Project description DEENESFRITPL A pioneering approach to combatting trafficking and exploitation Global challenges of mass migration and trafficking are increasingly prevalent. In this context, restrictive migration policies can increase migrants’ vulnerability to violence and exploitation. There is a need for a new and informed approach to addressing these issues. Funded by the European Research Council, the SEXHUM project will explore the relationship between migration, sex work, exploitation and trafficking through an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates the concept of sexual humanitarianism. The project will use ethnography, interviewing and co-creative research methods to gather data and inform anti-trafficking policies more effectively by drawing on migrants’ own understanding and experiences of agency and exploitation in the global sex industry. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The humanitarian fight against trafficking in the sex industry legitimizes the enforcement of increasingly restrictive migration laws and controls, which often exacerbate sex workers’ vulnerability to being trafficked. SEXHUM adopts an art-science interdisciplinary approach bringing together visual anthropology, sociology, gender and queer studies and human geography to study the relationship between migration, sex work, exploitation and trafficking. It contextualizes this relationship within the global onset of sexual humanitarianism, a concept coined by the PI. It refers to the ways migrants are increasingly represented, understood and targeted by the media, policymakers and social interventions as vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in relation to their sexual orientation or behaviour. SEXHUM adopts a migration studies perspective and a participative approach to focus on migrant sex workers addressed by sexual humanitarianism as victims of trafficking. It reappraises the concepts of exploitation, slavery and trafficking through the lens of how they are understood and experienced by migrants. The project analyses the global emergence of humanitarian migration governance by examining the impact of sexual humanitarianism across six strategic urban settings in Europe (France – Marseille and Paris), the US (New York and Los Angeles), Australia (Sydney) and New Zealand (Auckland) that are characterized by different policies on migration, sex work (criminalisation, regulation, de-criminalisation) and trafficking. The innovative method developed by the PI combines ethnographic observations, semi-structured interviewing and participative filmmaking to address the narrated as well as the affective, relational and performative dimensions of migrants’ experiences of agency and exploitation. The research will generate needed user-based data on the impact of anti-trafficking initiatives that will be highly relevant to policymaking. Fields of science social sciencessociologygovernancesocial scienceslawhuman rightshuman rights violationshuman traffickingsocial sciencessociologyanthropologyethnologyhumanitiesartsmodern and contemporary artcinematographysocial sciencessociologydemographyhuman migrations Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-CoG-2015 - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2015-CoG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution KINGSTON UNIVERSITY HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION Net EU contribution € 1 341 765,00 Address RIVER HOUSE HIGH STREET 53-57 KT1 1LQ Kingston Upon Thames United Kingdom See on map Region London Outer London — South Merton Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 341 765,00 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all KINGSTON UNIVERSITY HIGHER EDUCATION CORPORATION United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 1 341 765,00 Address RIVER HOUSE HIGH STREET 53-57 KT1 1LQ Kingston Upon Thames See on map Region London Outer London — South Merton Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 341 765,00 UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLE France Net EU contribution € 258 235,00 Address BOULEVARD CHARLES LIVON 58 LE PHARO 13284 Marseille See on map Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Bouches-du-Rhône Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 258 235,00