Institutional Response to Trafcking in Human Beings in Spain: Are All Victims Equally Protected?

Trafcking in human beings is closely related to the cross-border movements of people and smuggling of migrants. However, the victim-centred regulatory approach to this reality internationally adopted places the protection of victims’ human rights at the centre and demands an institutional response focused on their detection and protection. In order to determine whether this type of approach is being adopted in Spain, an online survey was conducted of 150 bodies, units and organisations that may have come into contact with such victims. The research results make it possible to determine how cases of trafcking are brought to light and which bodies are most efective at detecting them. They also ofer information about the type of assistance ofered to victims and the protection measures provided for under immigration law that are used depending on the type of trafcking suffered. These fndings confrm that the institutional response to trafcking in human beings in Spain remains too focused on the trafcking of foreign women for sexual exploitation. Alternatives are proposed to overcome this highly biased response to the phenomenon.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [grant number RTI2018-094686-B-C21]