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Clemente, M. (2021). The human trafficking idea in the Portuguese neo-liberal counter-trafficking apparatus. 8th Ethnography and Qualitative Research International Conference.

M. Clemente,  "The human trafficking idea in the Portuguese neo-liberal counter-trafficking apparatus", in 8th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Int. Conf., 2021

@misc{clemente2021_1776700094392,
	author = "Clemente, M.",
	title = "The human trafficking idea in the Portuguese neo-liberal counter-trafficking apparatus",
	year = "2021",
	howpublished = "Digital",
	url = "http://www.etnografiaricercaqualitativa.it"
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - The human trafficking idea in the Portuguese neo-liberal counter-trafficking apparatus
T2  - 8th Ethnography and Qualitative Research International Conference
AU  - Clemente, M.
PY  - 2021
UR  - http://www.etnografiaricercaqualitativa.it
AB  - When I started researching “human trafficking” in Portugal, I found myself in an unexpected and sometimes disorienting situation. Documentary research has suggested that in the years following the 2000 United Nations Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, and in the wake of a broader international trend, alarmist concerns about “sex trafficking” contributed to the fight against trafficking, a position that also entered the Portuguese agenda. Here, despite limited evidence regarding its prevalence, the potential exploitation of women in the sex market has contributed to the implementation of international and European policies and the building of a counter-trafficking system. However, during the process of consolidating this system, migrant women “trafficked” in the sex market were excluded from the rescue priorities. Instead, other “victims” and forms of trafficking appeared in discourse, forming in some cases a baroque portrait of Portuguese citizens: people characterized by problems with mental health, drugs or alcohol, who have been trafficked by family organizations; migrants exploited in rural Alentejo; and minors and adults exploited via begging or through being trafficked for illegal adoption or organ removal. What might have been the welcome emancipation of trafficking from its historical association with prostitution, or even the unlikely outcome of a successful fight against it, was soon reduced to media-friendly stereotypes and social policy clichés. Meanwhile, migrant women in the sex market, whose exploitation could be considered as exemplifying trafficking, remain excluded from the possibility of protection and conspicuously absent from research and policy agendas, a situation that calls into question the extent to which the current counter-trafficking system is fit for purpose. This state of affairs explains why my presentation questions the apparent disappearance of sex trafficking from the idea of trafficking in Portugal. To respond, I analyse the construction of the counter-trafficking field in the country, using the analytical tools of “field” and “ideological closure”. I argue that in a context of violent conflict around the sale of sex, as well as the intensive institutionalization of counter-trafficking, the overarching goal of building a counter-trafficking field has served to restrict the parameters of trafficking, with sex trafficking substantially excluded. The paper is based on two research projects, following an ethnographic approach, employing a combination of documentary research, observation and qualitative interviews with representatives of governmental and inter-governmental organizations, police, non-governmental organizations and trafficked migrants.
ER  -