Protection and assistance of human trafficking victims in the autonomous region of Madrid

Abstract In Spain, part of the anti-trafficking system relies on programs for the detection and protection of victims of sex trafficking in prostitution contexts. In this research paper, we seek to critically analyse the practices and obstacles faced by professionals from social organizations that develop these social interventions aimed at human trafficking victims in Madrid, Spain. We explore their relations with some of the main approaches underlying the human trafficking protection system, such as the crime prosecution approach and the focus on sex trafficking. The analysis of 25 interviews with social intervention workers indicates that they consider essential to establish horizontal relationships and individualized treatment to attend the demands of women, mainly linked to their migration status. However, the efforts on the prosecution of crime, focus on sex trafficking and broader prostitution interpretations within the anti-trafficking system seem to enable experiences of greater vulnerability for those women who access the system and to promote discrimination for those women who do not adjust to the established protection processes. Our research points to the need to decouple the criminal process from the contexts of social intervention and calls for a critical interpretation of human trafficking within public policies that goes beyond the current approach.