Social Justice Within Transitional Justice: The Case of Human Trafficking and Sex-Work in Cambodia and Myanmar

Anti-Trafficking (ILL-)Efforts

“…This is especially worrying as the (consistent) use of condoms by sex workers is positively correlated with the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2013: 17), and thus impacts upon the health of sex workers and their clients. As we identified in our study on Cambodia and (Szablewska and Bradley, 2015b) antitrafficking legislative and policy responses often lead to negative consequences for sex workers' access to healthcare and preventive services (see also an earlier study by Kinney, 2006). Thus, even though the LSHTSE does not make sex work illegal it makes it difficult for sex workers to operate legally in Cambodia, which has pushed many sex workers underground, making this group more vulnerable to abuse as vital support services have become less accessible (Center for Health and Gender Equity and Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law, 2010).…”

Anti-Human Trafficking Campaigns

“…Although the current data indicate that 51% of victims of human trafficking are women and the majority of human traffickers are male, the proportion of women who are convicted of trafficking (37%), and men who are victims of human trafficking (21%), warrants a shift in the common understanding of human trafficking (UNODC, 2016). Furthermore, the available data must be read with caution; since countries' anti-human trafficking legislation and policies often focus exclusively or predominantly on trafficking of women (and children) (particularly in relation to sexual exploitation), the trafficking of men (or women regarding forced labour) goes less frequently detected and reported (see also Szablewska & Bradley, 2015). This calls for the full spectrum of human trafficking to be presented and addressed by anti-human trafficking campaigns (Andrijasevic, 2007;Schloenhardt et al, 2012;Steele, 2015), while refraining from fetishisation, erotisation or sexual objectification of women (approaches that are habitually used in campaigns aimed at combating trafficking for sexual exploitation) (Stiles, 2012).…”