Samenvatting

Combatting human trafficking has been an international priority for decades. Since the adoption of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Human Beings in 2000, tackling various forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation and labor exploitation, has been on the political agenda. Yet, international research shows that the sexual exploitation of women and minors and a criminal justice system approach to human trafficking are still the focus of political and public debates. Recent policy developments in the Netherlands seem to have a broader focus, in part because of the introduction of the ‘Together against Human Trafficking’ program by the Dutch government in 2018, which aims to strengthen anti-trafficking measures through an integrated cooperation between various stakeholders in addition to police and prosecution. The purpose of this article is to determine to what extent the political framing of human trafficking in the Netherlands differs from the international focus. To that end, this article applies the literature on framing to a qualitative content analysis of parliamentary debates during the 2018-2019 meeting year. The results show that the political framing of human trafficking in the Netherlands deviates little from an internationally dominant ‘crime frame’. This concerns a framework within which human trafficking is mainly depicted as a malicious (and organized) crime, in which particularly women and minors are sexually exploited, and a criminal justice approach to exploitation is proposed. Holding onto this traditional portrayal and approach to human trafficking can have adverse consequences for a holistic approach to human trafficking, which should also address other forms of exploitation and victims.