Human Rights and the Fight against Trafficking : Projects of the Internation Organisation for Migration in the Russian Federation and the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is probably the most widely known International Governmental Organisation combating trafficking in human beings worldwide. Based on the studies of two anti-trafficking projects, one in the Russian Federation and the other in the Federal Republic of Germany, which were managed by the IOM, I will show how the organisation, as a provider of expertise, shapes the regimes of practice to combat human trafficking and thus the reality, of human trafficking in both countries. In it's projects IOM needs to cooperate with national governments that partly determines their scope and aims, and this has led to a conceptualisation of migration more in terms of the needs of nations than those of migrants. The IOM`s method of migration management is geared towards the needs of the nation-state: eliminating illegal migration and encouraging the migration of skilled labour. In the discourse that emerges from the IOM`s activities, individuals who are trafficked become passive objects. This study raises questions not only about the co-existence of NGOs and national governments, but also about the relationship of experts and their audiences,and how this relationship can affect the production of expert knowledge