Human Trafficking and Media Myths: Federal Funding, Communication Strategies, and Canadian Anti-Trafficking Programs

Abstract

This article looks at debates over human trafficking by considering the linkages between federal funding, media myths, and non-governmental organization (NGO) activities

Representations of Transnational Human Trafficking: A Critical Review

“…Wylie (2016) instead identifies the Palermo Protocol as part of the lifecycle. This increase in reporting would, initially, appear to be a positive development, as the public's and (untrained) practitioners' understanding of what HT is, and who the victims are, is dependent on media representations (De Shalit, Heynen, & Van der Meulen, 2014;Denton, 2010;Farrell & Fahy, 2009;Papadouka, Evangelopoulos, & Ignatow, 2016;Sanford, Martínez, & Weitzer, 2016;Sobel, 2016). Problematically, however, the 'master' narrative of HT (Snajdr, 2013; see also Wilson & O'Brien, 2016), or the version of the story of human trafficking that has become the new normal (Wylie, 2016), is full of, and based on, unreliable statistics, maps, and visual images, and selective, binary, and simplified representations (ibid.).…”

“…Male irregular migrants are generally presumed smuggled, thus presumed as having consented to their movement, whereas female irregular migrants are generally presumed trafficked, as not having consented to movement (De Shalit et al, 2014;Musto, 2009). As a result, the (male) smuggled migrant is criminalised, whilst the (female) trafficked migrant is assigned victim-status (Hua & Nigorizawa, 2010, pp.…”

“…The stereotypical global victim of trafficking is '[a] young, naïve woman who seeks a better life away from her rural home by answering an advertisement to become a waitress or a nanny and then ends up a sex slave, repeatedly raped, brutalised, and resold to other mafia pimps' (Lobasz, 2009, p. 340): she is female (Alvarez & Alessi, 2012;Andrijasevic & Mai, 2016;Columb, 2015;De Shalit et al, 2014;de Villiers, 2016;Dijk, 2013;Duong, 2014;Farrell & Fahy, 2009;Hall, 2015;Johnston, Friedman, & Sobel, 2015;Lobasz, 2009;O'Brien, 2016;Pajnik, 2010;Plambech, 2016;Russell, 2014;Sanchez, 2016;Sanford et al, 2016;Sharma, 2005;Small, 2012;Sobel, 2016;Szörényi & Eate, 2014;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016;Yick, 2010), young (Andrijasevic & Mai, 2016;de Villiers, 2016;Dijk, 2013;Farrell & Fahy, 2009;Hall, 2015;Hua & Nigorizawa, 2010;Johnston et al, 2015;Kara, 2010;Lobasz, 2009;O'Brien, 2016;Sanchez, 2016;Sanford et al, 2016;Small, 2012;Szörényi & Eate, 2014;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016;Yick, 2010), and unwilling to per...…”

“…The trafficker, in the meanwhile, is painted as 'big and bad', a shadowy, mysterious, powerful figure, often male (De Shalit et al, 2014;de Villiers, 2016;Hua & Nigorizawa, 2010;Lobasz, 2009;Moore & Goldberg, 2015;O'Brien, 2016;Pajnik, 2010;Plambech, 2016;Sanford et al, 2016;Sobel, 2016;Wilson & O'Brien, 2016;Yick, 2010), with generally no mention of whether the victim and trafficker had any prior relation. The offender is simply established as the polar opposite of the victim (Szörényi & Eate, 2014), even though in reality, this distinction may be unclear.…”

“…The offender is simply established as the polar opposite of the victim (Szörényi & Eate, 2014), even though in reality, this distinction may be unclear. There are indicators that a substantial number of traffickers have previously been trafficked (De Shalit et al, 2014;Moore & Goldberg, 2015). Lastly, 'Johns', or the consumers of sex work, are only occasionally mentioned (O'Brien, 2016;Sobel, 2016), only occasionally held responsible for sex trafficking, and are generally identified as male (Kara, 2010;Moore & Goldberg, 2015;Sanchez, 2016).…”