1. E4J University Module Series on Trafficking in Persons & Smuggling of Migrants Module 13
Gender dimensions: Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling of Migrants

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
Understand and critically engage with the concept of gender in relation with TIP and SOM,
Understand and to be able to integrate a gender approach – using the concept of intersectionality - to the study of TIP and SOM;
Recognize and problematize the gender aspects of TIP and SOM;
Gain knowledge on the gender dimensions of responses to TIP and SOM.

3. Key components of the Module
Ice-breaker exercise on gender stereotypes
Basic terms
Definition of gender
Intersectionality approach
International legal frameworks and definitions of TIP and SOM 
Trafficking and the focus on women: a brief history
The root causes of TIP
Global overview on TIP and SOM
Gender-based violence and TIP
Gender and (irregular) migration
Key debates in the scholarship on TIP and SOM
Gender and TIP and SOM offenders
Responses to TIP and SOM: Is gender taken into consideration?

4. Basic terms What is a gender stereotype? What means gender?
Can you give some examples of gender stereotypes from your day-to-day life? (Ice-breaker exercise)
What means gender?
Not synonymous with women. Gender issues are not women’s issues
Not synonymous with sex. Sex refers to biological and physical differences
Gender refers to relations, shaped by gender roles and expectations: historically and culturally variables
Gender identities and sexual orientation: beyond the dichotomy men/women

5. Basic terms An intersectionality approach
Other social factors: religious identity, marital status, migration status
Gender
Class
Sexuality
Racial identity

6. Trafficking and the focus on women and children: brief history
Early 20th century: White slave trade
‘White’ women traded and forced into prostitution (traffickers are foreigners)
Racial and gender dimension
Cross-border (slave trade)
Past international instruments: Focus on prostitution and women
1904: International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic
1910: International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic
1921: International Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Women and Children (LN)
1933: International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age (LN)
1949: Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
Current international instrument : Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (TIP Protocol)

7. Root causes of TIP
Globalization and its effects in terms of global inequalities across countries, and within countries, of unequal access to decent work and resources and opportunities, form part of the global root causes;
Economic, social, political and gendered inequalities are part of the root causes;
TIP disproportionally affects people whose rights may already be compromised, including women and girls, and other groups.
What are the main root causes of TIP in your country and region? (Exercise)

8. Global overview of TIP Data collection on TIP and SOM is scarce
Available data and numbers have to be used with caution!
Source: UNODC, elaboration of national data, in Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2016: p. 6
Women and girls are disproportionally affected by TIP, but the numbers of men as identified victims of TIP have increased

9. Global overview of SOM
When data available: majority of smuggled migrants are young men
BUT? Depends on regional migration trends (work opportunities, family migration or not)
Example of irregular sea migration in the Mediterranean
Table 1: Composition of irregular sea migrant arrivals – by age and sex – on the three Mediterranean routes (to Greece, Spain and Italy), year 2016 (Jan to Dec 2016)
Migration route
Percentage of women
Percentage of men
Percentage of children
Mediterranean Routes (3) - total: to Spain, Greece and Italy
26%
57%
To Greece
21%
42%
37%
To Italy
13%
71%
16%
To Spain 8%
83% 9%
Source UNHCR, Monthly Data Update, Refugees and Migrants Sea Arrivals in Europe, December 2016

10. Gender-based violence: TIP and SOM
What is gender-based violence?
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) refers to any act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and is based on gender norms and unequal power relationships. It encompasses threats of violence and coercion. It can be physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual in nature, and can take the form of a denial of resources or access to services.
Source:
Women and girls are disproportionally affected, but men and boys, and LGBTI persons can also be victims
Sexual violence can be used by traffickers in diverse situations and types of exploitation

11. Gender and migration
People migrate for multiple and overlapping reasons:
Unequal access to decent work + restrictive migration policies = increased use of irregular and unsafe means of migration
Feminization of migration? Female mobility is not new, gendered patterns of migration have changed
Domestic work: a case example of gendered form of labour

12. Key debates in the scholarship on TIP
Predominant narrative and mainstream representations of TIP:
Archetypical victim, physical constraints and urgency to rescue

13. Key debates in the scholarship on TIP
Trafficking and migration: gendered representations
Female migration = perceived as a source of vulnerability
Male migration = active choice, use agency
Gendered and simplistic representations TIP lead to:
Create hierarchy of suffering/deservedness
Rescue approach of interventions
Images of violence and extreme cases = divert from looking at structural causes
2. Trafficking in persons and sex work: a divisive debate

14. Critical scholarship on SOM
Predominant representations of smugglers as ruthless criminals
What about humanitarian smuggling and other forms of help?

15. SOM Offenders: what about gender?
Are women also smugglers?
Read:
Case example: Woman smuggler at the border of Costa Rica
Excerpt from a Time article

16. TIP Offenders: what about gender?
Are women also traffickers?
Source: UNODC, elaboration of national data, in Global Report on TIP: p. 7

17. TIP and SOM responses
Are there gender considerations in the Protocol against TIP?
Are there gender considerations in the Protocol against SOM?

18. TIP and SOM responses
Identification of TIP victims: pervasive focus on women and girls, and TIP for sexual exploitation
Men and boys are overlooked
Gender dimensions of assistance and support
Rescue approach and shelters for rehabilitation of TIP victims:
The right approach?

19. Education for
Justice

20. More information @DohaDeclaration e4j@unodc.org
unodc.org/dohadeclaration
unodc.org/e4J