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8 U. Bologna L. Rev. 217 (2023)
The Root Causes of Human Trafficking: A Critical Analysis of the Contemporary Approaches to Human Trafficking

handle is hein.journals/bologna8 and id is 227 raw text is: CONFERENCE PAPERS UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA LAW REVIEW https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2531-6133/18050 Received: 13 Oct. 2022 I Accepted: 30 Nov. 2022 I Published: 18 Sept. 2023 The Root Causes of Human Trafficking: A Critical Analysis of the Contemporary Approaches to Human Trafficking LEWIS NJABULO SIBANDA Lewis Njabulo Sibanda holds an LLB from the University of South Africa (South Africa) and an LLM completed as a Mandela Scholar at the University of Sussex (UK). He is a registered legal practitioner/attorney in the Zimbabwean superior courts. He has worked as a professional research assistant to the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe and another judge of the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe. Prior to pursuing his full time PhD studies at The Open University (UK), Lewis was a Law Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School (JGU) in India, where he taught modules on Human Rights Law Theory, Constitutional Law and the International Law of Outer Space. Lewis' PhD research utilizes a critical legal approach, particularly a Marxist lens, to explore the root causes of human trafficking and the meaning of exploitation. The author is grateful to his supervisors Professor Olga Jurasz, Dr Avi Boukli, Professor Simon Lee for their comments on the ealier draft of this paper, and also to Dr Juan Garcia Blesa. @ lewis.sibanda@open.ac.uk 00000-0002-1560-6959 ABSTRACT Contemporary anti-trafficking approaches reflect a reluctance to address the root causes (structural issues) of the human trafficking problem. The article critically analyses the three dominant approaches to combating human trafficking-criminalisation approach, the human-rights based approach and the celebrity humanitarianism approach-and unpacks the political choices inherent in each one of them. It is argued that common to all three approaches is the depoliticisation of the human trafficking problem through conceptualising it as an instance of individual criminals that act outside the boundaries of a liberal society, which is characterised by individual freedom and equality. By so doing, these approaches depoliticise the issue of human trafficking by not viewing the problem as one that emanates from the global political economy. They overlook and perpetuate the inequality and oppression that is inherent in capitalism. Against this background, the article unpacks the various ways that the law, particularly through criminalisation and the international human rights framework, works to insulate and reinforce the systemic injustices at the centre of the trafficking problem. Effectively the current anti-trafficking approaches only serve to produce and excuse violations rather than remedy them. It is argued that to be effective anti-trafficking approaches must focus on the initiating phenomena (the structural issues) that make people vulnerable to trafficking related exploitation. KEYWORDS Anti-trafficking; Root Causes; Systemic Injustice; Neoliberalism; Capitalism 217 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1

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