Mitigating trafficking of migrants and children through disaster risk reduction

Insights from the Thailand flood

Bibliographic Data

ID22025201
AuthorsHanni Stoklosa (0000-0002-5762-6309, Brigham and Women's Hospital, corresponding author), Courtney J Burns (0000-0002-3216-5921, University of Michigan), Abraar Karan (Brigham and Women's Hospital), Michelle Lyman (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Nathene Morley (0000-0001-6921-1023, Boston University), Reena Tadee (0000-0003-3926-7215, Mahidol University), Eric Goodwin (0000-0003-3230-2903, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center)
Year2021
Volume60
Pages102268
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2212-4209
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102268
OpenAlexW3158977506
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited51

Thailand's flood of 2011 was devastating for the communities and inhabitants of the country, affecting approximately 13 million people and causing damages totaling THB 1.43 trillion (46.5 billion USD). The presence of a natural hazards disaster such as this can magnify individuals' vulnerability to human trafficking, or mitigate it depending on the disaster risk reduction practices of the surrounding community. The Sendai Framework is the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's international framework for these situations, outlining targets and priorities for action to reduce negative outcomes, such as trafficking, from natural events. This study aimed to understand how a disaster risk reduction and preparedness lens, based on the Sendai Framework, in the context of the humanitarian response to this 2011 flood, could inform human trafficking prevention efforts for future disasters. Qualitative methodology, utilizing a content analysis approach, was employed. It was found that migrant workers and children were at the greatest risk for trafficking, and resiliency efforts by communities and families, in conjunction with coordinated initiatives by NGOs and the government, were essential in preserving individuals' well-being. Further, the Sendai Framework is a promising tool to address these areas of disaster response in which the windows of opportunity for traffickers can be closed and those at high trafficking risk can be protected. As disasters continue to occur, there remains a strong need to bring forth a more systematic disaster risk reduction and resilience-enhancing approach to trafficking prevention

Business · Computer security · Damages · Disaster risk reduction · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Environmental planning · Flood myth · Geography · Natural disaster · Natural hazard · Poison control · Political science · Preparedness · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Medicine · Sex work and related issues

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