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Biography

Tania DoCarmo is Teaching and Research Fellow in Legal Studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She holds a BA in Social Science, an MS in Anthropology and an MA and PhD in Sociology. Her current research is on the development and implementation of contemporary human trafficking law, and the experiences of detained asylum seekers in the United States. Prior to academia, she worked for nongovernment organizations in Brazil and Cambodia for over 10 years, addressing trafficking and exploitation with a focus on inter-agency capacity building and academic-practitioner collaboration.

Lim Vanntheary holds a double bachelor’s degree in Sociology and English Education in addition to a Master of Development Studies, all from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Beginning work on the Butterfly Longitudinal Research in 2011 as part of Butterfly’s original research team, she spent over nine years conducting interviews, analyzing data, producing reports, and giving presentations for the project. From 2015-2019, she was leading the Research Project as Project Manager and Researcher. She is currently a Project Assistant at International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Nhanh Channtha was Assistant Project Manager for Butterfly Research Project from 2014 to 2019. In this role, she conducted interviews, data analysis, and disseminated findings. She holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology from the Royal University of Phnom Penh and a master’s degree in Holistic Child Development from Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary.. Currently, she is working with Mission Alliance, Cambodia as a program officer, focused on education and child protection.

Abstract

Little is known about the experiences of human trafficking survivors over the long term. Why do some survivors experience re-victimization while others do not? Drawing from longitudinal interviews with 64 female sex trafficking survivors in Cambodia, we use qualitative comparative analysis to compare which conditions in the lives of survivors are associated with re-exploitation and which are associated with not experiencing re-exploitation. We found there are multiple factors associated with re-exploitation tied to poverty, debt, low education, and social isolation from friends, family, and the community. Poverty is a necessary condition but is not sufficient for explaining re-exploitation on its own. Conditions contributing to the absence of re-exploitation include not having debt, not sending remittances to family, being married with children, and having social support from family, friends and/or the community. We discuss distinctions between social support for survivors (e.g., from social service organizations) and broader social protections (embedded in social and cultural institutions). Each is relevant for post-trafficking services and survivor reintegration in different ways.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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