10.6092/issn.2531-6133/18050
Contemporary anti-trafficking approaches reflect a reluctance to address the root causes (structural issues) of the human trafficking problem. The article critically analyses the three dominant approaches to combating human trafficking-criminalisation approach, the human-rights based approach and the celebrity humanitarianism approach-and unpacks the political choices inherent in each one of them. It is argued that common to all three approaches is the depoliticisation of the human trafficking problem through conceptualising it as an instance of individual criminals that act outside the boundaries of a liberal society, which is characterised by individual freedom and equality. By so doing, these approaches depoliticise the issue of human trafficking by not viewing the problem as one that emanates from the global political economy. They overlook and perpetuate the inequality and oppression that is inherent in capitalism. Against this background, the article unpacks the various ways that the law, particularly through criminalisation and the international human rights framework, works to insulate and reinforce the systemic injustices at the centre of the trafficking problem. Effectively the current anti-trafficking approaches only serve to produce and excuse violations rather than remedy them. It is argued that to be effective anti-trafficking approaches must focus on the initiating phenomena (the structural issues) that make people vulnerable to trafficking related exploitation.
application/pdf
2531-6133
18050
1
en
Lewis Njabulo Sibanda
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
University of Bologna Law Review
Capitalism
The Root Causes of Human Trafficking: A Critical Analysis of the Contemporary Approaches to Human Trafficking
Text.Serial.Journal
https://bolognalawreview.unibo.it/
8
Conference Papers
2023-09-18
2023-09-17
2023-05-08
2023-09-19
217-244
UBLR
Lewis Njabulo Sibanda
2023/09/18
10.6092/issn.2531-6133/18050
217
The Open University
2531-6133
1
Capitalism
en
244
The Root Causes of Human Trafficking: A Critical Analysis of the Contemporary Approaches to Human Trafficking
https://bolognalawreview.unibo.it/article/download/18050/16782
8
llVOLUME 8                                      llISSUE 1                       CONFERENCE PAPERS



                             UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW
                             https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2531‐6133/18050

             Received: 13 Oct. 2022 | Accepted: 30 Nov. 2022 | Published: 18 Sept. 2023

                                                     A

 The Root Causes of Human Trafficking: A Critical Analysis of
    the Contemporary Approaches to Human Trafficking

                                      LEWIS NJABULO SIBANDA
Lewis Njabulo Sibanda holds an LLB from the University of South Africa (South Africa) and an
LLM completed as a Mandela Scholar at the University of Sussex (UK). He is a registered legal
practitioner/attorney in the Zimbabwean superior courts. He has worked as a professional
research assistant to the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe and another judge of the Constitutional Court
of Zimbabwe. Prior to pursuing his full time PhD studies at The Open University (UK), Lewis was a
Law Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School (JGU) in India, where he taught modules on Human
Rights Law Theory, Constitutional Law and the International Law of Outer Space. Lewis’ PhD
research utilizes a critical legal approach, particularly a Marxist lens, to explore the root causes
of human trafficking and the meaning of exploitation. The author is grateful to his supervisors
Professor Olga Jurasz, Dr Avi Boukli, Professor Simon Lee for their comments on the ealier draft
of this paper, and also to Dr Juan Garcia Blesa.

 @ lewis.sibanda@open.ac.uk
  ID
       0000-0002-1560-6959

                                               ABSTRACT
Contemporary anti-trafficking approaches reflect a reluctance to address the root causes
(structural issues) of the human trafficking problem. The article critically analyses the three
dominant approaches to combating human trafficking-criminalisation approach, the
human-rights based approach and the celebrity humanitarianism approach-and unpacks the
political choices inherent in each one of them. It is argued that common to all three approaches
is the depoliticisation of the human trafficking problem through conceptualising it as an instance
of individual criminals that act outside the boundaries of a liberal society, which is characterised
by individual freedom and equality. By so doing, these approaches depoliticise the issue of
human trafficking by not viewing the problem as one that emanates from the global political
economy. They overlook and perpetuate the inequality and oppression that is inherent in
capitalism. Against this background, the article unpacks the various ways that the law,
particularly through criminalisation and the international human rights framework, works to
insulate and reinforce the systemic injustices at the centre of the trafficking problem. Effectively
the current anti-trafficking approaches only serve to produce and excuse violations rather than
remedy them. It is argued that to be effective anti-trafficking approaches must focus on the
initiating phenomena (the structural issues) that make people vulnerable to trafficking related
exploitation.


                                               KEYWORDS
                Anti-trafficking; Root Causes; Systemic Injustice; Neoliberalism; Capitalism




                                                   217
llVOLUME 8                                     llISSUE 1                        CONFERENCE PAPERS



                                         EDITORIAL NOTE
    This contribution was presented during the “EDELNet+ PhD Conference on Climate Change”,
   Human Rights and Public Control: Legal Scholarship in the Face of Current Global Challenges
   that took place online on 13 October 2022 and was led by Prof. Giacomo di Federico, Dr. Juan J.
            Garcia Blesa and Dr. Michal Stambulski (http://graduateschool.edelnet.eu).
     This conference paper was subject to a single-blind peer review, in which the anonymity
                                  of the reviewer was guaranteed.


                                         TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   219
         Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   219
         Methodology - Critical Legal Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . .        .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   222
1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   223
         1.1. Capitalism and Neoliberalism (Structural Issues) . . . . . .      .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   223
         1.2. Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery . . . . . . . . . .          .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   226
2. A Critical Analysis of the Approaches to H.T. . . . . . . . . . . . . .      .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   229
         2.1. Criminalisation Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   230
            2.1.1. What is a Criminalisation Approach to H.T. . . . . . .       .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   230
            2.1.2. Criminalisation Approach and the Prevention of H.T. .        .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   231
            2.1.3. Marxist Critique of the Criminalisation Approach . . .       .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   234
         2.2. The Human Rights Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   236
            2.2.1. What is a Human Rights-based Approach to H.T.? . . .         .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   236
            2.2.2. Human Rights Approach and Root Causes . . . . . . .          .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   237
            2.2.3. Marxist Critique of the Human Rights-based Approach          .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   239
         2.3. Celebrity Humanitarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   241
         Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   243




                                                  218
2023]                            UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                       [Vol. 8:1


      INTRODUCTION

    PROBLEM

Human trafficking [hereinafter H.T.] has been described as a process that commodifies
human bodies and reduces them to objects of trade that can be bought, exploited and
discarded.1 The problem of H.T. is one that is widespread in the modern world, with
almost every country being affected as either States of origin, transit or destination.2
Considering the covert nature of H.T., it is methodologically impossible to understand
and quantify the exact scale of the problem. The United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime [hereinafter U.N.O.D.C.] is one of the trusted sources for understanding the extent
of the problem globally, and it has reported that at least 161 countries are categorically
affected as States of origin, transit or destination for H.T. victims.3 Additionally, it is
reported that victims from at least 127 countries are being exploited in 137 States.4
Reports of the International Labour Organization [hereinafter I.L.O] have estimated that
at any given time traffickers globally earn approximately $150 billion U.S.D. per year in
illegal profits gained from forced labour.5 This clearly shows that H.T. has become a
global phenomenon which concerns virtually all the countries of the world. With this
background in mind, it is important to note that at the heart of H.T. is the accumulation
of profit through the exploitation of vulnerable individuals.6 Research has shown that
“trafficking, whether in people or body parts, typically entails the exploitation of
marginalised populations whose bodies are commoditised — generating profits for illicit
entrepreneurs [. . . ]”.7
          Consequently, the international community has developed laws that are
designed to combat the problem of H.T. What has emerged is that which is labelled the
“four Ps” policy in the fight against H.T. and these are: prevention, protection,
prosecution and partnership.8 These, in turn, form the core of all the anti-trafficking
policies and debates worldwide. However, in practice only the prosecution, partnership

1
  See Julia O’Connell Davidson, Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom 109 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
2
  See U.N.O.D.C., Factsheet on Human Trafficking <https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-
  trafficking/UNVTF_fs_HT_EN.pdf> last accessed 5 April 2022.
3
  See Kristiina Kangaspunta, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, UNITED NATIONS, at 2, 5 (June 28-30, 2006),
  https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/events/pdf/other/turin/KANGASPUNTA.pdf.
4
  See U.N.O.D.C., supra note 2, at 1.
5
  See U.N. International Labour Office (ILO), Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour (May 20,
  2014).
6
  See Jay S. Albanese, Consent, Coercion, and Fraud in Human Trafficking Relationships, 8 J. HUM. TRAFFICKING 13, 19
  (2022).
7
  Id. at 23.
8
  See Rochelle Dalla & Donna Sabella, Routledge International Handbook of Human Trafficking: A Multi-Disciplinary
  and Applied Approach 71 (Routledge, 2019).


                                                       219
    THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                         APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


and protection elements are emphasised in varying degrees. The prevention of H.T., by
addressing its root causes, is often paid lip service without much concrete effort being
made to conceptualise what such a policy would entail.9 Root causes are the initiating
phenomena in the chain of causation and are the foundation on which the H.T. problem
rests.10 It is at this level that any intervention aimed at addressing the problem is
effective.11 The literature review will analyse three contemporary approaches that have
dominated the debates on how to tackle H.T. — that is, the criminalisation/abolitionist,
human rights-based and celebrity humanitarianism approaches.12
           This paper argues that rather than addressing the structural issues, and hence
root causes of trafficking-related exploitation, these approaches instead focus on
tackling problematic practices such as forced labour, sexual exploitation or organ
removal without changing the underlying issues causing these practices.13 In other
words, they are concerned with treating the symptoms of the problem without
fundamentally changing how the society is structured. The underlying structures such
as a global economy that relies immensely on the exploitation of underprivileged people
for growth and the restrictive immigration policies that make them vulnerable to
exploitation remain unchallenged by these approaches.14
           The current approaches to H.T. adopt a reductionist stance in perceiving the
issue as one that concerns individual “bad apples” that criminally exploit the vulnerable
(criminalisation approach); or that violate the human rights of individual persons
(human rights-based approach); or that of people that need to be liberated from bondage
through charity or “decaf ” capitalism (celebrity humanitarianism).15 This is despite the
fact that liberalism (as a political ideology) and global capitalism (as the political
economy) are acknowledged as the context within which H.T. occurs, and are believed to
create certain problems such as inequality and poverty.16 The current approaches to H.T.
do not identify them as structural issues from which people need to be rescued. In fact,
they reinforce neoliberal interests that maintain the boundaries between the haves and


9
   See Janie Chuang, Beyond a Snapshot: Preventing Human Trafficking in the Global Economy, 13 IND. J. GLOB. LEGAL
   STUD. 137, 138 (2006).
10
   See Susan Marks, Human Rights and Root Causes, 74 MOD. L. REV. 57, 60 (2011).
11
   Id.
12
   See Kamala Kempadoo, The Modern-Day White (Wo)Man’s Burden: Trends in Anti-Trafficking and Anti-Slavery
   Campaigns, 1 J. HUM. TRAFFICKING 8 (2015); see also Ian Kapoor, Celebrity Humanitarianism: The ideology of global
   charity (Routledge, 2013); Patrick Twomey, Europe’s other Market: Trafficking in People, 2 Eur. J. MIGRATION & L.
   1 (2000).
13
   See Anne T. Gallagher, What’s Wrong with the Global Slavery Index?, 8 ANTI-TRAFFICKING REV. 90 (2017).
14
   Id. at 11.
15
   See Kempadoo, supra note 12.
16
   See John Hilary, The Poverty of Capitalism: Economic Meltdown and the Struggle for What Comes Next 2, 7, 15-16
   (Pluto Press ed., 2013); see also Kempadoo, supra note 12, at 16.


                                                        220
2023]                              UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                         [Vol. 8:1


the have-nots by depoliticising and disavowing the dark side of the neoliberal order such
as its tendencies to promote inequality, exploitation and imperialism.17
           Furthermore, the current approaches to H.T. unquestionably accept the liberal
construction of exploitation in H.T. legal instruments which support the ideological
narrative that people can consent to exploitation — if there is no coercion or other
improper means that negate consent.18 This promotes the fiction of “free” labour in
exploitative working conditions which is a construct of liberal ideology that conceals the
lived experiences of oppression under capitalism.19 By not contending with the politics
of such a proposition and by accepting this position at face value, these approaches fail
to recognise that liberal legalism obscures the oppression of the wage labourer in the
fiction of consent under the general theory of contract.20 Hence, by not questioning the
exclusion of “consented” exploitation in the definition of H.T., as provided for in legal
instruments such as the U.N. Trafficking Protocol,21 the literature ignores the role of the
law in making exploitation appear “free, natural and rational”. This is something which
is essential for the pervasive coercion of capitalism.22
           This naturalisation of neoliberal interests and fictions of free labour is the work
of ideology. Ideology is defined as a system of beliefs that naturalises social relations;
particularly those of oppression or domination.23 This naturalisation of legal liberalism
and neoliberal interests in modern or current H.T. requires a nuanced approach that
deconstructs this false consciousness through ideology critique as propounded by
Žižek.24 By lifting the veil of liberal ideology, the paper will critique how the current
approaches depoliticise H.T. and, in turn, lead to the adoption of ineffective measures to
address the problem.


17
   See Kapoor, supra note 12, at 2.
18
   See Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
   Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted Nov. 15,
   2000, 2237 U.N.T.S. 319.
19
   See Mary Stokes, Company Law and Legal Theory, in A READER ON THE LAW OF THE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE: SELECTED
   ESSAYS 90 (Sally Wheeler ed., 1994).
20
   See Jairus Banaji, The Fictions of Free Labour: Contract, Coercion, and So-Called Unfree Labour, 11 HIST. MATERIALISM
   69-70 (2003).
21
   See Kara Abramson, Beyond Consent, toward Safeguarding Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations
   Trafficking Protocol, 44 HARV. INT’L L J. 473, 477 (2003). Problematises the issue as follows:
                if an act is not carried out by way of the threat or use of force or other forms of
                coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position
                of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the
                consent (emphasis added) of a person, even if such an act is paired with an intent to
                exploit, then the act is not trafficking.
   See also Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, supra note 18, at art. 3.
22
   Banaji, supra note 20, at 76.
23
   Id. at 73.
24
   See Slavoj Žižek, Mapping Ideology (Verso ed., 1994).


                                                          221
     THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                          APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


      METHODOLOGY ‐ CRITICAL LEGAL APPROACH

Critical legal theory [hereinafter C.L.T] is the theoretical framework utilised by the
article to critique the current approaches to H.T. A central theme in critical studies is the
achievement of human emancipation, a condition that is denied to H.T. victims by the
current anti-trafficking approaches. Employing a critical legal perspective on the issue
will be useful in understanding how the law functions in giving effect to and/or
legitimising certain forms of oppression and power relations.25 The target of C.L.T. is the
core of the orthodox approach to law which is “legal liberalism” or “liberal legalism”.26
Legalism views the law as constituting authoritative texts that can be applied in a
value-free manner through the application of logic.27 This is rejected by critical scholars
who view the law as political and reflecting the values of those legislating (being their
dominant social values).28                Thus, the law is best described as a site of political
contestation and a platform on which hegemonic values are presented as universal.29
Such an approach is essential in deconstructing how the law functions in giving effect to
and/or legitimising certain forms of exploitation and power relations. For example, the
emphasis on construing the trafficking problem as an instance of bad individuals that
exploit vulnerable people overlooks and silences alternative constructions of the root
causes of H.T., different conceptions of exploitation and the possible solutions to the
problem. This works to depoliticise the issue by ignoring and insulating the relationship
between meaning and power in the construction of H.T. under international law. This
has an effect of international law perpetuating the very problems that it aims to
alleviate.
           The “liberalism” concept, on the other hand, emphasises the law’s role in
maximising individual freedom and equality.30 This too is rejected by critical scholars
who view liberalism as an ideological exercise that naturalises relations of social
domination.31 The “freedom” and “equality” to which liberalism adheres to are only
formal and not substantive.32                  It ignores the social reality of inequality and the
unfreedom that results from workers dependence on selling their labour power for
25
   See Donald Nicolson, Critical Approaches, in AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF LAW 43-44 (W. Green ed., 2012).
26
   Id. at 43.
27
   Id.
28
   Id.; see also Judith Wagner DeCew, Critical Legal Studies and Liberalism: Understanding the Similarities and
   Differences, 18 PHIL. TOPICS 41, 44 (1990).
29
   See Martti Koskenniemi, International Law and Hegemony: A Reconfiguration, 17 CAMBRIDGE REV. INT’L AFF. 197,
   200 (2004); see also Martti Koskenniemi, The Politics of International Law – 20 Years Later, 20 EUR. J. INT’L L. 7, 11
   (2009).
30
   Nicolson, supra note 25, at 43-44.
31
   See, e.g., Alan Hunt, Problems of the State: Law, State and Class Struggle, 20 MARXISM TODAY 176, 184 (1976).
32
   Id.: “that is individuals are regarded as free if there is no legal bar to them entering into a contract, and are
   therefore deemed to be equal”.


                                                          222
2023]                           UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                   [Vol. 8:1


survival.33 Employing a critical legal perspective to the issue will, therefore, be useful in
understanding how the law naturalises relations of exploitation and conceptualises H.T.
in a manner that ignores the structural issues.
          Under critical legal theory the paper will utilise a Marxist lens in its analysis of the
approaches adopted to deal with H.T. The relevance of a Marxist analysis of the law lies in
the fact that it critiques the law based on the very same values that it purports to advance
and also examines whether particular policies adopted advance those values.34 Marxism
is primarily a theory of history which asserts that in order to understand how a society
functions it is essential to look at the economic structure of the relevant society.35 Thus,
employing a Marxist legal analysis will assist in understanding the root causes of H.T. and
the exploitation that comes with it. The engagement with this approach will make an
original contribution to the H.T. issue as Marxist studies of the law are rare especially in
international law.36 Therefore, this study will have an original theoretical contribution
in the application of Marxist legal perspectives to the international law on the trafficking
of human beings — particularly regarding the limitations of the current approaches and
their conceptualisation of H.T.




      1. TERMINOLOGY

     1.1. CAPITALISM AND NEOLIBERALISM (STRUCTURAL ISSUES)

The concepts “capitalism” and “neoliberalism” have been marred by assertions that they
contribute to inequalities and to the violation of human rights, particularly labour rights.
This Section will attempt to define these concepts and briefly discuss how they can be
construed as structural issues in the H.T. phenomenon. The aim of this Section is to lay
a foundation for the understanding of capitalism and neoliberalism which informs the
discussion in the subsequent Sections that highlight the limitations of the three dominant
approaches to H.T.
          Capitalism is a concept that is often used in practice with its meaning being largely
considered to be self-evident. As to the origins of the word, it is commonplace for one

33
   Id. at 184.
34
   Brad R. Roth, Marxian Insights for the Human Rights Project, in INTERNATIONAL LAW ON THE LEFT: RE-EXAMINING
   MARXIST LEGACIES 221 (Susan Marks ed., 2008).
35
   Nicolson, supra note 25, at 44.
36
   See Robert Knox, Marxist Approaches to International Law, in THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF THE THEORY OF
   INTERNATIONAL LAW 306 (Anne Orford & Florian Hoffmann eds., 2016).


                                                     223
     THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                          APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


to assume that the word comes from Karl Marx as he referred to its variations (capital,
capitalist and the capitalist mode of production) in the Capital, Volume I.37 The term was,
however, coined by the English novelist Thackeray, but Weber is the one who proffered a
famous paper on the definition of capitalism. The Weberian definition of capitalism entails
the provision of human needs through private businesses with the aim of making profit.38
While profit-seeking is as old as trade itself, continuous and generalised accumulation of
surplus value through production is unique to capitalist societies.39 These societies not
only require that those who control production seek to make profit, but also that they
are able to adapt the production process to ensure the maximisation of output.40 Thus, at
the heart of capitalism is the accumulation of profit through the manipulation of labour
power.
           Historically, capitalism has been associated with the gravest situations of human
exploitation such as slavery.41 It is widely considered that the cruelty and violence that are
often associated with chattel slavery were caused by the slave owner’s unquenchable thirst
for profit.42 Beckert states that although people have grown to associate capitalism with
contracts and markets, early capitalism was based on violence and bodily coercion.43 This
is an assertion that finds support in Marx’s Capital I where he stated that capitalism came
into this world “dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt”.44 Thus,
the history of capitalism shows that it has always been associated with labour regimes that
are exploitative in nature by virtue of its emphasis on profit accumulation at all costs.
           Having established what capitalism is, it is fitting to establish the relationship
that it has with neoliberalism. In doing so, it is apposite to define what is meant by the
term “neoliberalism” in the first instance. The term “neoliberalism” is now widely
acknowledged as a controversial and crisis-ridden term.45 It is often invoked in critical
literature, but remains ill-defined with a meaning that appears to change from paper to
paper.46 In order to get a clearer picture of the meaning and scope of the term it is,
37
   Karl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. VOLUME I: THE PROCESS OF CAPITALIST PRODUCTION (Frederick
   Engels ed., Samuel Moore & Edward Aveling trans., Progress Publishers, 1887).
38
   See Randall Collins, Weber’s Last Theory of Capitalism: A Systematization, 45 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW 925
   (1980), https://doi.org/10.2307/2094910.
39
   See Angus Maddison, Contours of the World Economy, 1–2030 AD (Oxford University Press ed., 2007).
40
   See John J. Clegg, Capitalism and Slavery, 2 CRITICAL HISTORICAL STUDIES 281 (2015),
   https://doi.org/10.1086/683036.
41
   See Sven Beckert, Slavery and Capitalism, THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION (Dec.                    12, 2014),
   https://www.chronicle.com/article/slavery-and-capitalism/?emailConfirmed=true&email=l.sibanda%40
   sussex.ac.uk&success=false&bc_nonce=k5179074tlai
   apx8sd45i&cid=gen_sign_in.
42
   Clegg, supra note 40, at 290.
43
   Beckert, supra note 41.
44
   Marx, supra note 37, at 538.
45
   See Rajesh Venugopal, Neoliberalism as a Concept, 44 ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 165, 166 (2015).
46
   Id.


                                                       224
2023]                              UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                         [Vol. 8:1


therefore, important to define the concept as present in the real world through its
spheres of operation and historical development. For instance, scholars have noted that
neoliberalism developed as a counter-revolution political project “carried out by the
corporate capitalist class” to limit the power of labour.47 Thus, the neoliberal project
developed as an assault on organised labour which was viewed as a threat to the
expansion of capital and a cause for market rigidity.48                          Consequently, its sphere of
influence can be seen through policies aimed at advancing the neoliberal agenda of:
“free” trade and capital mobility; the adoption of austerity measures; the “flexibilization
of labour markets” through labour and business deregulation; the repression of wage
demands and the “workfarist” restructuring of the welfare state.49 A look at these
characteristics of neoliberalism reflects the liberal, rational choice-based foundations of
the project which advocate for the reduced role of the government in regulating
economic activity.50 However, it should be noted that there are other variations of
neoliberalism that attempt to bridge the gap between the polar opposites of unbridled
capitalism and state control as seen in the “ordoliberalism”.51
           Aside from neoliberalism being a political project, it is also an ideological tool.52
Ideology is defined by Žižek as a “composite set of ideas, beliefs, concepts” that are meant
to convince the society of its inherent truth while underhandedly serving some power
interest.53 Neoliberalism, naturally, is the most pro-capitalist ideology as it advocates for
policies that are aimed at dismantling barriers to global trade and capital as well as the
deregulation of labour.
           The impact of these neoliberal policies has been a subject of debate with those
who are pro-market liberalisation, arguing that it results in economic growth and
development.54 Conversely, those who argue against liberalisation state that it results in
“a race to the bottom as governments, in their pursuit of economic competitiveness and
foreign capital, competitively lower labour, environmental and other social welfare

47
   Bastiaan van Apeldoorn & Henk Overbeek, Introduction: The Life Course of the Neoliberal Project and the
   Global Crisis, in NEOLIBERALISM IN CRISIS 1, 4 (Henk Overbeek & Bastiaan van Apeldoorn eds., 2012); Bjarke
   Skærlund Risager, Neoliberalism Is a Political Project: An Interview with David Harvey, ACADEMIA 2-3 (July 23, 2016),
   https://www.academia.edu/27261868/Neoliberalism_Is_a_Political_Project_An_Interview_with_David_Ha
   rvey?auto=citations&from=cover_page.
48
   See Christoph Hermann, Neoliberalism in the European Union, 79 STUDIES IN POLITICAL ECONOMY 61, 64 (2007).
49
   Id. at 62, 68; Robert Blanton & Dursun Peksen, Economic Liberalisation, Market Institutions and Labour Rights, 55
   EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH 474, 475 (2016).
50
   Venugopal, supra note 45, at 172.
51
   Id. at 168.
52
   See Risager, supra note 47, at 3-4; Hermann, supra note 48, at 62.
53
   Žižek, supra note 24.
54
   See Alice Amsden, Taiwan’s Economic History: A Case of Etatisme and a Challenge to Dependency Theory (1979), in
   THE GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT READER: PERSPECTIVES ON DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBAL CHANGE 159 (Timmons
   Roberts, Amy Hite & Nitsan Chorev eds., 2nd ed. 2015).


                                                          225
     THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                          APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


standards”.55       Such policies, aiming to increase economic competitiveness through
lowering of labour standards, are essentially grounded in the neoliberal assumption that
the respect for worker rights is hostile to economic growth. Through deregulation, this
ideological position seeks to promote the accumulation of profit by businesses even at
the expense of worker rights. This, coupled with the idea of reduced government
intervention (minimal state), results in a government that is not well equipped to protect
positive rights such as workers’ rights.56 Thus, there is a correlation between neoliberal
policies and the exploitation of workers for the sake of profit accumulation.



      1.2. HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND MODERN SLAVERY

The first internationally accepted definition of H.T. is found in the 2000 U.N. Protocol to
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
[hereinafter the Protocol].57 Article 3 of the Protocol defines H.T. as entailing some form
of action such as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receiving of
another human being through “unlawful” methods for the purpose of exploiting the
person.
           H.T. has three elements that need to be satisfied: an act, a means and a purpose.
The “act” element of the H.T. definition relates to the control of a person by another by
virtue of the enumerated actions, for instance, harbouring or recruitment. The second
element, “means”, points to the involuntary aspect of the relationship between the
person and the entities who are exercising control over the trafficked person. This is
illustrated by words such as coercion, deception or abuse of power to describe the
relationship.58 Last, but not least, is the element of exploitation of the person.59 This
element requires that perpetrators recruit, harbour, transfer or receive another person
for the purpose of obtaining some benefit at the expense of the trafficked person. This
could be for the purpose of financial gain, free/cheap labour services or obtaining the
benefit of an organ donation.60



55
   Blanton & Peksen, supra note 49, at 475.
56
   See Robert Blanton & Dursun Peksen, The Dark Side of Economic Freedom: Neoliberalism has Deleterious Effects
   on Labor Rights, LSE PHELAN US CENTRE (Aug. 20, 2016), https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2016/08/20/the-
   dark-side-of-economic-freedom-neoliberalism-has-deleterious-effects-on-labour-rights/.
57
   See Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, supra note 18.
58
   Id. at art. 3(a).
59
   See Janne Mende, The Concept of Modern Slavery: Definition, Critique, and the Human Rights Frame, 20 HUMAN
   RIGHTS REVIEW 229, 233 (2019).
60
   See IOM, Counter-trafficking: Training Modules, IOM IRELAND 8 (2008), http://iomireland.ie/wp-
   content/uploads/2016/04/Train-the-Trainer-Manual-Original.pdf.


                                                     226
2023]                             UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                      [Vol. 8:1


The question of whether a prescribed act and method must subsequently lead to
exploitation for a case to be classified as H.T. is one that is subject to debate. One view is
that all three elements must be present in any given case for it to be considered H.T. In
other words, subsequent exploitation is an indispensable requirement.61                                 This is a
restrictive interpretation of the provision in the Protocol requiring where the utilisation
of the conduct and method(s) prescribed must be for the purpose of exploitation.62 A
more literal interpretation of the provision contends that subsequent exploitation is to
be treated as a sufficient but not a necessary element of H.T.63 This is said to be in line
with the ordinary and grammatical meaning of the provision which speaks to the
“purpose” of exploitation; hence, referring to an intention to exploit.64 The practical
difference between the two interpretations can be seen once one takes into account the
fact that not all trafficked persons are subsequently exploited. There may be cases where
a person has been recruited, transported, or harboured through the use of coercion, and
has suffered human rights violations in the process, but is rescued before they are
exploited. In the restricted interpretation of Article 3 of the Protocol, such a person
would not be considered a victim of H.T. Whereas in the literal interpretation of the
provision, such a person would be a victim of H.T. and would consequently be entitled to
all the necessary protection.
           The exploitation of H.T. victims is characterised by an absence of autonomy or
freedom on their part — mirroring the ancient practice of slavery. Hence, renewed
attention has been given to the old phenomenon of slavery, although now focusing on
modern slavery practices. Definitional problems are inherent in the discussions on
“modern slavery”, as no international instrument has given a definition of the concept.65
While terms such as H.T. have been comprehensively covered in international legal
instruments,66 modern slavery is one term that eludes precise definition. This lack of a
universally accepted definition of what modern slavery entails means that the term is
often used to mean different things in different contexts.67 Some scholars have used the
term modern slavery or slavery-like conditions to refer to situations that are less

61
   See Ryszard Piotrowicz, European Initiatives in the Protection of Victims of Trafficking who Give Evidence Against
   Their Traffickers, 14 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REFUGEE LAW 263, 266 (2002).
62
   Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, supra note 18, at art. 3(a).
63
   See Tom Obokata, Trafficking of Human Beings from a Human Rights Perspective: Towards a Holistic Approach 20
   (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers ed., 2006).
64
   Id.
65
   See U.N., International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, U.N. (2021), https://www.un.org/en/observances/slavery-
   abolition-day.
66
   See Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, supra note 18; Convention on Action
   Against Trafficking in Human Beings, adopted May 16, 2005, C.E.T.S. 197.
67
   See Ronald Weitzer, Modern slavery and Human Trafficking, GREAT DECISIONS 42 (Jan., 2020),
   https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3691649.


                                                        227
     THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                          APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


dehumanising than outright slavery. For instance, the term is often used to describe
circumstances where a person is subjected to any one of the following: harsh working
conditions, restricted freedom, presence of a debt bondage, or even when they receive
paltry remuneration.68
           Slavery is understood as the “. . . status or condition of a person over whom any
or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised”.69 Central to the
definition of slavery is the idea that the slave lacks legal personality and is owned by the
master. This ownership is life-long and more permanent in the case of slavery. This is
not the case in modern slavery cases, as the victim still retains their legal personality.70
In the context of modern slavery, it is the intention to subsequently exploit the victim
that categorises it as slavery. In some instances, however, the traffickers may exercise
continuous control over the victim for a long period and that would de facto amount to
exercising the right to ownership (slavery).71 A fundamental similarity between slavery
and modern slavery is that in both instances the victim’s rights and personal freedoms
are restricted by the perpetrator. For example, in both cases, the victim’s right to
freedom of movement, liberty, property and dignity are restricted by the person
exercising control over them. This is what justifies these practices being labelled as
modern slavery or slavery-like.
           However, it must be acknowledged that the term ’modern slavery’ has been
subject to severe criticism. The argument behind this critique is that the use of the term
only serves to “de-historicise” and spectacularise the people to whom it refers.72 What
this means is that the use of the term “modern slave” has the effect of unifying the
experiences of all victims, and eclipses their contextual and material conditions. The
term then only serves to create grand narratives of what it means to be a contemporary
slave while not considering the individual experiences of the victims themselves.
Therefore, distancing ourselves from these narratives inherent in the term “modern
slave” will allow for an understanding of violence as an everyday practice that intersects
with other life experiences.73         This will, in practice, allow for the recognition of
problematic relations that are less visible in the modern slavery paradigm.74 It has,
furthermore, been contended that the term “modern slavery” has become a movement
for the “deep-pocketed, high profile and increasingly glamorous “anti-modern slavery”
68
   Id.
69
   See Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery, adopted Mar. 7, 1927, 60 L.N.T.S. 253.
70
   Obokata, supra note 63, at 19.
71
   Id. at 20.
72
   See Ella Parry-Davies, Modern Heroes, Modern Slaves? Listening to Migrant Domestic Workers Everyday
   Temporalities, 15 ANTI-TRAFFICKING REVIEW 63, 68 (2020).
73
   Id. at 74.
74
   Id.


                                                 228
2023]                             UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                      [Vol. 8:1


club, that counts movie stars and presidents amongst its members” — all of which
conveniently view forced labour as an issue of individual bad people — doing bad things
to good people — while ignoring the deeper structural causes.75
           While taking cognisance of the above criticisms, this paper will use the terms
modern slavery and H.T. interchangeably. The decision to use the highly criticised term
— (that is, modern slavery) is motivated by the fact that it has become a very powerful
tool for the mobilisation of action against all forms of exploitation sustained through
threats, coercion, abuse of power, violence or deception. Virtually all state and non-state
actors use the term to refer to these instances of exploitation. The United Nations has
dealt with modern slavery through its various organs and procedures. For instance,
through the special procedure mechanism, the U.N. has created a mandate for the
Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of Slavery. Contemporary is a synonym for
“modern” and the mandate of the special rapporteur includes all issues associated with
modern slavery such as forced labour, domestic servitude, and slavery-like conditions
among others.76 The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the I.L.O. have dealt
extensively with modern slavery as a broad concept that includes different situations of
H.T.77 On the regional level, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
[hereinafter O.S.C.E.] has also dealt with H.T. as a massive phenomenon of modern-day
slavery in its policy documents.78




      2. A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE APPROACHES TO H.T.

This Section will analyse the three main approaches that can be identified in the
literature on combating H.T. The literature review identifies international and regional
legal frameworks as key determinants of anti-trafficking efforts and consequently,
academic discussions have been centred on the effectiveness of these efforts.79
Anti-trafficking efforts in the literature can be divided into three broad categories: the

75
   See Anne Gallagher, What’s Wrong with the Global Slavery Index?, 8 ANTI-TRAFFICKING REVIEW 90-112 (2017),
   https://www.antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/atrjournal/article/view/228/215.
76
   See U.N. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), Report of the Special Rapporteur on
   contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, U.N. Doc. A/77/163 (July 14, 2022).
77
   See U.N.O.D.C., Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, at 6 (Feb. 2009); U.N. International Labour Office
   (ILO), Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage, at 21 (Sep. 19, 2017).
78
   See Ryszard Piotrowicz et al., Policy and legislative recommendations towards the effective implementation
   of the non-punishment provision with regard to victims of trafficking, O.S.C.E. (June 25, 2013),
   https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/6/6/101002.pdf.
79
   See Jean-Pierre Gauci & Noemi Magugliani, Final Report: Determinants of Anti-trafficking Efforts, BIICL 67 (June,
   2022), https://www.biicl.org/documents/154_determinants_of_anti-trafficking_efforts_final_report.pdf.


                                                        229
     THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                          APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


criminalisation/abolitionist approach, the human rights based approach and the
celebrity humanitarianism approach.                  The review shows that each of them has
assumptions on how to eliminate the problematic manifestations of H.T. such as forced
labour, and criminal and sexual exploitation (among other forms of exploitation) with a
focal point that is highly influenced by their respective actors, agendas, and politics.
Consequently, all the approaches are reactive to the problem and do not seek to address
its causes. What is striking about these approaches, as different as they may be, is their
tacit legitimisation of the liberal political economy by focusing on the immediate crisis
and tackling the symptoms of the H.T. problem rather than addressing the root causes.
By not interrogating the pervasive exploitation essential to the survival of global
capitalism and perpetuated by neoliberal policies, the approaches depoliticise the
problem and, in turn, lead to the adoption of ineffective measures to combat H.T. It will
be shown that, in order to combat H.T., it is essential for strategies to target the
structural issues that are contributing to making individuals vulnerable.



      2.1. CRIMINALISATION APPROACH

      2.1.1. WHAT IS A CRIMINALISATION APPROACH TO H.T.

A review of the literature dealing with combating H.T. shows that one of the tactics that
have been adopted to deal with the issue is the liberal abolitionist approach; commonly
referred to as the criminalisation approach. This approach fundamentally views the
issue of H.T. from the perspective of the state and as a violation of the laws of the state.80
It fundamentally adopts a reductionist lens that attempts to understand a complex
phenomenon such as H.T. from the study of distinct features of the system such as
perpetrators, victims and the patterns of operation.81 Consequently, emphasis is placed
on utilising the law and the criminal justice system to punish trafficking perpetrators
through the criminalisation of H.T. and various offences related thereto. Such related
offences are prostitution and violations of labour and immigration law.82




80
   See Navid Pourmokhtari, Global Human Trafficking Unmasked: A Feminist Rights-Based Approach, 1 JOURNAL OF
   HUMAN TRAFFICKING 156, 159 (2015).
81
   See Marcel van der Watt & Amanda van der Westhuizen, (Re)configuring the criminal justice response to human
   trafficking: a complex-systems perspective, 18 POLICE PRACTICE AND RESEARCh 218, 224-5 (2017).
82
   Pourmokhtari, supra note 80, at 159.


                                                     230
2023]                              UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                         [Vol. 8:1


Central to this approach is the distinction between perpetrators and victims — with it
being argued that the latter should not be punished for criminal acts arising out of their
situation as H.T. victims.83 While this approach has certain strengths, such as deterring
perpetrators from committing the offence, it also fails to provide a holistic approach that
addresses the root causes of the problem.84



     2.1.2. CRIMINALISATION APPROACH AND THE PREVENTION OF H.T.

While assessing the successes and shortcomings associated with this method of
combating H.T., Kangaspunta argues that the criminalisation of the phenomenon has
been a crucial step in sending a message to the would-be traffickers that the commission
of the offence will not be accepted internationally or domestically.85 The contention is
that it brings the problem of H.T. under the official purview of the criminal justice
system allowing for an allocation of the resources to ensure the proper investigation of
the crime and prosecution of offenders.86 Rogers, while speaking generally in terms of
the functions of criminal law, notes that the creation of an offence can make a prohibited
conduct more susceptible to prevention through general deterrence.87 This is because it
sends a clear message to potential offenders that they will be prosecuted, convicted and
punished.        Stoyanova adds to this discussion by arguing that criminalisation also
provides for specific deterrence against repetition of the offence by individual offenders
and protects the victim from further victimisation.88
           Despite these strengths, there has been a growing realisation among academics
that H.T. cannot be adequately prevented through criminalisation (legislation).89
Kangaspunta asserts that the criminalisation of H.T. remains largely symbolic due to the
lack of implementation, and the low numbers of convictions despite the widespread

83
   See Ryszard Wilson Piotrowicz & Liliana Sorrentino, Human Trafficking and the Emergence of the Non-Punishment
   Principle, 16 HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW 669, 673 (2016); U.N. Secretary-General, Trafficking in Women and
   Girls, ¶ 62, U.N. Doc A/63/215, para 62, (Aug. 4, 2008).
84
   See Paul Oluwatosin Bello & Adewale Olutola, Effective Response to Human Trafficking in South Africa: Law as
   a Toothless Bulldog, 12 SAGE OPEN 1-14 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211069379 (last visited Sept.
   27, 2022); Vladislava Stoyanova, Article 4 of the ECHR and The Obligation of Criminalising Slavery, Servitude, Forced
   Labour And Human Trafficking, 3 CAMBRIDGE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW 407, 414 (2014).
85
   See Kristiina Kangaspunta, Was Trafficking in Persons Really Criminalised?, 4 ANTI-TRAFFICKING REVIEW 80-97
   (2015).
86
   Id.
87
   See Jonathan Rogers, Applying the Doctrine of Positive Obligations in the European Convention on Human Rights to
   Domestic Substantive Criminal Law in Domestic Proceedings, 2003 CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW 690-708 (2003).
88
   Stoyanova, supra note 84, at 414.
89
   Chuang, supra note 9, at 156; Nina Mollema, Combating Human Trafficking in South Africa: A comparative
   legal study 75 (2013) (D.Phil. thesis, University of South Africa); van der Watt & van der Westhuizen, supra
   note 81, at 218.


                                                          231
     THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                          APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


 criminalisation.90         The low number of convictions is attributed to the hidden and
 coercive nature of the phenomenon as well as the problems of victim (self-)identification
 due to the complex nature of H.T.91 Where convictions are secured, they are often more
 focused on sexual exploitation grounds than labour exploitation — thus neglecting a key
 part of trafficking related exploitation.92                   Chuang states that this is because sex
 trafficking falls neatly within the scope of the criminal justice system.93 However, labour
 trafficking in practice is less likely to attract a criminal justice response due to the
 greater moral tolerance that society has with regard to labour exploitation.94 This raises
 a fundamental question on whether criminalisation performs the function of prevention
 by deterrence with regard to labour trafficking.
            Less attention is afforded to labour trafficking despite recent global estimates
 that approximately twenty-eight million people are trapped in forced labour.95 While
 H.T. and forced labour are different concepts, there is a significant overlap between
 them.96 In analysing the definition of forced labour as found in the 1930 Forced Labour
 Convention,97 Morehouse notes that “. . . all victims of forced labour can potentially
 (emphasis added) be considered victims of human trafficking”,98 In fact, an argument is
 made that the I.L.O. posits H.T. as a subset of forced labour.99 The overlap between H.T.
 and forced labour is not complete. There are a few instances where forced labour does
 not amount to H.T.100 Unfortunately, the Protocol itself does not offer a clear basis for
 resolving the exact relationship and boundaries between forced labour and H.T.101 Mbah
 notes that “forced labour is the most common form or practice of trafficking . . . [and]
 the most common practice of exploitation because it is a lucrative business that
 generates a significant amount of revenue for the perpetrators”.102                               Therefore, an


90
    Kangaspunta, supra note 85.
91
    Anne Gallagher & Paul Holmes, Developing an Effective Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking Lessons from
    the Front Line, 18 INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REVIEW 318, 329 (2008); Kangaspunta, supra note 85.
 92
    Gauci and Magugliani, supra note 79, at 38-40.
 93
    Chuang, supra note 9, at 154.
 94
    Id.
 95
    International       Labour    Organization,       Walk      Free     &    International     Organization       for
    Migration,       Global estimates of modern slavery:                 forced labour and forced marriage
    22      (Sept.              28,      2022),       https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_norm/—
    ipec/documents/publication/wcms_854733.pdf.
 96
    Chowdury and Others v. Greece, App. No. 21884/15, (Mar. 30, 2017), https://tinyurl.com/3fjsshfk.
 97
    Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour art. 2(1), Jun. 28 1930, 39 U.N.T.S. 55.
 98
    Christal Morehouse, Combating Human Trafficking Policy Gaps and Hidden Political Agendas in the U.S.A. and
    Germany 76-77 (VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften ed., 2009).
 99
    Id. at 76.
100
    Id. at 78 states: “Only three of the [I.L.O.]’s 2005 criteria for identifying forced labor do not apply strictly
    to human trafficking. These are: “dismissal from current employment under the menace of penalty”, the
    ‘exclusion from future employment through menace of penalty’ and ‘physical confinement in prison’”.
101
    Chuang Janie, Exploitation Creep and The Unmaking of Human Trafficking Law, 108 AM. J. INT’L L. 609, 630 (2014).
102
    Miriam U Mbah, Addressing Human Trafficking through Public Procurement: An Examination of US and
    Australian Federal Procurement Frameworks 61 (2020) (D.Phil. thesis, Bangor University).
                                                         232
 2023]                            UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                     [Vol. 8:1


 over-emphasis on sex trafficking as found in the criminalisation approach overlooks a
 vital element of trafficking-related exploitation (i.e., labour trafficking).
           Another practical limitation of the criminalisation approach stems from its
 reductionist lens as it problematises the H.T. issue in a linear and simplistic manner.
 Marcel van der Watt and Amanda van der Westhuizen describe the criminalisation
 approach as a systematic process of connecting evidence in a linear fashion with the aim
 of identifying, apprehending, and convicting perpetrators.103 While this method is well
 suited for single event crimes such as murder and/or rape that take place within a
 specific context often characterised by a perpetrator, a victim, a crime scene and a
 possible witness, it does not adequately address complex crimes such as H.T. which are
 often made up of complicated non-linear relationships between various actors and
 context(s).104 Morgan argues that reductionism cannot keep up with a complex way of
 life — and when employed will only serve to treat symptoms of the problem while
 ignoring its causes.105 Such interventions will only serve to make things better in the
 short term and worse in the long run as the root causes of the problem are left intact.106
           Thus, a reductionist method of dealing with H.T. inevitably leads to policies that
 are “micro-smart” and “macro-dumb”.107 It is therefore important to conceptualise how
 the nonlinear relationships found in the H.T. phenomenon interact in order to fashion
 policies that can adequately address the macro forces at play in H.T. systems. Newman
 and Cameron argue that for one to understand H.T. it is important to look at its broad
 social, economic, and political context (structural factors).108 The argument is that
 understanding H.T. requires an appreciation of the interaction of various factors that
 contribute to making people vulnerable to trafficking-related exploitation.109 Hence, an
 analysis of the structural factors, contributing to making people vulnerable, will
 contribute to “addressing the problem at both the site of origin and the destination, as
 well as at the international level”.110




103
    Van der Watt & van der Westhuizen, supra note 81, at 221.
104
    Id.
105
    Peter Morgan, The idea and practice of systems thinking and their relevance for capacity development, ECDPM
    6 (2005), https://ecdpm.org/application/files/2716/5547/2830/2005-Idea-Practice-Systems-Thinking-
    Relevance-Capacity-Development.pdf.
106
    Id.
107
    Id.
108
    Edward Newman & Sally Cameron, Trafficking in Human Beings: Social, Cultural and Political Dimensions 1 (United
    Nations University Press ed., 2008).
109
    Id. at 6.
110
    Id. at 7.


                                                        233
      THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                           APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


       2.1.3. MARXIST CRITIQUE OF THE CRIMINALISATION APPROACH

 On a theoretical level, the criminalisation approach to H.T. seeks to align itself with the
 liberal ideology by viewing the issue as an instance of individual criminals who act outside
 the boundaries of the liberal society.111 In doing so, this approach depoliticises the issue of
 H.T. by not viewing the problem as one that emanates from the global political economy
 or one that is inherently structural.112
            The tacit assumption of this approach is that the labour market or global
 political economy is an environment that is characterised by free exchange between
 individuals that are equal and who rationally contract to their mutual advantage.113
 Hence, there is a liberal-individualistic supposition of labour as being essentially free
 under the current political economy with labour being based on the consent of the
 individual worker.114 From this background, H.T., which is the epitome of unfree labour,
 is considered as encroaching upon individual autonomy; and therefore, warranting
 criminalisation. Consequently, this approach embraces neoliberalism and upholds the
 capitalist political economy by effectively placing the blame outside of the economic
 structure (capitalism).           Bernstein accurately captures the limitation of this current
 approach as follows:

              For modern-day abolitionists, the dichotomy between slavery and
              freedom poses a way of addressing the ravages of neoliberalism that
              effectively locates all social harm outside of the institutions of
              corporate capitalism and the state apparatus.                        In this way, the
              masculinist institutions of big business, the state, and the police are
              reconfigured as allies and saviors, rather than enemies, of unskilled
              migrant workers, and the responsibility for slavery is shifted from
              structural factors and dominant institutions onto individual, deviant
              men: foreign brown men (as in the White Slave trade of centuries
              past) or even more remarkably, African American men living in the
              inner city [. . .] .115

 Therefore, the criminalisation approach places blame on “bad” individuals and
 corporations that violate laws. By virtue of this, abolitionists place emphasis on the
 adoption of more laws that are designed to bring these “deviant” entities in compliance
111
    See Judy Fudge, Modern Slavery, Unfree Labour and the Labour Market: The Social Dynamics of Legal Characterization,
    27 SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES 414, 418 (2018).
112
    Id.
113
    Id.
114
    Banaji, supra note 20, at 74.
115
    Elizabeth Bernstein, The Sexual Politics of the New Abolitionism, 18 DIFFERENCES 128, 144 (2007).


                                                          234
 2023]                             UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                       [Vol. 8:1


 with the dominant western liberal ideals and values.                          Naturally, this leads to the
 criminalisation of greater areas of human life such as migration and the intensification
 of surveillance to combat H.T.116 Ironically, this approach leaves intact the structural
 issues (root causes) that are in fact causing H.T., which are conveniently ignored for a
 more superficial approach.
            Furthermore, the liberal approach to the problematisation of H.T. fails to
 appreciate the extent to which the law itself, especially contract law under capitalism, is
 an institutional process through which domination and oppression is naturalised.117 On
 this point, it is useful to refer to Marx’s renowned critique of contract law under legal
 liberalism in Capital I. He describes the wage labourer as bound to the employer by
 invisible threads through the legal fiction of a contract — with an appearance of
 independence sustained by an ability to change employers.118                             This “free” contract
 between the capitalist and the worker is said to be an illusion. Kessler contends as
 follows in this regard: “Freedom of contract enables enterprisers to legislate by contract and,
 what is even more important, to legislate in a substantially authoritarian manner without using
 the appearance of authoritarian forms”.119
            Thus, there is a need for a more nuanced approach to H.T. that reconceptualises
 exploitation to include those instances where consent is involved. This will reflect the
 fact that in contemporary capitalism the boundary between free and unfree labour has
 become blurred — casting doubt on liberal legalism’s emphasis on a freely concluded
 contract as truly signifying the will of the parties.120 The I.L.O. has recognised that in the
 course of employment there are some “relationships in which the element of free choice
 by the worker begins at least to be mitigated or constrained, and can eventually be cast
 into doubt”.121 This necessitates an approach to H.T. that recognises that freedom or
 unfreedom in employment situations is no longer binary and exists on a continuum. This
 concept of a continuum of unfreedom is useful in understanding that exploitation can
 occur even in legally sanctioned relationships where there is a denial of rights. This is
 not accounted for in the current liberal approach to H.T. as seen in the criminalisation
 approach. The effect of such a gap is that the conceptualisation of H.T. under the law

116
    Kempadoo, supra note 12, at 16.
117
    Marc Steinberg, England Great Transformation: Law, Labour, and the Industrial Revolution 32 (University of
    Chicago Press ed., 2016).
118
    Marx, supra note 37, at 405.
119
    Friedrich Kessle, The Contracts of Adhesion–Some Thoughts about Freedom of Contract Role of Compulsion in Economic
    Transactions, 43 COLUM. L. REV. 629, 640 (1943).
120
    Sandro Mezzadra & Brett Neilson, Border as a Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor 100 (2013).
121
    International Labour Organization (ILO) Conference (98th Session), Report I(B): The Cost of Coercion: Global
    Report Under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights to Work, at 8-9 (May 12,
    2009).


                                                         235
      THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                           APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


 does not accurately reflect the lived experiences of H.T. victims. The illusion of freedom
 under the liberal abolitionist approach naturalises exploitation that does not fall neatly
 within the scope of the H.T. definition.



       2.2. THE HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH

       2.2.1. WHAT IS A HUMAN RIGHTS‐BASED APPROACH TO H.T.?

 A human rights-based approach has emerged owing to the limitations of the
 criminalisation approach in supporting and protecting victims of H.T. Therefore, instead
 of placing emphasis on the prosecution of traffickers, this approach focuses more on
 individuals based on their status as victims of human rights violations. It is contended
 that this approach is the only way of maintaining focus on H.T. victims and their
 interests in order to avoid the issue from being simply reduced to a public order,
 migration or transnational crime problem.122 As a result, there has been a trend towards
 the utilisation of a human rights approach to H.T. by the international community.123
 Also, since the structural issues associated with H.T. are socio-economic (e.g., poverty),
 there has been a call for them to be addressed by reference to the international human
 rights law [hereinafter I.H.R.L.] system.124 Chuang avers that framing the problem of
 addressing the root causes of H.T. as a human rights issue would promote a proactive
 approach that is aimed at tackling the problems.125 This Section will critically analyse
 the literature on the merits of utilising the I.H.R.L. system as a conceptual framework for
 addressing the root causes of H.T.
            Due to the centrality of exploitation in H.T. situations, it is generally accepted
 that the phenomenon is one that concerns human rights violations. Some of the most
 recognisable violations pertain to the right to liberty, security of the person,
 non-discrimination, and the right to personal and physical integrity.126 These rights
 cover a wide range of activities in the social reproduction of life, and are encroached
 upon through the various stages of the H.T. process such as recruitment, harbouring,
 transportation and exploitation.              A human rights approach to H.T. is a conceptual

122
    C.R.J.J. Rijken, A Human Rights Based Approach to Trafficking in Human Beings, 20 SEC. & HUM. RTS. 212, 215
    (2009).
123
    UNCHR, Human Rights and Human Trafficking, Fact Sheet No. 36 7-8, (2014).
124
    See Chuang, supra note 9, at 157; The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, supra
    note 18, at article 9(4) obliges states to “take or strengthen measures. . . to alleviate the factors that make
    persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking, such as poverty, underdevelopment and
    lack of equal opportunity”.
125
    Chuang, supra note 9, at 157.
126
    Rijken, supra note 122, at 215.


                                                        236
 2023]                            UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                    [Vol. 8:1


 framework that deals with the H.T. problem normatively, based on I.H.R.L. standards,
 and which is also designed to protect these rights.127 Here too, liberal values such as the
 rule of law, liberty, universality and equality are echoed — which will be critiqued later
 on in the analysis of the merits of this approach.128 These values are said to give
 guidance to the human rights-based approach to H.T. It is argued that this framework
 has the potential of offering a legal and political space for vulnerable persons in the
 society to claim these rights and establish state responsibility.129 From this background,
 the use of I.H.R.L. is proposed as a conceptual framework for addressing the root causes
 of H.T. The discussion below will critically analyse the value of such an approach.



      2.2.2. HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH AND ROOT CAUSES

 Various scholars have identified “poverty” as a root cause for trafficking-related
 exploitation.130 It is broadly accepted that socio-economic circumstances play a vital role
 in the trafficking process and that those vulnerable to victimisation disproportionately
 occupy a lower socio-economic status in society.131 Such persons are often desperate to
 find employment and, in that process, overlook the hazards associated with a job offer.
 Kumar argues that “a family in desperate need of money is inclined to say yes even
 without knowing the full nature and circumstances of the work”,132 Cameron and
 Newman agree with this assertion and are of the view that poverty acts as a catalyst for
 H.T. as it places people in circumstances where they have few alternatives.133 This
 desperation increases their vulnerability to deception and coercion.134 It also decreases
 their chances of removing themselves from exploitative situations, as doing so would
 deprive them of a source of livelihood. In other words, their only choice is to either
 remain in the exploitative situation or face starvation as a “free” person.
           Those who advocate for a human rights approach to poverty reduction argue
 that this conceptual framework will lead to the empowerment of poor people and
127
    Id. UNCHR, supra note 123, at 8.
128
    Rijken, supra note 122, at 215.
129
    Chuang, supra note 9, at 157.
130
    Cameron & Newman, supra note 108, at 22; Laura Gauer Bermudez, No Experience Necessary: The Internal
    Trafficking of Persons in South Africa, IOM 12 (2008), https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnado562.pdf; Natalia
    Ollus & Matti Joutsen, International Policies To Combat Human Trafficking, in ROUTLEDGE INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK
    OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY AND APPLIED APPROACH 72 (Rochelle Dalla & Donna Sabella eds.,
    1st ed. 2019).
131
    Bermudez, supra note 130, at 12.
132
    Bal Kumar KC et al., Nepal Trafficking in Girls with Special Reference to Prostitution: A Rapid Assessment,
    ILO 24 (2001), https://s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/observatoirebdd/2001_Trafficking_girls_prost_Nepal_
    ILO.pdf.
133
    Cameron & Newman, supra note 130, at 22.
134
    Id.


                                                       237
      THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                           APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


 expand their freedom of choice.135 It is asserted that human rights empower victims by
 granting them rights that are enforceable against others and remove the powerlessness
 associated with poverty. Narayan and Petesch are, however, of the view that poor people
 are usually aware of their rights and encroachments pertaining to conditions of
 employment, but are often powerless to enforce them.136                            This is because of their
 financial dependence on the traffickers and the fact that demanding their rights will
 likely endanger their livelihoods as they are labelled troublemakers.137 The apparent
 limitation of the I.H.R.L. conceptual framework is that it is grounded in the liberal legal
 tradition, which assumes individual liberty on the basis of legal recognition.138 However,
 poverty challenges the liberal notions of individual liberty as it compels people to enter
 and stay in exploitative working conditions.139
            Furthermore, while such an approach might be instrumental in protecting the
 rights of H.T. victims after the fact, it has been criticised for being reactive to individual
 instances of exploitation.140 In other words it fails to deal with the root causes of poverty
 itself (capitalism and neoliberalism) by dealing with workers as individual victims and
 “employers” as individual “bad apples”.141 Marks, after having analysed the human
 rights movement’s investigation of root causes to rights abuses offered a useful critique.
 She observed a tendency in the movement to halt the investigation of causes too soon
 before identifying the actual root causes.142 For instance, this is demonstrated through
 attention being directed at human rights abuses themselves without addressing the
 vulnerabilities that make people prone to such abuses.143 Where vulnerabilities are
 discussed, the analysis does not go far enough to interrogate the “conditions that
 engender and sustain those vulnerabilities”.144 In a few instances where the conditions
 (e.g., poverty) are highlighted, the discussion ignores the larger framework within which
 those conditions are systemically reproduced.145 The consequence of such an approach
 is that it ends up treating symptoms of the problem as root causes.146 The result is that
135
    U.N. OHCHR, Human Rights and Poverty Reduction a Conceptual Framework, at 14, (2004).
136
    Deepa Narayan et al., Voice of the Poor from Many Lands 492 (Deepa Narayan & Patti Patesch eds., 1st. ed. 2002).
137
    Id.
138
    See Catherine Renshaw, What Is a Classical Liberal Approach to Human Rights, THE CONVERSATION, (Mar. 18, 2014),
    https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-classical-liberal-approach-to-human-rights-24452.
139
    See Kathmandu Gaushala et al., Cross Border Trafficking of Boys 18 (2002).
140
    See Katie Cruz, Beyond Liberalism: Marxist Feminism, Migrant Sex Work, and Labour Unfreedom, 26 FEM LEGSTUD 65,
    84 (2018).
141
    See Hilary, supra note 16, at 17-19; Cruz, supra note 140, at 84; Marx, supra note 37, at 496 states that: “. . .
    the production relations in which the bourgeoisie moves have not a simple, uniform character, but a dual
    character; that in the selfsame relations in which wealth is produced, poverty is produced also”.
142
    Marks, supra note 10, at 71.
143
    Id.
144
    Id.
145
    Id.
146
    Id. at 72.


                                                         238
 2023]                           UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                  [Vol. 8:1


 the human rights approach inadvertently overlooks and/or discourages engagement
 with the systemic character of abuses and only treats symptoms of the problem. By
 treating effects as causes depoliticises the problem leading to ineffective responses as it
 shall be discussed below.



      2.2.3. MARXIST CRITIQUE OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS‐BASED APPROACH

 The practical implication of an approach that focuses on abuses, and treats symptoms as
 root causes, is that it focuses more on formal and procedural justice contained in the rule
 of law — while the substantial systemic injustice that is causing the H.T. phenomenon is
 ignored.
           This reflects the role that the law plays as an ideology. While the human rights
 approach formally announces and guarantees every person’s liberty, it simultaneously
 masks and sustains the inequality and oppression that is a characteristic of a capitalist
 society.147 In theorising capitalism, Weber stated that it requires a “free” labour force
 that is able to move from employer to employer to satisfy demand.148 The key to
 sustaining such a supply of labour is grounded in inequality: that is, the presence of a
 “propertyless stratum” that sells its labour power “under the compulsion of the whip of
 hunger”.149 This, of course, necessitates the private appropriation of the means of
 production, which is to be controlled by the dominant class. Thus, for capitalism to
 survive the “labour power withdrawn from the market by wear and tear and death, it
 must be continually replaced by, at the very least, an equal amount of fresh
 labour-power”,150 Capital does not care about the health or working conditions of the
 worker as experience has shown that, due to the propertyless class, there is always
 excess labour available. Marx states that this excess is “made up of generations of human
 beings stunted, short-lived, swiftly replacing each other, plucked, so to say, before
 maturity”.151
           Therefore, despite its role in sustaining the capitalist relations of production and
 safeguarding the capitalist’s interests, the law presents itself as universal and
 representing the interests of all the people in the community.152 Marks highlights that
 “universalisation” is one of the strategies that ideology employs, which operates by
 making the law appear “impartial, inclusory and rooted in considerations of mutual
147
    See Marie-Bénédicte Dembour, Critiques, in INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW 49 (Moeckli et al. eds., 2018).
148
    See Collins, supra note 38, at 928.
149
    Id.
150
    Marx, supra note 37, at 121.
151
    Id. at 181.
152
    Nicolson, supra note 25, at 45.


                                                     239
      THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                           APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


 interest.”153 The idea is that the law protects every person from any unlawful interference
 with their individual autonomy and property. It treats equally the employer’s capital
 and the worker’s human rights.154 Hence, when it protects the interests of the capitalist
 it presents them as the interests of everyone.155 In such a way, the law’s universal form
 works to depoliticise its practical application.
            Since human rights law is grounded in the liberal legal tradition, Marxists have
 long questioned whether it can truly lead to true human emancipation.156 Kennedy has
 argued that I.H.R.L. “does more to produce and excuse violations than to prevent and
 remedy them.”157 This is because human rights remedies “treat the symptoms rather
 than the illness, and this allows the illness not only to fester, but to seem like health
 itself.”158 This is the case for instance when poverty (a symptom of capitalism)159 is
 sought to be addressed by reference to a human rights based approach that promotes
 socio-economic rights.160 By construing both the problem and solution very narrowly,
 human rights discourse insulates the political economy that is responsible for bringing
 about the problem.161
            By aligning itself with the liberal political economy, the human rights-based
 approach largely fails to bring about true human emancipation to H.T. victims. Marx’s On
 the Jewish Question distinguishes between political emancipation and human
 emancipation.162 Political emancipation is achieved through the human rights approach
 as it entails the formal recognition of rights of the individual.                                  While political
 emancipation is a step forward in the fight against H.T., it is not the final form of human
 emancipation.163           Human emancipation is substantive and can be achieved when
 divisions (inequalities) between members of the society are eliminated.164


153
    See Susan Marks, Big Brother is Bleeping- With the Message that Ideology Doesn’t Matter, 12 EUR. J. INT’L L. 109, 112
    (2001).
154
    Nicolson, supra note 25, at 45.
155
    Id.
156
    See Talal Asad, What Do Human Rights Do? An Anthropological Enquiry, 4 THEORY & EVENT (2000),
    https://muse.jhu.edu/article/32601 (last visited Sept. 29, 2022). (Asad urges people to “examine critically
    the assumption that. . . human rights always lead in an emancipatory direction, that they enable subjects
    to move beyond controlling power into the realm of freedom”.)
157
    See David Kennedy, International Human Rights Movement: Part of the Problem?, 15 HARVARD HUMAN RIGHTS
    JOURNAL 101, 118 (2002).
158
    Id.
159
    Hilary, supra note 16.
160
    See Chuang, supra note 9, at 161.
161
    Kennedy, supra note 157, at 109.
162
    See Karl Marx, Bruno Bauer, The Jewish Question, Braunschweig, in DEUTSCH-FRANZöSISCHE JAHRBüCHER 15 (1844),
    https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/On%20The%20Jewish%20Question.pdf
    (last visited Sept. 29, 2022).
163
    Id. at 7.
164
    Id. at 15.


                                                           240
 2023]                            UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                                      [Vol. 8:1


 Therefore, by treating symptoms as root causes — the human rights approach does not
 adequately investigate the causes of the H.T. problem. Instead of providing remedies to
 the problem, the I.H.R.L. framework contributes to the naturalisation of exploitation by
 insulating the systemic issues at the heart of the H.T. phenomenon.



      2.3. CELEBRITY HUMANITARIANISM

 While celebrity humanitarianism is not a traditional approach that can be equated with
 the previous two approaches, it plays an important role in legitimising an emerging
 anti-trafficking consensus driven by abolitionism and/or anti-sex work politics.165 A
 recent study has highlighted that this approach has been influential in “legitimising
 troubling legislative, policing, and security interventions, and generating an
 anti-trafficking common sense that is increasingly difficult to challenge.”166 It is from
 this background that it deserves to be analysed as a distinct approach contributing to the
 wider debate on H.T. approaches.
           Celebrity humanitarianism is a more recent approach to the H.T. problem, which
 is characterised by charity and philanthropy by entertainment personalities, billionaires
 and Non Governmental Organizations (N.G.O.s).167 These entities have in recent times
 selected H.T. and modern slavery as social ills to speak against and to be actively involved
 in the “rescue” of victims.168 This approach to H.T. is materialised through “mediatized
 events (concerts, awareness campaigns . . . travel to crisis areas), personal charity
 (donations . . . child adoption), or lobbying . . .”.169 The main focus of such celebrity
 campaigns and activism is directed at “rescuing” women and young girls while
 borrowing, largely, terms such as modern slavery and sex trafficking from the
 abolitionist approach.
           One of the most highly publicised celebrity campaigns is that of the DNA
 Foundation, which launched the “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign enlisting
 Hollywood personalities to advocate against sex trafficking through adverts and social
 media videos.170 The role played by these celebrities in raising awareness of H.T. issues
 has increased through extensive use of social media platforms where they have a huge

165
    See Robert Heynen & Emily van der Meulen, Anti-trafficking saviors: Celebrity, slavery, and branded activism, 18
    CRIME MEDIA CULTURE 301 (2022).
166
    Id. at 303.
167
    Kapoor, supra note 121, at 1.
168
    Kempadoo, supra note 12, at 11.
169
    Kapoor, supra note 12, at 13.
170
    See Cordelia Hebblethwaite, By BBC Trending: #RealMenDontBuyGirls and the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, BBC
    (May 8, 2014), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-27328414.


                                                        241
      THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                           APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING


 following; and hence, are able to influence the masses. What is concerning is that these
 celebrities have been able to reach “expert-advocate” status in such crucial matters by
 reason of the trust placed in them by the public without, however, understanding the
 complexities inherent in H.T. issues.171 As a result, they have managed to reduce “the
 complexity of both the problem and its potential solutions to sound bites, leading the
 public to believe that doing something-anything at all- is better than doing nothing,
 when the opposite may well be true.”172 This explains the approach adopted by the DNA
 Foundation in the “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign where they made simplistic
 videos poking fun at things that “real men” are not supposed to do like grilling a cheese
 sandwich on an iron, or driving while blindfolded in a bid to dissuade men from buying
 sex. Such approaches, while amusing, only serve to contribute to the precarity regarding
 victims when pushing for anti-prostitution ideologies, more surveillance on the sex
 trade, the criminalisation of migrants and the adoption of more immigration restrictions
 against people from less wealthy parts of the world often referred to as States of origin.
            More importantly, these celebrity humanitarian campaigns contribute to the
 reproduction of existing ideals and the depoliticisation of H.T. issues. A cursory look at
 the “real men” campaign will show that emphasis is placed on advocating for individual
 interventions through, say, stopping individuals from buying sex. Such a focus on
 individual responsibility as a solution to the problem disavows the need to explore
 structural solutions to the H.T. problem.173 Thus, by adopting this approach to H.T., the
 actual system that is making victims vulnerable through poverty and the reproduction of
 inequalities is not called into question. It is from this background that Kapoor argues
 that celebrity humanitarianism tends to be ideological in nature through sustaining and
 upholding capitalism even if it causes inequalities.174 For instance, charity work is
 ideological to the core as it not only masks the inequalities but profits from them. In fact,
 the very emergence of celebrity charity work is linked to the development of capitalism
 — which promotes philanthropy as a remedy for structural problems.175                                      This
 philanthropy in effect serves to soothe the harms and trauma caused by capitalism and
 neoliberalism — consequently masking the contradictions inherent in the political
 economy. This is the strategic function of ideology which naturalises the perception of



171
    See Alexandra Fanghanel et al., Sex and Crime 145 (SAGE Publications Ltd ed., 2021).
172
    See Dina Haynes, The Celebritization of Human Trafficking, 653 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL
    AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 25, 40 (2014).
173
    See Samantha Majic, Real men set norms? Anti-trafficking campaigns and the limits of celebrity norm
    entrepreneurship, 14 CRIME MEDIA CULTURE 289, 290-297 (2018).
174
    Kapoor, supra note 12, at 33.
175
    Id.


                                                       242
2023]                     UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW                         [Vol. 8:1


capital as the saviour in the fight against H.T. — conveniently ignoring that capitalism
itself produces the problematic manifestations that campaigners are seeking to combat.



   CONCLUSION

The article has critically analysed the three prevalent approaches to H.T., and it has been
shown that they all lack the conceptual depth required to tackle a complex phenomenon
such as H.T. All three approaches are simplistic and offer a narrow lens in the
problematisation of H.T. As a result, they lead to the adoption of policies that only
address the symptoms of the H.T. problem, such as, labour, criminal and sexual
exploitation. They ignore the structural issues that are making people vulnerable to
trafficking related exploitation. There is, therefore, a need for further research that
re-conceptualises the H.T. problem with reference to philosophical perspectives that can
adequately grasp the full picture of the problem. This is necessary for the understanding
of the root causes to H.T. and the ultimate success of efforts designed to prevent it.




                                            243
THE ROOT CAUSES OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY
                     APPROACHES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING




                                    244
