What is it about?

Whereas the NGOs that provide after-care, case management and shelter care tend to describe themselves as responding to human trafficking and sexual violence, this paper argues that the shelters are better understood as responding to traditional gender norms, discrimination and gender-based violence. This paper is based on interviews conducted with young women who were former clients at the shelters. During their interviews, we asked them if they could explain a little about their experiences of relocating to the shelters. The women emphasized that they had sought help from the NGOs to overcome the social discrimination that they faced. They needed support not just because of the exceptional criminal sexual violence that they had experienced, but because of the routine, discrimination that they faced and their construction as broken/bad women. Based on the young women's voices we argue that the rhetoric of human trafficking tends to distract from the real gendered social problems in Cambodia. Only providing assistance to identified victims of sexual violence also risks imposing symbolic violence on the women (for example, many think of girls from the shelters as being bad and needing to be corrected). Instead of positioning themselves as providing services to victims of sexual violence, instead we propose that the shelters describe themselves as providing support to girls and women who have experienced discrimination. The primary argument, therefore, is that the emphasis on human trafficking can divert attention from rights-based policies aimed at addressing sexual and gender-based violence.

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Why is it important?

Trafficking victims tend to be presented as traumatized, weak and submissive. But the label of human trafficking can distract from the real social problems and issues. The women we interviewed had certainly experienced trauma, but they were strong and determined to gain justice and overcome their designation as bad broken women.

Perspectives

Policies, programs and humanitarian interventions are best developed in response to evidence and the perspectives of those who are closest to the social action - especially the least powerful. It is necessary to go beneath labels such as human trafficking, and to try and understand social problems, abuse neglect, discrimination, exploitation and injustice in its social and cultural context. Through listening and involving people we can aspire to the development of more meaningful interventions and responsive regulation.

Dr Luke S Bearup
Australian National University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Gendered Struggles and Competing Discourses: Pathways to Shelter in Cambodia, Journal of Human Trafficking, December 2020, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/23322705.2020.1855899.
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