EP1: Herstory of trafficking: 120 years of regulating sex, morality and women's bodies

The Traffik Report

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This season of The Traffik Report is all about busting myths that people have about what trafficking is, where it happens and who it affects. We kick the season off by asking, why do we even refer to the economic and sexual exploitation of women and gender diverse people as “trafficking”? Where does that word come from? What assumptions are built into it? Elvira Truglia interviews Fay Faraday about the word’s origins, steeped in colonial race fears and sexual panic, and how that narrative continues to shape legal and policy responses to this day.

Hosted by Elvira Truglia and Fay Faraday
Click on the 'Transcript' tab to read the show transcript.

Resources:

Here is a link to Fay’s 2019 report, Deconstructing ‘Trafficking’ that is discussed on the show.

This community-based research, prepared for the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic’s Migrant Women’s Rights Project, highlights the gaps between women’s lived experiences and dominant labour and sex trafficking approaches. Have a look at it and join the conversation to advance legal rights and design responsive service delivery for migrant women’s rights!

This week’s episode looks at how trafficking is framed in international law and policy. Here's a link to the Palermo Protocol under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime that is the key document in international law addressing human trafficking.
The International Organization on Migration (IOM) works to promote international cooperation on migration issues. In 2017, the IOM organized the Global Compact on Migration to discuss various challenges related to global migration. For insight on how trafficking issues are framed in today’s international context, take a look at the IOM’s thematic paper on Combatting Trafficking in Persons and Contemporary Forms of Slavery.

To find out more about the range of issues and perspectives about human trafficking, see the annotated bibliography on human trafficking by the Refugee Research Network, commissioned by the Canadian Council for Refugees. The bibliography provides an overview of relevant literature on labour trafficking, forced labour, sex trafficking, forced marriage, child trafficking, violence against women, and issues that impact temporary foreign workers, non-status/undocumented workers, Indigenous women, and other groups.

Join the conversation

We’re interested in your feedback and how the podcast can help build mutual aid and communities of practice.

In this episode, we launched a ‘name challenge’. Can you think of a better term for ‘human traffcking’? Write to us, post on Facebook or tag us @TraffikReport with your suggestions!

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Credits: This podcast is produced by Elvira Truglia and Fay Faraday. We thank the Canadian Women’s Foundation for their financial support which has made this work possible.

Acknowledgement
For all those listening to the podcast from coast to coast to coast on Turtle Island, we acknowledge that we a