Citation

Jahnsen S, Skilbrei ML. Anti-Traffick. Rev. 2015; 4: 156-160.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW))

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

The development of Norwegian anti-trafficking efforts and how they relate to obligations set forth by the United Nations Trafficking Protocol (also known as the 'Palermo Protocol') illustrates some of the constraints connected to international policymaking. While national trafficking policies on paper are in alignment with the definitions and priorities in the Protocol, the local and institutional context simultaneously influence how these international ambitions are interpreted and implemented. Thus, we argue that to understand the impact of the Protocol one must necessarily explore how it interacts with national agendas and instruments.

Local realities have been, and always will be, imbedded in distinct spatial, cultural and historical discourses. When Norway signed the Trafficking Protocol in the year 2000, Norwegian prostitution and labour market relations were not as marked by transnational mobility as they would be only a few years later. In the first period after its implementation, Norwegian authorities invested a lot of political prestige in developing policies in alignment with the priorities of the Protocol. Later, as knowledge and experience was gained, these policies had to be adjusted significantly as the 'map turned out not to fit the terrain'.1

We want to highlight two distinct features of the implementation of the Protocol in the Norwegian context. The first is how its definitions and instruments interact with the already established abolitionist agenda on prostitution. The second is how efforts against forced labour have been under-prioritised.

Since ratifying the Protocol in 2003, the Norwegian government has altered the Penal Code and produced four plans of action. This can be seen as an expression of Norwegian authorities' eagerness to adhere to the standards of the Protocol. At the same time it can be understood as a correspondence between the trafficking agenda and changing local definitions of prostitution. Public debates concerning prostitution policy have taken place since the early 1980s. A reoccurring theme has been whether or not to criminalise the purchase of sex...

Language: en

Keywords

crime; human rights; journal; gender; women; immigration; review; migration; trafficking; anti-trafficking; anti-trafficking review; human trafficking; human trafficking journal; labour rights; prostitution; rights; sex work; trafficked persons; trafficking in persons; transnational crime