Sine Plambech

Sine Plambech is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) in Copenhagen. She conducts fieldwork in Nigeria, Thailand, Sicily and Denmark on human trafficking, undocumented migration and women’s migration. She is a former Visiting Professor at Barnard, Columbia University and currently leads the project ‘Women on the Move’ on women’s undocumented migration to Europe for Open Society Foundation. Based on her research she is behind six films, among them her latest Heartbound (2018) awarded by the American Anthropological Associations for Best Feature and the Royal Anthropological Institutes Richard Werbner Award. Follow her on Twitter @sineplambech.

Do not dismiss the voices of returned migrants: a response to the IOM

Policies in practice are rarely the same as they are on paper. The IOM would do well to remember that.

By Erlend Paasche, May-Len Skilbrei and Sine Plambech

/ 18 Dec 2019

Do not dismiss the voices of returned migrants: a response to the IOM

What happens after victims of trafficking return to Nigeria?

States are increasingly relying on ‘assisted voluntary return’ to control migration, but the way those programmes are executed can exacerbate vulnerabilities rather than help returnees overcome them.

By Sine Plambech, Erlend Paasche and May-Len Skilbrei

/ 16 Apr 2019

What happens after victims of trafficking return to Nigeria?

Moving forward: life after trafficking

What happens after someone ‘stops’ being trafficked?

By Sine Plambech and Denise Brennan

/ 16 Apr 2019

The Sexelance: red lights on wheels

A converted ambulance, the Sexelance is a mobile sex clinic offering harm reduction to the street sex workers of Copenhagen.

By Sine Plambech

/ 6 Nov 2018

The Sexelance: red lights on wheels

A converted ambulance, the Sexelance is a mobile sex clinic offering harm reduction to the street sex workers of Copenhagen.

By Sine Plambech

/ 6 Nov 2018

My body is my piece of land

Stories of migrant sex workers often cast human smugglers as the villains, yet the biggest evil many migrants face is their hopeless debt in their home country.

By Sine Plambech

/ 29 Sep 2017

My body is my piece of land

Stories of migrant sex workers often cast human smugglers as the villains, yet the biggest evil many migrants face is their hopeless debt in their home country.

By Sine Plambech

/ 29 Sep 2017

Drowning mothers

As refugees try to cross the Mediterranean Sea - women are more likely to drown.

By Sine Plambech

/ 3 Jul 2017

Drowning mothers

As refugees try to cross the Mediterranean Sea - women are more likely to drown.

By Sine Plambech

/ 3 Jul 2017

Human smugglers roundtable: Sine Plambech

When happiness is a daughter in Europe, anti-trafficking policies don’t save you.

By Sine Plambech

/ 10 Apr 2017

Human smugglers roundtable: Sine Plambech

When happiness is a daughter in Europe, anti-trafficking policies don’t save you.

By Sine Plambech

/ 10 Apr 2017

Becky is dead

Becky’s life represents the world in microcosm. She isn’t the first of the migrants I’ve worked with to have died and will unlikely be the last. Becky was 28 years old.

By Sine Plambech

/ 10 Oct 2016