FORCED MIGRATION REVIEW

This article runs through the provisions of the UN Trafficking Protocol and Migrant Smuggling Protocol. The author argues that the lack of substantive victim protection in the protocols indicates that for many governments, trafficking and smuggling are more issues of crime and border control than of human rights. On a practical level, she notes that the lack of victim protection will undermine law enforcement efforts as trafficked individuals are given little incentive to cooperate with government officials.

This article raises concerns over the generalization of women's experiences into the category of persecution of a particular social group. The focus of the article is on the characterization of political which fails to recognize how women can be vulnerable to political violence even though they are participating in political activities in non-traditional ways. The author advocates that the understanding of political persecution in the refugee context must be brought within the private realm as this is where most of women's activities occur.