 Abolitionist stance: prostitution = sexual exploitation  This perspective represents both an epistemological and political obstacle in defining “trafficking”  This framework was also present in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children (UN, 2000)

 Key element of the definition: “exploitation”, described as covering “the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs”  Sexual exploitation remains the paradigmatic understanding of trafficking  “Exploitation” is not defined

 Council of Europe (OJC59- 2/23/2001) defines vulnerability in the context of trafficking as the “result of coercion and an irregular administrative situation”  This definition leads to the confusion between the smuggling of migrants and trafficking.  Even though they were sanctioned in separate Protocols, were equated in the concept of vulnerability in Spanish Criminal Code until 2010

 UNDOC (2009)  63% had adopted measures against trafficking  16% only certain elements contained in the definition of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish trafficking in persons  Spain is included in the latter group

 Abolitionist model (outdoor and indoor prostitution are neither prohibited nor regulated)  The Criminal Code prohibits the inducement of someone to enter into, or continue to engage in prostitution if the inducement is by coercion, exploitation of a situation of hardship, or abuse of a position of superiority, or when a third party profits from the prostitution of other, even with his/her consent

 In 2000, the Penal Code included a general offence of smuggling of migrants (Article 318 bis) and a specific offence of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation (Article 188.2).  In 2003 (art bis) Sex trafficking applied when the victim was an irregular migrant

 In 2010 a new reform incorporates art. 177 bis which incriminates the offence of trafficking in human beings regardless the illegal status of the person involved.

 Gender perspective: “women are more likely to become victims because of the lack of education and opportunities”  Human Trafficking cannot be disengaged from prostitution  Transnational character of the phenomenon  Crime that requires effective police and judicial action

 No programme to cover the whole country.  Lack of specific technical staff  Awareness campaigns aimed at combating prostitution

 Raids in local bars or flats increased in 164% since 2009  “Very few women who voluntarily come forward to file a complaint”  Alien Act incorporates as specially regulated situation the figure of the victim of trafficking in human beings

 2010: 335 “criminal organizations”  1641 victims were rescued

 The Ombudsman emphasizes the failures of the enforcement of the Aliens Act by the Security Forces and by the staff in Detention Centers  This approach reduces women´s migration and participation in the sex industry to the idea of sex slavery, and simplifies social relations by viewing them exclusively in terms of patriarchal oppression or criminal activity  It enforces the idea that trafficking is equivalent to coerced and illegal migration

 Controlling borders and bodies, stricter penalties for traffickers and the criminalization of victims themselves are insufficient  Spanish policies needs to: a) consider the problem in relation to the global movement of women, laws and gender issues that affect them; b) remove the conflation between trafficking and prostitution; c) interrogate assumptions that are presented as “reality”