Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

Abstract #158405

Michele R. Decker, MPH¹, Jhumka Gupta, MPH², Anita Raj, PhD³, and Jay G. Silverman, PhD². (1) Division of Public Health Practice, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Kresge 705, Boston, MA 02115, 617-43205461, mdecker@hsph.harvard.edu, (2) Division of Public Health Practice/Department of Society, Human Development & Health, Harvard University, 677 Huntington Ave., Kresge 705, Boston, MA 02115, (3) Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., T2W, Boston, MA 02118

Background: Sex trafficking has recently been recognized by the United Nations as a human rights violation disproportionately affecting women and girls in Asia. While physical and sexual violence are widely recognized as common experiences for sex trafficked women and girls, little investigation has begun into the scope of such violence and the role it may serve in compromising the health and negotiation capacity of victims. The current report presents data from a record review concerning physical and sexual violence experiences, threats for such violence, and related human rights violations (e.g., denial of food) to inform the full range of such experiences as well as their perpetrators and contexts. Methods: Trafficking experiences narratives obtained from 300 case records of sex trafficked women and girls repatriated to the largest NGO in Nepal working to rehabilitate sex trafficking victims were systematically reviewed. Approximately one third described violence experiences. Qualitative data were abstracted concerning physical and sexual violence victimization, threats, and related human rights violations, and the perpetrator(s), context and timing of such victimization (e.g., during trafficking, immediately on brothel arrival). Data were reviewed to describe the full range of experiences as well as themes therein. Results/Discussion: These exploratory findings will be reviewed from a theoretical perspective to generate hypotheses concerning the roles such abuses may serve in breaking victims down emotionally and potentially compromising their health. Results will inform programs for sex trafficking victims, and guide future quantitative efforts to clarify the prevalence and health impact of violence victimization among sex trafficking victims.

Learning Objectives:

• • Describe the scope of violence victimization experiences and related human rights violations for a sample of rescued Nepali women and girls
• • Describe and generate hypotheses concerning how such victimization may impact victims' health
• • Develop strategies to advance the state of knowledge concerning these issues

Keywords: Violence, Sex Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.