Learning Brief: Who Gets to Tell the Story? Community-Led Media and Knowledge for Advocacy and Narrative Change
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This learning brief is part of GAATW's Learning Circle series, peer-learning spaces where our members come together to share their practices, learn from one another and reflect on common challenges in their work. It brings together the reflections and discussions from our Fourth Learning Circle, where members explored how community-led storytelling, participatory research and other ways of producing knowledge can strengthen advocacy and influence from the ground up.
From Punishment to Protection (of rights): A feminist analysis of trafficking for forced criminality in the ASEAN region
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Trafficking for forced criminality has historically received less attention from international institutions, the media and the human rights sector. However, awareness of this form of trafficking is increasing globally. This briefing paper aims to support that growing recognition by examining how trafficking for forced criminality is occurring within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.
Trafficking for Forced Criminality in Europe: Protection Gaps in an Era of Restrictive Migration Policy
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This report is published at a time when punitive approaches to migration, crime and border control are increasing across Europe. For years, victims of trafficking for forced criminality have been treated as offenders or ‘illegal immigrants’ rather than as rights holders who have experienced exploitation and coercion. Despite growing recognition of the scale and severity of trafficking for forced criminality across Europe, institutional responses continue to fail at effective prevention, identification and protection. Whilst some governments in the last decade have introduced specific laws designed to protect victims of trafficking from punishment for the crimes they were forced to commit, the majority of these laws fall short of international standards, or are inconsistently implemented.
Book: Women on the Move and the Movements they Build
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We are excited to introduce our new publication, Women on the Move and the Movements they Build, an anthology that grew out of Voice and Participation: A Learning Journey, a multi-country initiative that brought together GAATW members and partners to reflect on how they centre the voices of migrant and trafficked women, and what role lived experience expertise plays in their decision-making.
This anthology charts the organisational journeys of eight partner and member organisations across East and Southeast Asia and Europe, tracing their evolution from founding moments, some rooted in individual acts of resistance, others in collective crisis response, into sustained movements for migrant and workers' rights. Each chapter recounts a distinct national context and history, from decades-long legal battles to community-built shelters that grew into unions, showing how organisations shaped by the voices of those they work with continue to adapt, grow, and push for justice. We believe these stories offer valuable insight and inspiration to the wider anti-trafficking and migrant rights community.
Reframing Narratives: Anti-trafficking from the ground up (Issue 2)
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We are excited to introduce our new publication, Reframing Narratives: Anti-trafficking from the ground up, an annual publication by GAATW members. The series offers a unique GAATW perspective on emerging anti-trafficking issues, focussing on the experiences and efforts of members and allies rather than ranking responses or estimating case numbers. It aims to foster dialogue across global movements, connecting those in fields such as migration, women’s rights, labour organising, climate change, corporate accountability, and conflict with anti-trafficking work.
This second issue, Lived Experience Expertise, focuses on a subject central to GAATW’s work since its founding in 1994. This publication is intended to support the practice of GAATW members and others involved in anti-trafficking work, by sharing personal journeys of survivor leadership, discussing the complexities of drawing on lived experience expertise and providing concrete strategies for promoting lived experience expertise. As the essays in this publication show, the practice of actively listening to survivors of trafficking and other abuses continues to be at the core of the work of our members. We believe the insights shared in this publication will be of great use to the wider anti-trafficking and human rights community.
Critical Analysis of Criminal Law Approaches to Trafficking in Persons: A report of the consultation
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GAATW and our allies played a key role in lobbying for an internationally recognised definition of trafficking, yet from the outset we were wary of an exclusively crime control approach. Over the years, we have continued to note with frustration that although the criminal law framework is so invested in punishing the traffickers, the actual results of those efforts are not very encouraging.
Now twenty-five years after the UN Trafficking Protocol entered into force, it is an appropriate time for us to reflect in depth on the criminal law approach to trafficking. Whilst GAATW has long pointed out the negative impacts of this approach, we have not looked outside the criminal law or questioned what alternatives might exist.
Crisis in Care: Migrant Workers and Ageing Societies in Japan and South Korea
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As more and more countries confront the challenges posed by ageing populations and evolving family structures, there is an increasing reliance on migrant workers to fill essential roles within the care sector. However, state programs often categorise this form of labour as low-skilled and temporary, providing limited labour protections and exacerbating the precariousness faced by migrant workers.
This working paper examines how care work is defined, structured, and governed in Japan and South Korea, and how these frameworks shape the experiences of migrant care workers. It unpacks the demographics driving the demand, the policies and pathways governing migrant labour for care work, and the difficult working conditions that result from the devaluation of care. It also emphasises the crucial role of civil society in offering support and broadening its advocacy for migrant rights.
Reframing Narratives: Anti-trafficking from the ground up
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We are excited to introduce our new publication, Reframing Narratives: Anti-trafficking from the ground up, an annual publication by GAATW members. The series offers a unique GAATW perspective on emerging anti-trafficking issues, focussing on the experiences and efforts of members and allies rather than ranking responses or estimating case numbers. It aims to foster dialogue across global movements, connecting those in fields such as migration, women’s rights, labour organising, climate change, corporate accountability, and conflict with anti-trafficking work.
Our inaugural issue, (In)formal Pathways to Justice, examines the mechanisms that influence migrant and trafficked individuals' access to justice, highlighting both formal and informal avenues. It emphasises the protections provided by formal justice systems for exploited migrant women while acknowledging that many seek alternative paths for redress and safety. The issue focuses on the experiences of practitioners working on behalf of migrant women, exploring their motivations and outcomes. Overall, it prioritises the perspectives of migrant women and their many (in)formal pathways to justice.