Abstract
Human trafficking is a social issue that has gained attention in the media and in scholarship. A growing number of anti-trafficking organizations and actors have begun to use education to diverse ends. Although not often associated with human trafficking, education is a common tool used by anti-trafficking organizations, whether as a prevention tool to reduce the vulnerability of people at-risk of trafficking, or as a service to trafficking survivors to improve their lives. Lack of access to education, or to quality education, is also a factor in exposure to human trafficking, whether that be in terms of debt bondage, domestic servitude, forced labor, child marriage or other issues related to human trafficking. More explicit connections need to be made between the work being done in anti-trafficking spheres and the scholarship of education in order to better understand how to improve the quality and effectiveness of education-related efforts. This essay explores the connections between human trafficking and education.
Highlights
This essay draws out the ways in which human trafficking intersects with education in order to point toward areas for further inquiry
Human trafficking general world-wide agreement among national governments on the definition of human trafficking exists, issues remain regarding the interpretation of the definition at the local, regional, national and international levels
The generally accepted definition comes from the United Nation’s (UN OHCHR, 2000) policy, typically referred to as the Palermo Protocol, which established that human trafficking is the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons” through force, threat or coercion, “for the purpose of exploitation” (Article 3a)
Summary
Human trafficking has profound and pronounced connections to the education sector and to education broadly defined despite the seemingly disparate nature of the two topics at first glance. Understanding how education is used as a prevention tool, how education is conceptualized for vulnerable groups, and how education is provided as a service for survivors and at-risk populations are important issues but little discussion of these issues occurs in the formal scholarly literature, and even less empirical work is done on the effectiveness and impacts of education in anti-trafficking work. Of additional importance are the broad socio-economic issues that connect human trafficking and education, as well as the growing efforts to use education as awareness raising for the public. There is little interaction between the work occurring in the anti-trafficking movement, and the formal discipline of education, despite the many overlapping elements, and the disconnection is likely due to a general lack of understanding of the various connections between the two spheres. This essay draws out the ways in which human trafficking intersects with education in order to point toward areas for further inquiry
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