Nexus of insecurity

The Singapore government’s response to human trafficking is tied to the state’s development trajectory. This response prioritises traditional security interests – namely, migration control – over individual security (and subsequent entitlements to protection), influenced by ongoing public concerns about the political, social and economic impact of migrants, who are perceived to be both a security threat as well as an economic necessity. As the state negotiates existing tension between these two constructs in a securitised paradigm, its anti-trafficking strategies remain marginalised. I will focus on two areas of heightened insecurity for potentially trafficked persons that exist within Singapore’s anti-trafficking response. First, public awareness-raising initiatives intended to aid victim identification assume a very distinct victim profile heavily reliant on cases of underage sex trafficking. Second, law enforcement raids on sex worker establishments are influenced by constrained understandings of victim identity, are often heavy-handed, and focus on deportation of immigration and/or labour offenders. Both result in potentially trafficked persons being unidentified. ¹