British Journal of Criminology Advance Access originally published online on July 6, 2005
British Journal of Criminology 2006 46(2):318-333; doi:10.1093/bjc/azi070
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The British Journal of Criminology 46:318-333 (2006)
© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Stopping Traffic?
A Comparative Study of Responses to the Trafficking in Women for Prostitution
* School of Law, Kings College London, Strand Campus, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK; vanessa.munro{at}kcl.ac.uk.
Set against the backdrop of counter-trafficking initiatives at international level, this article draws on the findings of a comparative study that investigated (through semi-structured interviews with officials and interest groups) the merits and demerits of domestic level responses in the United Kingdom, Australia, Holland, Sweden and Italy. In a context in which trafficking in women for sexual purposes can be understood through the lens of numerous frameworks (human rights, criminality, prostitution policy, immigration, social exclusion, etc.), this article examines the extent to which these different agendas have influenced the construction and operation of the respective domestic regimes. More specifically, it illustrates the extent to which the ambiguities inherent in the United Nations most recent Anti-Trafficking Protocol permit scope for the incorporation and/or perpetuation of discretion at domestic level. Highlighting the underlying tensions between competing immigration, human rights, policing and social services imperatives, the differential resolution of which leads to the divergence in domestic response, this article situates this complex engagement in the broader context of debates about globalization, exploitation and prostitution.