How is Human Trafficking for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation Represented? : A Case Study on EU’s Policy Documents

For many years human trafficking has transcended national borders and posed a major challenge to countries around the world. The European Union is one of many supranational organizations that has prioritized the eradication of sex trafficking on their policy agenda. Public policies not only contain aims and approaches to achieve objectives, but they also contain a problematization of the issue at hand. The way a phenomenon is constructed in public policies can influence society and its citizens in terms of how the issue and those involved should be perceived. The aim of this study is to examine the way EU represents sex trafficking in their public policies. In order to achieve the research objective, the following two policy documents by the Union have been examined, namely Directive 2011/36/EU and The strategy towards the eradication of sex trafficking in human beings 2012–2016. A discourse analysis has been applied in this study. The method of choice is Carol Bacchis What’s the problem represented to be. The questions presented in Bacchis approach, and the theory of Governmentality has been applied to analyze the policies at hand. The result of this study showcases that human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is constructed as an issue of inadequate legal action, crime against human rights, benefiting gender-based inequality and jeopardizing democratic values and the safety within the Union and its member states. Trafficking victims are represented as forced participants in trafficking, a perception that doesn’t necessarily correspond with reality. EU’s problem representation promotes gender stereotypes while also excluding and silencing other perspectives.