Sex Trafficking and Migrant Women in Greece: a Study of the Reasons of the Sex Trafficking of Migrant Women
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Sex Trafficking and Migrant Women in Greece: A study of the reasons of the sex trafficking of migrant women Fernanda Scafini International Migration and Ethnic Relations Bachelor Thesis 15 credits Spring 2019: IM245L Supervisor: Henrik Emilsson Word Count: 13.188 Fernanda Scafini 980216-xxxx IMER BACHELOR THESIS Spring 2019 Abstract Sex trafficking is a global phenomenon affecting mainly women. This phenomenon is highly apparent in Greece, where thousands of migrant women end up trafficked. In order to understand why this happens, it is important to know the underlying causes of it. Therefore, this researched aimed to find the reasons why migrant women end up as sex trafficking victims in Greece. This was done through primary material gathering, in form of interviews with anti-trafficking agents in Greece, followed by a theme analysis, finding six key themes with reasons why migrant women are trafficked. These were, Vulnerability (of migrant women), Greece as the Portal to the EU, Government Deficiency, Hostility and Segregation (hostility of Greek national towards migrants which leads to their segregation), Trafficking as a Profitable Industry and Cultural Gender Oppression. To further analyze these themes, a triangulation method was used, which compared these results to previous literature on the issue and then further problematized it through different migration and gender-related theories. Key Words: Sex Trafficking, Migrant Women, Greece, Causes of trafficking, migration, exploitation, gender. 2 Fernanda Scafini 980216-xxxx IMER BACHELOR THESIS Spring 2019 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….2 Chapter 1…………………………………………………………………………...5 1.1 Background and Aim……………………………………………………………5 1.2 Research Question………………………………………………………………6 1.3 Discussion Behind the Research Question……………………………………...6 1.4 Delimitations……………………………………………………………………7 1.5 Disposition……………………………………………………………………...7 Chapter 2- Literature Review……………………………..……………………...8 2.1 General Causes of Trafficking………………………………………………….8 -11 2.2 Causes of Sex Trafficking of Migrant Women in Greece……………………...11-14 Chapter 3 – Theories……………………………………………………………...15 3.1 Overview of Theories…………………………………………………………..15 3.2 Economic Migration Theories………………………………………………..16 3.2.1 Neoclassical Theory – Macro-Level…………………………………………16 3.2.2 Neoclassical Theory – Micro-level…………………………………………..16 3.2.3 The New Economics of Labour Migration…………………………………...17 3.2.4 Dual Labour Market Theory………………………………………………….18 3.3 Meso-Level Theories…………………………………………………………..19 3.3.1 Migration Network Theory…………………………………………………...19 3.3.2 Migration Industry Theory……………………………………………………20 3.4 Gender Related Factors……………………………………………………….21 3.4.1 Gender Differences, Inequalities and Oppressions …………………………..21-22 Chapter 4 - Method and Design…………………………………………………..23 4.1 Open-ended Interviews…………………………………………………………23-24 4.2 Interview Conduction…………………………………………………………..24-25 4.3 Transcriptions and Theme Analysis …………………………………………...25 4.4 Reliability and Validity ………………………………………………………..26 Chapter 5 - Results………………………………………………………………..27-29 5.1 Vulnerability …………………………………………………………………...29-30 5.2 Greece as the Portal to the EU………………………………………………….31 3 Fernanda Scafini 980216-xxxx IMER BACHELOR THESIS Spring 2019 5.3 Government Deficiency…………………………………………………………32-33 5.4 Hostility and Segregation………………………………………………………..33-34 5.5 Trafficking as a Profitable Industry……………………………………………...34-35 5.6 Cultural Gender Oppression……………………………………………………..35-37 Chapter 6 - Analysis………………………………………………………………..38-41 Chapter 7- Conclusions……………………………………………………………..42 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………43-45 Appendix …………………………………………………………………………….46-47 4 Fernanda Scafini 980216-xxxx IMER BACHELOR THESIS Spring 2019 Chapter 1 1.1 Background and Aim Sex trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in our modern society and women tend the be the main victims. Sex trafficking can happen anywhere in the world. However, there is a noticeable manifestation of the phenomenon in Greece, where thousands of migrant women end up as sex trafficking victims (A21, 2018), (United States Department of State , 2017). In order to give the reader a broader understanding of the issue, the term ‘human trafficking’ will be defined in accordance with the United Nations protocol signed in 2000, “United Nations Convention against Transitional Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto”. This protocol defines human trafficking as; “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”- (United Nations, 2019) Accordingly, sex trafficking is considered as a type of human trafficking focused on the sexual exploitation of individuals (United States Department of State, 2008). Greece is a transition, destination and even origin country for sex trafficking. For many, Greece is also considered to be the portal to Europe. Therefore, in more recent times, thousands of migrants from non-EU countries, try to get to the EU zone through Greece (Papanicolaou, 2008). Whether voluntarily or involuntarily, many migrant women try to get to Greece to either search for better life opportunities, run from war and injustices or simply to try to get reunited with family members. However, many of these women might fall into the trap of sex slavery upon their arrival in Greece (European Comission, 2018). For these reasons, it would be interesting to investigate why migrant women often end up in such situations when they arrive in Greece. Therefore, the aim of this research is to study why migrant women end up as sex trafficking victims in Greece. 5 Fernanda Scafini 980216-xxxx IMER BACHELOR THESIS Spring 2019 1.2 Research Question Why do migrant women end up as sex trafficking victims in Greece? 1.3 Discussion behind the research question As stated in the background section, this research aims to understand the causes behind the sex trafficking of migrant women in Greece. In order to do this, the underlying factors that lead to it must be studied. This research aims to analyze both factors of societal structure and human agency. For example, this research intends to know why women migrate to Greece in the first place, and if that is a voluntary or involuntary decision. Moreover, it is interesting to analyze the role of economic inequalities in this context. Additionally, it is also of interest to understand how patriarchy can affect the women’s decision to migrate or how it can force them to do so. Furthermore, it would be compelling to analyze whether there is a connection between the greatly organized migration scheme and the sex trafficking of migrant women in Greece. Lastly, it is of importance to this research to investigate how much space for human agency and rational choices there is in the situation of migrant women who move to Greece. 6 Fernanda Scafini 980216-xxxx IMER BACHELOR THESIS Spring 2019 1.4 Delimitations Sex trafficking and prostitution When studying the issue of sex trafficking, something highly linked to it is prostitution. This since, many trafficked women work as prostitutes. In many countries, prostitution is legal, and so is the case of Greece (Reinschmidt, 2016). Consequently, studying the issue of sex trafficking in prostitution is complicated, since it is complex to understand whether women work as prostitutes voluntarily or forcibly (George, Vindhya, & Ray, 2010) . However, studying this complexity could shift the focus from migrant women and migration aspects to an examination of prostitution versus sex trafficking, which is not the aim of this study. Therefore, this study will not analyze the complexity of prostitution in the sex trafficking industry and whether women who work as prostitutes do it forcibly or voluntarily. Review of previous literature In the literature review section, it can be noticed that, all literature reviewed is based on sources written around 20 years ago. The reason behind this is that, all up-to-date literature written on human trafficking in Greece, make reference to these primary studies, presented in the literature review section. Moreover, the newer studies analyze trafficking in Greece by examining regulations, policies and legislations aiming to give solutions to the issue, which is not the aim of this study and therefore not necessary. 1.5 Disposition This research will be divided in different sections. Chapter 2 will present a literature review, and Chapter 3 will present different migration and gender related theories. In Chapter 4 the method and material will be introduced and Chapter 5 will present the results of interview followed by an analysis in Chapter 6. Finally, Chapter 7 will display the conclusions and recommendations of this research. 7 Fernanda Scafini 980216-xxxx IMER BACHELOR THESIS Spring 2019 Chapter 2 - Literature Review In this section, previous researches on the issue of sex trafficking and migrant women, as well as general reasons behind human trafficking in connection to migration, will be highlighted. These studies