Stopped in the traffic, not stopping the traffic: Gender, asylum and anti-trafficking interventions in Serbia

This chapter presents preliminary findings from a research project that looks at mobility and border control in the Western Balkans, in the context of European Union integration. The research was conducted in the period August–December 2013 and involved semi-structured interviews with various government agencies and non-governmental organizations that work on issues of asylum, migration and mobility in Serbia, Croatia, Hungary and France. Border-hardening policies across the Global North that incorporate various interventions at and beyond the borderline close the gate to a range of unwanted ‘Others’, including asylum seekers. The notion of agency-deprived asylum seekers, potential victims of trafficking and exploitation in need of protection calls for interventions and a rescue that further immobilizes women migrants. K. Kempadoo and J. Doezema, S. Sassen, J. Berman, M. Lee, M. Segrave et. Al. And others effectively demonstrate that the law and order responses and criminalization of trafficking do little to stop trafficking or protect women from exploitation.