Rescuing ‘victims’ remains a core goal of many anti-trafficking organisations, and this requires a victim to be found. Each idea perpetuates the other: a victim needs rescue, and rescue requires a victim.
But searching for victims is far more problematic than one might think. Lives are messy, and many scholars and activists have argued that reducing people to victimhood strips them of their agency. It simplifies complex situations into sensationalist, racist and sexist tropes.
Some people experience severe exploitation. But how they ended up there, what prevents them from leaving, and what the best solution is for them going forward are all questions that cannot be satisfactorily answered with ‘they are victims’ or ‘they need rescue’. So why do many still rely on a narrative of victimhood to guide their ‘fight against modern slavery’?
