Trafficking for sexual exploitation: what is the problem? : A comparative case study on the EU's and the ASEAN's policy documents

Abstract: This study studies the way trafficking for sexual exploitation is constructed by the EU and the ASEAN by analyzing their discourse in their policies. Further, the study also seeks what potential implications exist in the policiesand how it is problematized. The following policy documents; Directive2011/36/EU, The EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings 2021-2025, ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and lastly, ASEAN Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, were analyzed in order to meet the aim of the study. The discourse analysis of the thesis is called “What’s the problem represented to be?” and will be used as the analytical framework, while the framing theory acts as the theoretical framework. The results of the study reveal that trafficking for sexual exploitation is a problem of law enforcement and judicial cooperation, a violation of human rights, and due to gender inqeuality according to the EU, while the ASEAN consider the issue as a regional problem benefitting from poor regional instruments, a violation of human rights and increasing government corruption and lacking criminalisation. Further, the way the organizations construct victims endorses gender stereotypes.