Trade Secrets

Human trafficking is an old, but increasingly complex, phenomenon. In an age of globalization and transnationalism, demand for cheap labour and services fuels a trade deeply rooted in different cultural and historical contexts. Human traffickers share those roots with their respective diasporas the world over. This paper examines the case for an empirical investigation, and gender-sensitive analysis, of the connections between crime networks engaged in international human trafficking and their respective diasporas in countries of transit and destination. It proposes a typology to assist research into, and analysis of, the extent to which, and how, diasporas may play a part in the processes that constitute the cross-border trade in human beings.