TY - JOUR
T1 - Representations of traffickers in official UK discourse
T2 - Examining the least known component of the human trafficking equation
AU - Gaitis, Konstantinos Kosmas
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation in Athens, Greece. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
Funding Information:
I would like to thank my doctoral supervisors, Professor Lesley McAra and Dr Steve Kirkwood from the University of Edinburgh, for their invaluable advice and support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - Through a framework that combines literature's observations on traffickers’ policy-based representations with International Relations (IR) theories, this paper explores the representations of traffickers and anti-trafficking government goals in policies of the United Kingdom’s (UK), Scottish and Northern Irish governments. Policies were found to mostly subscribe to a Realist’s viewing of human trafficking, emphasising criminal choices. Still, and despite their growing tendency to focus on a wider range of traffickers, their dominant narrative tends to revolve around trafficking stereotypes, often ignoring the full spectrum of traffickers' identities to promote total human trafficking elimination. This discourse may overstate Britain's trafficking problem, sustaining state legitimacy and intervention and narrowing down the scope of anti-trafficking efforts. Conclusively, to ensure a more effective anti-trafficking response, the UK needs to set more feasible goals and based on an in-depth knowledge of traffickers strive to further enrich the policy-promoted human trafficking narrative.
AB - Through a framework that combines literature's observations on traffickers’ policy-based representations with International Relations (IR) theories, this paper explores the representations of traffickers and anti-trafficking government goals in policies of the United Kingdom’s (UK), Scottish and Northern Irish governments. Policies were found to mostly subscribe to a Realist’s viewing of human trafficking, emphasising criminal choices. Still, and despite their growing tendency to focus on a wider range of traffickers, their dominant narrative tends to revolve around trafficking stereotypes, often ignoring the full spectrum of traffickers' identities to promote total human trafficking elimination. This discourse may overstate Britain's trafficking problem, sustaining state legitimacy and intervention and narrowing down the scope of anti-trafficking efforts. Conclusively, to ensure a more effective anti-trafficking response, the UK needs to set more feasible goals and based on an in-depth knowledge of traffickers strive to further enrich the policy-promoted human trafficking narrative.
KW - human trafficking
KW - traffickers
KW - government policy
KW - discourse analysis
KW - stereotypes
KW - elimination
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/international-journal-of-law-crime-and-justice
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijlcj.2023.100592
DO - 10.1016/j.ijlcj.2023.100592
M3 - Article
SN - 1756-0616
VL - 74
JO - International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice
JF - International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice
ER -