Conclusion
Current anti-trafficking interventions aimed at identifying individual victims and criminals, and at containing the ‘threat’ of human trafficking at the national border, are set to continue within the context of the dominant victim/criminal-centred legal and policy anti-trafficking frameworks. These frameworks continue to reinforce a very specific ethics-worthiness boundary, defined by the neoliberal construction of value, which determines who is worthy of our ethical response and who is not. Undertaken as a matter of law enforcement and moralised rescue, such interventions will continue to feed the need for “extraction and humanitarian reprocessing of a destitution”,52 without fundamentally altering broader neoliberal structures, which normalise unfreedom, coercion, and exploitation, and which policy and media discourses often imagine as ‘human trafficking’, ‘modern-day slavery’, forced labour, or, ‘simply’, as discrete labour law infringements within the contexts of both formal and informal economies. Such a trajectory of limited security-driven humanitarianism cancels out a possibility in which improved material circumstances of the exploited ‘Other’ –in what is defined as both ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ economies – could be incorporated into ‘Our’ everyday life of ‘living well for less’, without such ‘good life’ being compromised. The very need for changing material circumstances remains dispersed, since the very nature of such everyday suffering remains “ordinary, chronic, and cruddy rather than catastrophic, crisis-laden, and sublime”; yet it also remains productive, and therefore necessary, rather than abnormal, oscillating between the state of “neither great crisis nor final redemption”.53 As Eisenstein54 notes:
[a]s policymakers convince the public that poverty, homelessness, and the other corrosive effects of neoliberal capitalism are no longer the responsibility of government, there is increasing acceptance by the middle class of a permanent zone of hell to which the ‘under-class’ is consigned, without hope of redemption.
The shifting of media and policy attention, from neoliberalism and its predatory logic to the narrowly defined groups of ‘victims’ in need of our charity and humanitarianism, removes the need to imagine a new form of relatedness (mutually constituted, both through discourse as well as the material flesh – described by Povinelli55 as ‘enfleshment’) in which the corporeal embodiment of our good life through, and in, abused and exploited bodies of the unknown ‘Others’ is replaced by a new organisation of ethical response, in which the equivalence of ‘Our’ good life and ‘Their’ suffering is fundamentally reimagined. Within such context, the separation of human trafficking from informal economies reflects the operation of the biopolitical matrix of power (to exploit and, at the same time, to limit what counts as exploitation, abuse, coercion, and unfreedom in law, policy, and public imagination), bodies (bodies exploited and bodies dependent on the exploited ones), life (assessed on the basis of its contribution to the production of value), death (expected, trivial, and projected), and, finally, of the ethics of encounter, within which the dispersal of guilt and responsibility continues to prevail over responding to others’ suffering and joy.
Notes
1 Bacchetta, M., Ernst, E., and Bustamante, J.P., Globalisation and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries: A Joint Study of the International Labour Office and the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (Geneva: International Labour Office and World Trade Organization, 2009), p. 23.
2 International Labour Organization, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015: Scaling up Investments in Decent Jobs for Youth (Geneva: ILO, 2015), p. 1–2.
3 Heyes, J. and Lewis, P., “Employment Protection Under Fire: Labour Market Deregulation and Employment in the European Union” (2014) 35(4) Economic and Industrial Democracy 587.
4 Hart, K., “Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana” (1973) 11(1) The Journal of Modern African Studies 61.
5 Bacchetta, M., Ernst, E., and Bustamante, J.P., Globalisation and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries: A Joint Study of the International Labour Office and the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (Geneva: International Labour Office and World Trade Organization, 2009), p. 40.
6 The ILO standard-setting remit allows it to issue a range of documents setting out basic principles and rights to work. They take the form of either conventions, which are legally binding, or recommendations, which are non-binding, issue-specific guidelines. For more information, see www.ilo.org/global/standards/introduction-to-international-labour-standards/conventions-and-recommendations/lang--en/index.htm.
7 International Labour Organization, R204 –Transition From the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation (Geneva: ILO, 2015).
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 European Commission, Commission Staff Working Document Impact Assessment Accompanying the Communication From the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council – An Action Plan to strengthen the Fight Against Tax Fraud and Tax Evasion (Brussels: SWD, 2012) 403 final.
11 Ibid.
12 Bacchetta, M., Ernst, E., and Bustamante, J.P., Globalisation and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries: A Joint Study of the International Labour Office and the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (Geneva: International Labour Office and World Trade Organization, 2009), p. 52.
13 Huitfeldt, H. and Jütting, J., Informality and Informal Employment (OECD, 2009).
14 International Labour Organization, R204 –Transition From the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation (Geneva: ILO, 2015).
15 See Chen, M.A., Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages With the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment (New York: DESA Working Paper 36, 2007); Bacchetta, M., Ernst, E., and Bustamante, J.P., Globalisation and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries: A Joint Study of the International Labour Office and the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (Geneva: International Labour Office and World Trade Organization, 2009).
16 Ibid.
17 Huitfeldt, H. and Jütting, J., Informality and Informal Employment (Paris: OECD, 2009), pp. 95 & 100.
18 Chen, M.A., Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages With the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment (New York: DESA Working Paper 36, 2007), p. 10.
19 Ibid., p. 2.
20 International Labour Organization, R204 –Transition From the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation (Geneva: ILO, 2015).
21 Chen, M.A., Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages With the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment (New York: DESA Working Paper 36, 2007), p. 2.
22 Bacchetta, M., Ernst, E., and Bustamante, J.P., Globalisation and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries: A Joint Study of the International Labour Office and the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (Geneva: International Labour Office and World Trade Organization, 2009), p. 12.
23 Ibid., p. 13.
24 Ibid.
25 Bacchi, B., Analysing Policy: What’s the Problem Represented to Be? (Pearson Education Australia, 2009).
26 Gallagher, A., “Without Trafficking, What Would Happen to Global Wealth and Productivity?” The Guardian (London, 28 July 2015).
27 Gozdziak, E.M., “Data Matters: Issues and Challenges for Research on Trafficking”, in Dragiewicz, M. (ed.), Global Human Trafficking: Critical Issues and Contexts (London: Routledge, 2014), p. 28.
28 Mahdavi, P., Gridlock: Labor, Migration, and Human Trafficking in Dubai (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011), p. 13.
29 Standing, G., The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011), p. 6.
30 Povinelli, E.A., Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2011), p. 183.
31 Peters, J., “Labour Market Deregulation and the Decline of Labour Power in North America and Western Europe” (2008) 27 Policy and Society 83, p. 84.
32 Ibid., p. 85.
33 Shelley, T., Exploited: Migrant Labour in the New Global Economy (London: Zed Bo
oks, 2007), p. 6.
34 Yusuff, O.S., “A Theoretical Analysis of the Concept of Informal Economy and Informality in Developing Countries” (2011) 20(4) European Journal of Social Sciences 624, p. 628.
35 Povinelli, E.A., Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2011), p. 19.
36 International Labour Organization, ILO 2012 Global Estimate of Forced Labour: Executive Summary (Geneva: ILO, 2012).
37 Burke, J. and Hammadi, S., “Bangladesh Textile Factory Fire Leaves More Than 100 Dead” The Guardian (London, 25 November 2012).
38 The Guardian, “Rana Plaza” The Guardian (London, January 2017).
39 Povinelli, E.A., Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2011).
40 “Live Well for Less” is an advertising campaign by J. Sainsbury Plc. –one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK. It promotes the company’s “commitment to provide customers with quality products at fair prices”. See www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/media/latest-stories/2011/20110915-sainsburys-unveils-new-commitment-to-customers-to-help-them-live-well-for-less.
41 See Sharapov, K., “Productive Ignorance: Assessing Public Understanding of Human Trafficking in Ukraine, Hungary and Great Britain”, in Malloch, M. and Rigby, P. (eds.), Human Trafficking: The Complexities of Exploitation (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016), pp. 17–40.
42 Cohen, S., States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001).
43 McKinsey Global Institute, Playing to Win: The New Global Competition for Corporate Profits (New York: McKinsey Global Institute, 2015), p. 8.
44 China Labour Watch, Something’s Not Right Here: Poor Working Conditions Persist at Apple Supplier Pegatron (2015).
45 See, for example, Stephens, B., “The Amorality of Profit: Transnational Corporations and Human Rights” (2002) 20 Berkeley Journal of International Law 45.
46 Povinelli, E.A., Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2011), p. 183.
47 Brass, B., Labour Regime Change in the Twenty-First Century (Leiden: Brill, 2011).
48 Gallagher, A., “Without Trafficking, What Would Happen to Global Wealth and Productivity?” The Guardian (London, 28 July 2015).
49 United Nations, Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights (New York: United Nations, 2015).
50 Human Rights Watch, UN Human Rights Council: Weak Stance on Business Standards (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2011).
51 Raja, D., “Theatres of Virtue: Collaboration, Consensus, and the Social Life of Corporate Social Responsibility” (2011) 60 Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 9.
52 Baudrillard, J., The Illusion of the End (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), p. 66.
53 Povinelli, E.A., Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2011), p. 4.
54 Eisenstein, H., Feminism Seduced: How Global Elites Use Women’s Labor and Ideas to Exploit the World (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 35.
55 Povinelli, E.A., Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books, 2011).
42
The business of trafficking in human beings
Toine Spapens
Introduction
This chapter analyses the illegal activity of trafficking in human beings (THB) from a business perspective.1 It addresses three types of THB. First, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation relates to forced prostitution or the involuntary provision of other sex-related services, such as massage with a ‘happy ending’. Second, trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation relates to all other types of being forced into legitimate jobs, for instance in construction, agriculture, food and catering services, and transport. Third, trafficking for the purpose of forced begging and other criminal activities relates to begging activities and to persons who are forced into committing crimes, such as property crimes and the smuggling or manufacture of narcotic drugs.2
The idea that (organised) crime could be studied as an economic activity was first introduced in the 1960s.3 This approach compares the phenomenon to a normal business, and considers it not so different from other economic activities, apart from being illegal. The provision of illegal goods and services equally depends on supply and demand as a normal business, and key figures within criminal groups are to be viewed as entrepreneurs aiming at maximising their financial profit. Apart from the study of criminal markets, the business perspective also allows analysis of specific illegal activities in terms of business processes and logistical chains, and crime as ‘work’ that requires certain skills.4
Apart from skills, the ability to engage in organised crime also depends on ‘criminal relations’: “social relations which allow the exchange of information on (prospective) illegal activities”.5 The illicit nature of criminal activities requires secrecy, and therefore ‘who you know’ is of as much, or of even greater importance as ‘what you know’.6 As in any economic activity, a ‘well connected’ criminal has better access to respective criminal activities, although the necessity of such relations may differ per type of crime.
In this chapter, we look at the logistics, skills, and networking aspects of THB. Second, we examine how THB should be positioned within the wider criminal ‘industry’, by assessing to what extent traffickers in human beings are at the same time also actively involved in other types of (organised) crime.7
This chapter is organised as follows: first, it addresses the framework of analysis. It then discusses the criminal business process of the three types of human trafficking mentioned above. The next section focuses on the skills and connections necessary to engage in this type of illegal activity, followed by addressing the question of whether traffickers are predominantly generalists or specialists when it comes to their involvement in criminal activities. Finally, it offers some brief concluding remarks.
Framework for analysis
This section addresses the analytical framework used in this chapter to study the business of human trafficking. It encompasses three different perspectives: the logistics of trafficking; the skills and connections that traffickers require to execute this activity; and, finally, whether traffickers operate in more than one criminal market at the same time.
The business process of trafficking
The business process of THB requires a number of separate activities, which may be depicted as a logistical chain. The first step in the process is the recruitment of prospective victims, in other words: to approach and to convince or deceive them to engage in the activities the trafficker wants them to perform. Second, the trafficker must organise transport, documents, housing for the prospective victim, and other material prerequisites for exploitation. Combined, these are termed ‘facilitating activities’. Third, the trafficker must exploit the victims, either by coercing them to perform activities they would not have executed voluntarily, or to work in conditions they would normally not have accepted. Finally, all elements of the business process require control. We define control as the activities necessary to ensure that a trafficking victim performs the work the trafficker orders; and/or ensuring that the victim continues to do so.
Skills and connections
Clearly, the different steps in the business process of human trafficking require different skills, such as knowing how to select and recruit a prospective victim; how to organise housing, transport, and documents; how to exploit the victims; and how to control them. All of these skills may be concentrated in a single trafficker, but they may also be present within a cooperative of persons with specific abilities.8 In terms of criminal relations, being connected is particularly important for the key persons within such groups, but less so for the members who have executive roles.
Specialists or generalists?<
br />
The question whether (organised) criminals are mainly specialists or generalists is not only relevant to understanding how criminal businesses operate, but also for law enforcement and other public and private actors to base intervention strategies on. Surprisingly, however, in most cases both academics and practitioners address only single criminal activities. Exceptions are studies of ‘mafias’ and outlaw motorcycle gangs associated with a broad range of crimes. Here we analyse the overlap between the business of human trafficking and other illegal activities. In this context, crimes that are functional for the process of THB, such as violent crimes and money laundering, are considered as part of the process of human trafficking.
Data sources
This chapter is based on case studies conducted in the Netherlands, Romania, Cyprus, Sweden, and Latvia. It mainly draws upon earlier empirical work of the partners in these countries who participated in the TRACE project.9 This information was supplemented with some additional empirical information. To begin with, we studied 254 Dutch court decisions in cases of THB, and 14 indictments from Romania. Second, we have used a small number of case examples of criminal investigations conducted by the Cyprus, Latvian, and Swedish police. Finally, six additional interviews with law enforcement officials were conducted in Latvia, Sweden, and Romania.
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