Ideology and the Fight Against Human Trafficking by Reyhan Atasü-Topcuoğlu

Author:Reyhan Atasü-Topcuoğlu [Atasü-Topcuoğlu, Reyhan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Emigration & Immigration, Sociology, General, Criminology
ISBN: 9781317638209
Google: zhDEBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-10-10T02:44:51+00:00

Possibility of Change in Ideological Closure

The migration nexus tends to be challenged in the national field. This is partly due to practice and partly to the functioning of NGOs. Projects of border and migration control have not brought the expected decrease in the number of victims. As NGOs get involved more with the TFCT, alternative transnational discussions are injected into the national counter-trafficking field. For example, the connections between La Strada branches in different countries have grown stronger with the establishment of La Strada International and its periodical. La Strada International also has become a member of the ECOSOC, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, meaning that it has attained better dialogue with transnational actors. Last of all, Ukrainian citizens do not favour strict migration policies.

Getting a visa for Europe is very hard. Embassies in Ukraine behave badly toward Ukrainian citizens. Citizens direct their complaints to the Ministry of Interior. But that ministry has no influence on the embassies. (La Strada–Ukraine, Coordinator of National Hotline, Expert 18)

Such discontent, as well as the cooperation culture, may bring about some softening in the migration discourse.

The whole problem is not migration itself. But it is lack of awareness on how to migrate properly. (OSCE, Project Coordinator in Ukraine, Human Rights Project Manager, Expert 17)

Some NGO experts did talk about stigmatisation that occurred when trafficked people returned home. This stigmatisation is a part omitted by nearly all of the transnational organisations. The return process is conceptualised only as a journey of the ‘victims’ of human trafficking. In fact there is also a story through the eyes of the community and it is not always very hospitable. Stigmatisation is a serious problem.

There is high level of stigmatization against women who were trafficked into the sex sector and afterwards returned, especially in rural areas. (International Humanitarian Centre: “Rozrada” Centre of Practical Psychology; Director, Expert 19).

The stigmatisation problem is also noted in a recent study that evaluates the counter-trafficking activities in Ukraine (Gerasymenko, 2012). One has to keep in mind that prostitution is illegal in Ukraine.

There are registered brothels. But due to poverty, street prostitution is very common. The authorities do not intervene. (Businessman Association, Expert 20).

Although legalisation of prostitution is a strong argument in discussions on counter-trafficking, it has never been an issue in the Ukrainian field, and the subject still remains taboo. Therefore in Ukraine the stigmatisation argument has to be taken more seriously. Having received the counter-trafficking service, the ‘victim’ finds herself back in her country of origin usually faced with stigmatisation.

As one of the dynamics of both human trafficking and counter- trafficking, a conflict persists between the Ukrainians who wish to migrate and the countries that aim to prevent migration. The rejection of the will to migrate and the stigmatisation of the ex-migrant at home may result in the questioning of the migration nexus.

The trends in the Ukrainian field of counter-trafficking show that there is a dialectic relation between the configuration of the field and ideological closure. As seen in the concrete

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.