How illegal migration turns into trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation? Raising voices of girls and women from Lao PDR (original) (raw)

Over the past few years, Lao PDR has been facing a strong seasonal and illegal migration movement to Thailand, attracting a rising number of female migrants. In the near future, due to its unique geographical situation at the crossroads of the GMS, Lao PDR will likely to tackle an explosion of labor migration flows resulting from the ongoing regionalization processes, generating demand for sexual and labor exploitation as well. Yet, there exists some significant gaps in the available information about the nature and extent of the link/overlap between migration and trafficking. Can patterns be identified to distinguish trafficking from illegal migration? If so, are these patterns linked to vulnerability factors, to awareness levels, to routes taken, to connections? Finding answers to such questions calls for an innovative investigation that can inform us on how migration turns into trafficking and, more generally, on how trafficking operates, thus allowing GMS policy makers to govern migration for both national development and regional integration. We hypothesize that an identifiable distinction exists between illegal migration and trafficking and that certain individuals or groups of people are more vulnerable to exploitation than others. Through an Action Research carried out with AFESIP, an international NGO, based on a narrative analysis of life story material from residents of its Rehabilitation Centre, this paper intends to open the way to new approaches to migration discourse, building evidence base for debates, policies and interventions in the Mekong region.