Actors & Activities in the Anti-Human Trafficking Movement

Author: Foot, Kirsten

Abstract: Human trafficking is one of the dark sides of globalization, and efforts to stem the trafficking tide have been largely ineffective to date, due in part to a low level of coordination between concerned stakeholders. Recent surveys of the literature on human trafficking note that anti-trafficking efforts are understudied (Laczko, 2005, Mattar, 2004, Schauer and Wheaton, 2006). This chapter aims to help remedy the lack of knowledge about the anti-trafficking movement, by presenting findings from a 2008 survey of the websites of nearly 150 anti-trafficking actors, including national and international governmental bodies, law enforcement agencies, nongovernmental organisations, and community organisations, operating in every region of the world. Findings include regional and worldwide patterns in the types of actors engaged in anti-trafficking work (e.g. governmental, nongovernmental, intergovernmental, etc.), the geographical bases and operational areas of anti-trafficking activity, and the dominant types of anti-trafficking activity in each geographical area.

Keywords: human trafficking, anti-human trafficking movement, stakeholders, government bodies, law enforcement, nongovernment organisations, community organisations