ABSTRACT
There has also been increasing recognition over this period that traffi cking is not confi ned to sex traffi cking. Women and girls are not only subjected to forced sexual labour; they may be traffi cked for other purposes, for example, domestic or agricultural work. There has also been increasing recognition that men and boys may be victims of traffi cking. Consequently, the language used to discuss traffi cking has undergone a shift – from ‘sex traffi cking’ to the more gender-neutral formulation of ‘people traffi cking’ or ‘traffi cking in human beings’. However, it is clear that gender matters in the traffi cking arena particularly in terms of how the problem of traffi cking – and the ‘solutions’ to this problem – have been constructed in recent times. It is still women and sex traffi cking that tends to be the primary object of concern, especially for the media, police and law and policy makers. Also, anti-traffi cking campaigns may have particularly gendered consequences. While anti-traffi cking campaigns have clearly led to the rescue of some women trapped in dire circumstances,
they can also have a serious and negative impact on the human rights of migrant women workers and women who engage in sex work.
