Activists and feminist organizations have historically played a leading role in the fight against human trafficking, which has long been identified with prostitution. Focusing on Portugal, this paper investigates the role of feminists and feminist organizations in counter-trafficking during the last two decades. It analyzes their discourses on trafficking and related political demands. This paper examines how these organizations question or reinforce some of the most controversial outcomes of current policies and actions, including those produced by approaches that focus on national security and criminal justice. This paper argues that, where there are weak civil society and feminist organizations, as well as an intensive institutionalization of counter-trafficking, feminist organizations lack the ability to produce alternative discourses that could challenge the dominant position. Instead, counter-trafficking remains a controversial neoliberal space that silences various organizations, including feminist organizations, and leaves little room for contributing to social change.

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Civil society,Feminism,Human trafficking,Portugal