Category Archives: Data, Research, Methods, Ethics

Reframing Trafficking Prevention: Lessons from a “Positive Deviance” Approach (2015)

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This study discusses our piloting of a project to prevent human trafficking utilizing the positive deviance approach. For this pilot project, NEXUS Institute and Fafo partnered with the Albanian anti-trafficking NGO Different and Equal (D&E), thereby bringing together both research and practice in collaboratively developing and implementing this project. Our interest in the positive deviance approach emerged from learning about its previous application in the prevention of trafficking of girls into the sex industry in Indonesia. Having conducted research on trafficking in many different countries and regions, one of our general observations over time has been that what works in one context may not be equally successful elsewhere. We were, therefore, interested to see if this approach (positive deviance) could potentially be used more broadly – in this case in another geographical, social and economic environment, as well as adapted to adult trafficking victims and victims of trafficking for labor as well as sexual exploitation.

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Life Beyond Trafficking, The Re/integration of Trafficked Persons in the Balkans 2007-2014 (2015)

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Screen Shot 2015-05-18 at 8.40.01 PMThis report summarizes the main findings of the final TVRP evaluation conducted by NEXUS Institute in 2015. It presents the results and impact of the TVRP in the lives of trafficked persons in the Balkans as well as the results and impact of the TVRP in the field of reintegration.

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Available in Albanian, Serbian and Macedonian

Power Point Presentation – Power Point Presentation in Albanian

Power Point Presentation in Macedonian – Power Point Presentation in Serbian

Human Trafficking Law and Policy (2014)

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Human Trafficking Law and PolicyThis casebook is co-authored by Bridgette Carr, Anne Milgram, Kathleen C. Kim, and Stephen Warnath, Chief Executive Officer of the Warnath Group and Founder, President, and CEO of the NEXUS Institute. It brings together the key case law, legislation and scholarship that comprise domestic and international human trafficking law and its policy context. The casebook contains the criminal justice, civil rights, international law, immigration, and supply chain transparency and federal contracting regulatory environment that frame human trafficking law and policy. For the first time, law professors and other teachers have a book that provides the framework and content for a full semester course. The book’s “notes and questions” included with each chapter assist professors to lead thought-provoking and lively in-class discussions. Human Trafficking Law and Policy will be of interest to both experienced attorneys and the next generation of lawyers alike looking for an introduction to understanding and addressing modern slavery.

Another Side of the Story. Challenges in Research with Unidentified and Unassisted Trafficking Victims (2014)

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Human Trafficking in AsiaResearch about human trafficking is most often based nearly exclusively on data from victims of trafficking who have been identified and assisted by anti-trafficking organizations . While this approach to research has many strengths and benefits, it also presents an incomplete picture of human trafficking. And, as a result, our understanding of trafficking is necessarily constrained and this has implications for the identification and implementation of solutions to address it. In Another side of the story. Challenges in research with unidentified and unassisted victims, we discuss some of the issues associated with the heavy reliance on assisted victims in trafficking research, as well as possible avenues for sampling unidentified and/or unassisted trafficking victims. We explore how to expand understanding by including trafficked persons who are not identified and/or assisted. In doing so, we address the methodological and ethical issues this involves. Expanding research as recommended here will better serve to respond to the needs of both visible and less visible trafficking victims.

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Traffickers and Trafficking. Challenges in Researching Human Traffickers and Trafficking Operations (2014)

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Foreword

This paper discusses research on human traffickers (i.e. perpetrators of the crime of human trafficking) and how a clearer picture of how traffickers operate can be used in the development of criminal justice and social welfare responses to human trafficking. This study discusses some of the difficulties or limitations involved in understanding traffickers and trafficking operations through the lens of trafficked persons and their individual trafficking experiences and what that means for the development of policies, strategies and interventions in combating human trafficking.

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Ethical Principles in the Re/integration of Trafficked Persons. Experiences from the Balkans (2013)

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This paper articulates ethical principles that should guide and underpin reintegration programs and polices in the Balkans. It also explores some of the challenges organizations and institutions face in supporting the reintegration of trafficking victims and different strategies to manage and address such ethical issues. A blog post on ethical principles for reintegration work is available here.

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Measuring the Success of Anti-Trafficking Interventions in the Criminal Justice Sector. Who Decides and How? (2012)

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Screen Shot 2015-02-15 at 2.48.32 PMGlobal concern about human trafficking has prompted substantial investment in counter-trafficking interventions. That investment, and the human rights imperatives that underpin counter-trafficking work, demand that interventions demonstrate accountability, results and beneficial impact. How this can happen in practice is complicated and contested. This article, which considers success measurements with respect to criminal justice interventions, seeks to cut through the complexities presented by multiple theories and elaborate methodologies by focusing on one key issue: who decides success, and how? A review of evaluation reports and interviews with practitioners confirm that determinations of success (or failure) will vary according to: (i) who one consults and their role in the intervention; (ii) the criteria against which success is measured; and (iii) the assumptions that are built into that criteria. Each aspect is considered with reference to examples and insights drawn from recent practice. A major finding of the article is that the lack of an overarching vision of what ‘success’ might look like allows mediocre or even harmful interventions to flourish and good work to go unrecognized and unrewarded.

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Assessing the Impact and Effectiveness of Anti-Trafficking Interventions in the Criminal Justice Sector: A Discussion Paper on Issues, Obstacles and Opportunities (2011)

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Screen Shot 2015-03-05 at 7.21.58 PMOver the past decade, global concern about human trafficking has prompted massive investment into anti-trafficking interventions by intergovernmental organizations, states and civil society. While early interventions took place in a performance evaluation vacuum, there have been growing calls for greater transparency and accountability within the anti-trafficking sector, including through rigorous impact evaluation. Such calls are fully justified. The human rights imperatives that underpin anti- trafficking work and the significant investment of public resources demand that interventions demonstrate accountability, results and beneficial impact. However, in practice this is more complicated and there has been relatively little analysis of the practical issues and challenges that arise in efforts to evaluate anti-trafficking work. In the specialized area of criminal justice responses to trafficking, such analysis is virtually non-existent, despite the increasing attention and resources that are being directed to this aspect of the anti-trafficking response. Impact and effectiveness evaluation in the context of international development is both complicated and contested. Multiple theories and elaborate methodologies abound, and these can present a daunting impediment to those seeking practical guidance on the essential problem of determining “what works”. This paper seeks to cut through some of the complexities by focusing attention on several areas that are directly implicated in measuring anti-trafficking interventions in the criminal justice sector. It is the result of a comprehensive review of relevant literature and recent evaluation reports as well as interviews with key players in the field.

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The State of Counter-Trafficking Research. Siren Report GMS 09 (2011)

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Screen Shot 2015-03-05 at 7.34.42 PMOn 21- 23 March 2011, UNIAP, IOM and NEXUS Institute came together to host a three-day interactive consultation to take stock of the state of counter-trafficking research. The event developed from the increased focus within the anti-trafficking research community on improved and empirically based anti-trafficking strategies and programs. The event also provided a platform for sharing, scrutinizing, and discussing methods and findings of key anti-human trafficking research by bringing together a group of experienced researchers, practitioners, and donors working on anti-trafficking within the Asia region and beyond. The event was divided into two sessions: the first included internal exchanges and discussions among anti-trafficking researchers, while the second involved dialogue between researchers, practitioners and donors. While donors and practitioners were supportive of anti-trafficking research and researchers in principle, all three groups differed in their ideas of research priorities, and answers to questions such as: ten years on, why do we all still lament a dearth of anti-trafficking research? After discussing differing perceptions of what is required to conduct rigorous anti-trafficking research, donors, practitioners, and researchers began discussing areas of consensus on gaps and priorities for anti-trafficking research. In general, all agreed on the importance of ensuring linkages between research and real-world priorities and programs. Specific research priorities, gaps, and needs to be addressed in the future are presented in this report.

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Monitoring Anti-Trafficking Re/integration Programmes. A Manual (2010)

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Screen Shot 2015-03-05 at 7.28.51 PMIt is important to systematically monitor assistance programs, to assess if and how reintegration has been achieved as well as how to more effectively reintegrate trafficking victims. This manual outlines two aspects of monitoring – 1) how to monitor individual reintegration plans and 2) how to monitor reintegration services – and provides a matrix, composed of indicators and the associated means of verification, to measure the outcomes and impact of individual services and, cumulatively, the various stages of reintegration. Monitoring is undertaken from the perspective of reintegration service providers (NGOs, IOs and GOs) as well as program beneficiaries.

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