The Body Commodity

Trafficking in people is often approached as an issueof crime or immigration control with international bodies takinga state centered approach. Internationally legislation findsunsanctioned migration to be a security threat to nationalborders. In practice this not only criminalises traffickers but traffickedwomen. States fail to acknowledge that trafficking is most acutely asecurity threat to those made vulnerable by poverty and socialisolation. Often the human rights dimension of trafficking legislation issimilarly flawed focusing exclusively on returning women to theircountry of origin. The focus of this study is the trafficking of womenfor the sex trade. I look at the circumstances created around a large-scale international intervention. Chapter 1 addresses theimpact of migration and security concerns on legislation.Chapter 2 considers economic and social processes that make womenvulnerable to illicit migration. Chapter 3 looks at the market fortrafficked women in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Chapter 4 assesses mechanisms available for women. This study shouldhelp those interested in women's security in post-conflictzones.