Why are some migrants suffering seen as more legitimate than others?
Identifying and separating ‘victims of trafficking’ from ‘criminals’ – the undocumented migrants considered guilty of violating immigration laws –is a complex daily practice in anti-trafficking work. Who among migrants is worthy of humanitarian assistance and who is not? What are the continuing effects of these designations on women afterthey are deported for selling sex in Europe?
In her new article Violence in the safety of home: life in Nigeria after selling sex in EuropeSine Plambech argues that in the politics of migration governance conflicting meanings of home and hierarchies of sexualised violence emerge as critical for understanding the logic –and therefore the common failures –of would-be humanitarian migration management within the field of anti-trafficking.
The article is part of the platform “Beyond Trafficking and Slavery” at Open Democracy.