Trafficking in human beings is a serious offence against one's personal self-determination. No one is for human trafficking, everyone is against human trafficking. However, the practical consequences that should follow from this stance are far less clear. And as a feminist NGO, you often find yourself in doubtful society.
Unwanted companions: two lessons
An unwanted, self-proclaimed combatant in the fight against human trafficking is Matteo Salvini. The openly racist Italian former interior minister is a man from whom organisations like Ban Ying, a feminist counselling centre against human trafficking in Berlin, have had to delineate themselves for years now. He is someone who has called for the end of human trafficking, it’s true, but for him this means the criminalisation of either smugglers or NGOs.
Other groups are happy to put this into action. In the summer of 2017, the sign ‘Stop Human Trafficking’ appeared off the coast of Sicily. The ship on which the banner hung was being run by members of Génération Identitaire, a radical right-wing group that wanted to halt refugees’ and migrants’ arrival by sea in what they called operation ‘Defend Europe’. They sought to hinder a Doctors Without Borders ship from leaving port to search for migrants in distress, a group they accused of trafficking in the Mediterranean.
