Exploring the (re)emergence of human trafficking as a global social problem, this article presents an analysis of asylum determinations where claims for Asylum and/or Humanitarian Protection included accounts of trafficking to the UK. The article traces the emergence of trafficking as a credible claim for refugee status and argues that this recognition was time-specific and story-specific. Trafficking victims were identified by the UK Home Office where a claimant’s narrative mirrored the narrowly defined female ‘sex trafficking victim’ presented in campaigns and fictional depictions of human trafficking in the early 21st century. Through an exploration of the work that trafficking stories did in establishing an ‘ideal’ trafficking victim in asylum determinations, this article illustrates how social problems and legal judgments can be profoundly shaped by situated and strategic storytelling. These findings develop an understanding of the social construction of, and relationships between, social conditions and micro-meso-macro narratives of identity.

中文翻译：

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在正确的时间讲述正确的故事：寻求庇护的妇女讲述贩运到色情行业的故事

本文探讨了人口贩运（重新）作为一个全球社会问题的出现，对庇护决定进行了分析，其中庇护和/或人道主义保护的申请包括人口贩运到英国的账户。这篇文章追溯了人口贩运的出现，作为对难民身份的可信要求，并认为这种认识是特定于时间和特定故事的。英国内政部确定了贩运受害者，其中索赔人的叙述反映了狭义定义的女性“性贩运受害者”在 21 世纪初的人口贩运活动和虚构描述中出现。通过对人口贩卖故事在庇护决定中建立“理想”人口贩卖受害者所做的工作的探索，这篇文章说明了社会问题和法律判断如何通过情境和战略叙事来深刻塑造。这些发现加深了对社会条件和身份的微观-中观-宏观叙事的社会建构及其之间关系的理解。