States’ Policies as Slow Violence: The Cautionary Tale of Aresh, A Boy At-Risk for Trafficking

• In Event: Frontiers in Research on Human Trafficking

Abstract

Depictions of the risky refugees have been prevalent across different waves of forced migration (Sassen, 2004); however, many are at risk for human trafficking during the smuggling experience (Brunovkis & Surtees, 2019) and once in host countries (Chynometh et al., 2017; Freccero et al., 2017). Refugees are vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking and other forms of criminal exploitation (UN, 2017). Research on immigrant integration showed that even "social democratic welfare states [such as Sweden] have failed to promote the integration of long-term unemployed young immigrants" (Malmberg-Heinonen & Julkunen, 2006). Consistent implementation is lacking even in countries formally supporting refugees’ working rights, which has helped support the rise of underground economies and associated risks, such as marginalization, exploitation, discrimination, violence, and human trafficking (Nicolescu, 2017; Zetter & Ruaundel, 2018). Recent governments’ refugee laws promote inequality, with some constituting legal violence (see Menjívar & Abrego. 2012) and interconnected policies and laws creating slow violence, that is, gradual. Through the story of Aresh, an Afghan boy who arrived in Sweden in the 2015 wave, we explore how policies rendered him and thousands of young refugees vulnerable to labor, sex trafficking, and other types of criminal exploitation, and we draw parallels to current US refugee policy and anti-trafficking legislation.

Authors

• Amber Horning Ruf, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Sara Jordeno, Rhode Island School of Design

• Lena Siemers, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Kabiru Lawal, University of Massachusetts Lowell