ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a critique of the determined and unquestionable commitment to victim support in the context of human trafficking, and the articulation of what victims purportedly ‘need’- often provisions that are offered without qualification or justification. There is limited examination of the way in which both the rhetoric and practice of victim support can objectify victims and eviscerate their agency. In this chapter we argue that the commitment to care in and of itself can render obsolete the need for an evidence base upon which to develop and implement care provisions. We are specifically interested in the general willingness to accept dominant stories of exploitation and the narrative of what ‘victims need’ without question, largely absent of the input of men and women who access these services (or, indeed, those who do not). This chapter aims to examine the care and support provided to victims of trafficking, what these services intend to achieve, and where victims and their needs are located within this system.
