Human trafficking: a historical approach to the concept

Abstract

The concept of human trafficking was first introduced in juridical discourse in the nineteenth century and emerged again with great force in the late twentieth century. Initially the concept was used in discourses that saw prostitution as a problem. The current Brazilian penal code still manifests this construction. Focusing on the Brazilian context, this article discusses how the contemporary legal definition of trafficking fails to recognize the rights of people who voluntarily enter the transnational sex market, and is, sometimes, an accomplice to international demands for migration restraint.

human trafficking; concept; prostitution