The Bar Raid as ‘Outcome Space’ of Anti-Trafficking Initiatives in the Balkans

TRAVELLING FACTS, pp. 154-175, Caroline Baillie, Elizabeth Dunn, Yi Zheng, eds., Campus Press, 2004

23 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2009

See all articles by Barbara Limanowska

Barbara Limanowska

affiliation not provided to SSRN

AnnJanette Rosga

Transpositions Consulting

Date Written: 2004

Abstract

This paper describes the interaction of several categories of actors in Bosnia-Herzegovina in efforts to combat the perceived problem of 'trafficking in women.' The actors are individuals who work for several different types of agencies, principally: international law enforcement, international human rights, the international organization for migration, and local/national criminal justice systems. In spite of different institutional agendas, and in spite of the different valences of, and associations with, the term 'trafficking,' a hegemonic approach to the problem has emerged: the construction of trafficking as principally a problem of organized crime, one which should be addressed primarily through the coordination of criminal justice system responses.

The central tactic around which these responses are organized is the bar raid (a police raid of an establishment known or suspected to profit from the prostitution of women who may or may not be Bosnian citizens, and who may or may not be working willingly as prostitutes). This paper traces the different institutional agendas at work in constructing the problem of trafficking for sexual exploitation, and explains how criminal justice system models and strategies have come to dominate understandings of the problem. The 'interface' described is the 'multi-agency task force,' many of which have been formed to address the problem of trafficking in Central and Southeast Europe.

The paper argues that the dominant criminal justice system understanding of the problem fails in many respects to assist the victims of trafficking, and to address the underlying geopolitical, socioeconomic forces that produce trafficking as a problem in the first place.

Keywords: trafficking, Bosnia, Balkans, police, southeast Europe, political economy, globalization, women, criminal justice, human rights

Suggested Citation

Limanowska, Barbara and Rosga, AnnJanette, The Bar Raid as ‘Outcome Space’ of Anti-Trafficking Initiatives in the Balkans (2004). TRAVELLING FACTS, pp. 154-175, Caroline Baillie, Elizabeth Dunn, Yi Zheng, eds., Campus Press, 2004, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1436526

Barbara Limanowska

affiliation not provided to SSRN

AnnJanette Rosga (Contact Author)

Transpositions Consulting ( email )

Oakland, CA 94605
United States
+1-510-479-3664 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://transpositions.org

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