Chapter 1 Introducing safe migration

"The book investigates how the United Nations, governments and aid agencies mobilise and instrumentalise migration policies and programmes through a discourse of safe migration. Since the early 2000s, numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN agencies and governments have warmed to the concept of safe migration, often within a context of anti-trafficking interventions. Yet, both the policy-enthusiasm for safety, as well as how safe migration comes into being through policies and programs remain unexplored. Based on six years of ethnographic fieldwork in the Mekong region, this is the first book that traces the emergence of safe migration, why certain aid actors gravitate towards the concept, as well as how safe migration policies and programmes unfold through aid agencies and government bodies. The book argues that safe migration is best understood as brokered safety. Although safe migration policy interventions attempt to formalize pre-emptive and protective measures to enhance labour migrants’ well-being, the book shows through vivid ethnographic details how formal migration assistance in itself depends on - and produces – informal, mediated practices. The book offers unprecedented insights into what safe migration policies look like in practice. It is an innovate contribution to contemporary theorizing of contemporary forms of migration governance and will be of interest to sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists and human geographers working within the fields of Migration studies, Development Studies as well as Southeast Asian and Global Studies.

Chapter 4 Departures

"The book investigates how the United Nations, governments and aid agencies mobilise and instrumentalise migration policies and programmes through a discourse of safe migration. Since the early 2000s, numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN agencies and governments have warmed to the concept of safe migration, often within a context of anti-trafficking interventions. Yet, both the policy-enthusiasm for safety, as well as how safe migration comes into being through policies and programs remain unexplored. Based on six years of ethnographic fieldwork in the Mekong region, this is the first book that traces the emergence of safe migration, why certain aid actors gravitate towards the concept, as well as how safe migration policies and programmes unfold through aid agencies and government bodies. The book argues that safe migration is best understood as brokered safety. Although safe migration policy interventions attempt to formalize pre-emptive and protective measures to enhance labour migrants’ well-being, the book shows through vivid ethnographic details how formal migration assistance in itself depends on - and produces – informal, mediated practices. The book offers unprecedented insights into what safe migration policies look like in practice. It is an innovate contribution to contemporary theorizing of contemporary forms of migration governance and will be of interest to sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists and human geographers working within the fields of Migration studies, Development Studies as well as Southeast Asian and Global Studies.

Safe Migration and the Politics of Brokered Safety in Southeast Asia

The book investigates how the United Nations, governments, and aid agencies mobilise and instrumentalise migration policies and programmes through a discourse of safe migration. Since the early 2000s, numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN agencies, and governments have warmed to the concept of safe migration, often within a context of anti-trafficking interventions. Yet, both the policy-enthusiasm for safety, as well as how safe migration comes into being through policies and programs remain unexplored. Based on seven years of ethnographic fieldwork in the Mekong region, this is the first book that traces the emergence of safe migration, why certain aid actors gravitate towards the concept, as well as how safe migration policies and programmes unfold through aid agencies and government bodies. The book argues that safe migration is best understood as brokered safety. Although safe migration policy interventions attempt to formalize pre-emptive and protective measures to enhance labour migrants’ well-being, the book shows through vivid ethnographic details how formal migration assistance in itself depends on – and produces – informal asnd mediated practices. The book offers unprecedented insights into what safe migration policies look like in practice. It is an innovate contribution to contemporary theorizing of contemporary forms of migration governance and will be of interest to sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and human geographers working within the fields of Migration studies, Development Studies, as well as Southeast Asian and Global Studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003185734 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

What Happened to Sex Trafficking? The New Moral Panic of Men, Boys and Fish in the Mekong Region

Activists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international media have repeatedly singled out the Mekong region as a hotspot for ‘sex trafficking’. Yet, in recent years anti-trafficking campaigns that focus on prostitution have lost momentum, witnessed by a decline in project activity and media attention. This article suggests that a moral panic relating to prostitution has partly been overshadowed by a broader focus on the Thai labour sector, particularly the fishing industry. At the same time, this shift coincides with a discursive reorientation away from ‘trafficking’ towards ‘modern slavery’. This article explores the gendered dimensions of this shifting regime of migration governance which in effect replaces women and girls with men and boys as the central locus for action. Although this change must be understood in light of structural changes within the Thai economy and a broader compassion and programme fatigue, this article points to the similar moral registers which both ‘sex trafficking’ and ‘slavery at sea’ invoke. Neoliberal modes of activism coupled with emergent social media help explain why anti-trafficking and modern slavery discourses have gradually redirected attention away from sex to fish

Editorial: Human rights at the border

It is with great honour that I introduce the second issue of the Anti-Trafficking Review (ATR). The first issue received an overwhelming response and has placed the journal at the forefront of rigorous analysis and debate relating to human trafficking and human rights. It raised the topic of accountability in anti-trafficking. This issue hopes to further strengthen the ATR’s position as a global, reputable journal on human trafficking.Strengthening the quality of research, analysis, and reflexivity in the trafficking sector is much needed, and I echo Anne Gallagher’s observation as guest editor of the first issue that standards in anti-trafficking research tend to be less rigorous than in other fields of study. My aim as a guest editor is to contribute to addressing this shortfall by bringing together a set of diverse and insightful articles focussing on the nexus of borders and human rights. It is also my hope that this issue will work towards narrowing the divide between practitioners and academics in anti-trafficking. This is reflected in the varied range of contributors. The last few years have witnessed a significant increase in publishing relating to human trafficking worldwide. However, there is limited measured debate and appraisal of this literature within the anti-trafficking sector. For this reason we have decided to include a book review as a way of highlighting recent major publications.The question of borders, migration control, trafficking and human rights raise contested and controversial questions. The editorial team has attempted to include different perspectives, reflected in the debate section in particular. Needless to say, all papers have been subject to double blind peer review

Editorial: Human rights at the border

It is with great honour that I introduce the second issue of the Anti-Trafficking Review (ATR). The first issue received an overwhelming response and has placed the journal at the forefront of rigorous analysis and debate relating to human trafficking and human rights. It raised the topic of accountability in anti-trafficking. This issue hopes to further strengthen the ATR�s position as a global, reputable journal on human trafficking. Strengthening the quality of research, analysis, and reflexivity in the trafficking sector is much needed, and I echo Anne Gallagher�s observation as guest editor of the first issue that standards in anti-trafficking research tend to be less rigorous than in other fields of study. My aim as a guest editor is to contribute to addressing this shortfall by bringing together a set of diverse and insightful articles focussing on the nexus of borders and human rights. It is also my hope that this issue will work towards narrowing the divide between practitioners and academics in anti-trafficking. This is reflected in the varied range of contributors. The last few years have witnessed a significant increase in publishing relating to human trafficking worldwide. However, there is limited measured debate and appraisal of this literature within the anti-trafficking sector. For this reason we have decided to include a book review as a way of highlighting recent major publications. The question of borders, migration control, trafficking and human rights raise contested and controversial questions. The editorial team has attempted to include different perspectives, reflected in the debate section in particular. Needless to say, all papers have been subject to double blind peer review