Many have criticised the media for their sensationalist reporting on sex trafficking. But few realise the extent to which social movements are shaping this agenda.
Recent attention to the plight of migrant workers in Qatar is welcome, but the problems of trafficking and forced labour in the Middle East are endemic.
We know that corporations are drawn to prisoners because they constitute a source of cheap and reliable labour. But what makes prison labour so attractive to governments?
Under the guise of ‘prisoner rehabilitation,’ US prison-made products are silently infiltrating consumer markets and propping up its carceral empire, much as they have throughout US history.
The contemporary enslavement of women, and sexual violence inflicted on them in times of war, are rooted in ‘everyday’ gender-based inequalities between men and women.
‘New abolitionists’ have failed to engage with the history and legacies of slavery and racism. They must learn more about the past if they are to clearly understand the present.
Beyond Trafficking and Slavery editors introduce their issue 'On History', which challenges the superficial narratives of anti-slavery used by 'modern-day abolitionists' and considers the lessons found in alternative historical approaches.
