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Home / Current Events Side Event United Nations High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development entitled: The Human Dignity of Women in Contemporary Society: Issues and Best Practices in Migration and Refugee Services
RESEARCH PROJECT ON TRAFFICKED WOMEN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA,
EUROPE, AND THE UNITED STATES I traveled to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines in November and December of 2004 and to Brussels, Paris, Milan, and Palermo in Feb. and Mar. of 2005 to interview women who had been trafficked into the sex trade. I chose these specific countries because Good Shepherd Sisters are already involved and have relationships with women who have been trafficked in each of these locations either in our Good Shepherd programs or other programs serving trafficked women. This approach facilitated my access to trafficked women and hopefully reduced the possibility that the interviews would re-traumatize the women. I am currently pursuing a small sample of women who have been trafficked into the United States through several direct service providers across the country, USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, and Good Shepherd Domestic Violence Shelters. This research project examines four sets of variables: the women’s "social and emotional adjustment", "life before trafficking", "the experience of being trafficked", and "life after trafficking". I am using two research instruments; a structured interview of trafficked women and a structured interview of Key Informants or service providers. This second instrument asks questions similar to the trafficked women’s questionnaire but adds questions about ‘best practices’ in terms of treatment, and legal and policy relevant issues specific to their countries. Confidentiality and anonymity for the women, programs, staff, and locations will be protected through the use of content analysis and aggregate data only. The total number of trafficked women interviewed from source, transit and destination countries thus far is 59. I have one U.S. interview to go to complete my overall sample of sixty women. The goal of this research is to publish a book which places the voices of women who have been trafficked at its center. Carefully rendered research can make it difficult for governments and individuals to avoid facing this harrowing, global human rights violation. In terms of my professional credentials, I am a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with a PhD in Social Policy Analysis from Boston College School of Social Work.. My prior research on undocumented Haitian, Irish and Salvadoran immigrants in the Boston area was published in 2001 by Praeger Books; U.S. Immigration Policy And the Undocumented : Ambivalent Laws, Furtive Lives. I am conducting this research on behalf of my Congregation, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, an international community located on 5 continents and 67 countries.
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