 61
Table 4.6: Recommendations by the Women .................................................... 62
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Appendices
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank her supervisor, Professor Gary Craig from
Durham University, for being an inspiring teacher and generously sharing his
experience, knowledge and time. She would also like to thank Professor
Roland Stahl from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts for his
addition, she would also like to thank the organisations that took part in this
study and the brave women who agreed to participate. A special thank you
must be extended to Doctor Meli for sponsoring the research. Last but not
least, she would like to thank her 2-year-old son, Leonard (Leo), for his patience
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Abstract
This study explored the factors that make women vulnerable to sex trafficking
An expert in Thailand was also interviewed. While other factors may be more
Thailand and Ukraine suggest that the current literature is correct. In Ukraine,
the lack of access to jobs, not necessarily a lack of education, made women
transition to a free market in the absence of a social safety net also contributed;
and marital disruption leading to single parenting was also a major factor. There
is also a need for awareness raising campaigns letting women know where to
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