Although women and girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation are thought to be the most well-supported of all victims of human trafficking, there are nonetheless some important issues that remain largely undiscussed. This presentation discusses three of these issues: first, the relationship between recruitment into trafficking situations and gender-based violence; second, the 'carceral protectionism' of shelter-based protections of victims, and; third, the failure to consider 'sex trafficking' as a labour issue. The presentation discusses these issues in relation to research I have carried out in South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines.

Bio: Dr Yea is the 2021 Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellow, based in the Department of Social Inquiry at AW Campus of La Trobe University. She has research interests which span human trafficking, vulnerable migrations, and transnationalism. She has published widely on these subjects in journals that including Geoforum, Gender, Place & Culture, Work, Employment & Society, Environment & Planning D, and Political Geography. Her current research projects examine issues around geographies of transnational justice and return migration for transient migrant workers and victims of trafficking. Her second monograph, Paved with Good Intentions? Human Trafficking and the Anti-Trafficking Movement in Singapore, was published with Palgrave MacMillan in 2019.