Recognizing victims' perspectives: toward a human rights-based approach to human trafficking

A human rights-based approach to human trafficking promotes victim-centred responses that facilitate victims’ empowerment, exercise of agency, and realization of their rights. The thesis engages with this approach through the qualitative exploration of sex trafficking victims’ experiences with and perspectives on the criminal justice process and the post-trafficking assistance they receive in the Netherlands. This includes their experiences with law enforcement, lawyers, and a specialized shelter, the factors they considered when deciding whether to cooperate with authorities in the case against their traffickers, and their views on testifying, special measures, and sentencing. The empirical data is analysed through a human rights lens to discern the extent to which the Netherlands utilizes a human rights-based approach and meets its obligations to trafficking victims under international, regional, and domestic law in practice. Through both the successes and failures identified in this regard, victims’ desire to be treated with respect and compassion, have their needs and cases taken seriously, and be updated frequently about the status of their cases became clear. Yet, there emerged a degree of diversity in participants’ views about the types of assistance, support, and protection they need, such as with respect to the use of special measures in criminal proceedings, which underscores the importance of eliciting and accounting for individual victims’ perspectives throughout the process. However, recent cuts to the level of resources devoted to combating trafficking and assisting its victims in the Netherlands raise serious concerns about whether victims’ needs can be met and whether a human rights-based approach can be realized going forward.