Conclusion
This aim of the review was to study the exit process from sex trafficking, providing a summary of the factors involved in the step of leaving sexual exploitation linked to trafficking of victims. The intent was to focus on the results of empirical studies. The research focused on a) qualitative studies b) quantitative studies c) mixed methods studies.
The current study tries to fill the gap in the literature, offering operational insights for those working in support services for victims of sex trafficking. This review can in fact be useful not only for researchers in human trafficking, but also for policy makers or those who work in care services or NGOs and are interested in understanding what factors can be used to support the victims in abandoning exploitation circuits. The exit process is a complex journey in which many elements take over; it is necessary to know which ones need to be strengthened, which ones should be limited, and which elements require careful consideration because of their ambiguity. Considering the spread of sex trafficking worldwide and the presence of the services that intervene in the phenomenon, it is important to be able to provide them with guidelines to intervene appropriately in the exit process.
Limitation and Future Research Directions
First of all, this review was restricted to articles written in English and not in other languages. Since sexual trafficking is a phenomenon that is widespread throughout the globe, there may be other important studies published in languages other than English that we were unable to include in the review. Secondly, even if the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (UN Protocol, 2000), signed by 147 Nations and ratified by 190 States, provides a clear definition of human trafficking, sometimes the definitions used to refer to sex trafficking in scientific publications vary and are not always used by the authors to refer to the same topic. For example, in some cases the term “sexual exploitation” did not refer to trafficking for sexual purposes, but only to sexual exploitation. This in part forced us to exclude many studies identified in the first step of the review. Secondly, we risked not including studies that, while referring to sexual trafficking, did not use terms included among the keywords of our research. Thirdly, some of the studies didn’t specify the type of exploitation or the direction of the migration path (national or transnational). Furthermore, in some cases, the reference sample was very small. These elements have limited the interpretation of the results obtained through the review. We must highlight that the selected articles were few (n = 13); this doesn’t allow for designing of a universal and generalizable tool. Yet, our research goal was not to do this, but rather to provide an initial holistic organization of the factors that enter the process of exit from sexual trafficking.
In order to acquire a better understanding of the phenomenon, it could be beneficial to conduct additional quantitative studies, since qualitative research studies are much more numerous and, in comparison, represent a larger number of the sample. Having identified some controversial exit factors, further studies could better explore the role that these elements play in the emancipation process. Furthermore, it would be important not only to study the exit process in more depth, but also to evaluate what happens to the victims once they have abandoned protection programs. Although there are many studies that evaluate the effectiveness of exit programs and the types of services that are activated for victims (Cox, 2018; Hammond and Mcglone, 2014), few provide follow-up assessments to verify the effectiveness of these programs. Furthermore, since studies on adults and young people have been considered jointly, it could be useful to conduct an analysis on the different life stages in order to better identify the difficulties and resources that they faced during the exit process, starting from personal life experiences. Meta-regressions should be carried out by type of traffic (national or transnational) and type of exploitation (indoor— brothels, dance bars, lodge-based prostitution, massage parlors, protected and supervised places as in the case of domestic sex trafficking—or outdoor—prostitution in the street). Considering the global dimension of the phenomenon of sex trafficking, it might be appropriate to better understand how the culture and norms of the countries (including migration policies and laws governing prostitution) are involved in trafficking, in particular, paying close attention to the impact that meanings attributed to the phenomenon have on the attitudes towards the sex trafficking of victims, citizens, and welfare services. The cultural aspect is in fact a variable that has emerged in one single study of those selected and that is still little studied (Hennink and Simkhada, 2004). Finally, with reference to the theoretical models identified in the literature and presented above (Baker, Dalla and Williamson, 2010), it could be useful to understand which exit factors (facilitating, hindering, or ambivalent) come into play in the phases of change and exit from sexual trafficking.