Thiemann, IK; (2017) She is not just a victim. An intersectional feminist labour law approach to human trafficking into the sex industry. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Existing legislation and policy has mostly considered human trafficking as a criminal law problem. When the needs of trafficked persons have been taken into account, this has been on a victim protection basis, rather than by focussing on their rights as workers, migrants and women. This thesis conceptualises human trafficking into the sex industry as an intersectional issue of gendered labour law, gendered migration law and policy, and patriarchal concepts of appropriate female sexuality and resulting views on prostitution. By exploring existing human trafficking narratives and legislation from this intersectional perspective, this thesis exposes the idealised victim category in human trafficking discourse. Further, an analysis of international and domestic human trafficking legislation demonstrates that this victim category persists at UN and EU level, as well as in the domestic legislation of England and Wales and Germany. Whereas the international level includes the problematic legacy of historic counter-trafficking legislation, the analysis of the domestic implementation is enriched with on-the-ground experiences of non-governmental organisations work with and on behalf of actual trafficked women and migrant sex workers. Finally, this thesis introduces an intersectional feminist reproductive labour law approach, which is based on the acknowledgment of the intersectional vulnerability of migrant women sex workers. This approach combines existing work, which reframes human trafficking within labour exploitation with a feminist critique of existing labour law. Taking into account migration as an additional layer of vulnerability for women reproductive workers, this approach reframes reproductive labour, including sex work, as commodifiable work. This reconceptualisation creates the foundation for the extension of labour protections to all workers, including trafficked persons. By doing so, it also creates the possibility to oppose the existing trafficking narrative.

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