Casual factors in the crime of trafficking of women for the purpose of sexual exploitation: an exploration into push and pull factors relevant to women trafficked from Moldova to Western Europe

Through current research and governmental publications we learn varied yet staggering statistics concerning the numbers of women trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation around the world. The United Nations estimates that four million people are trafficked each year globally either because of choice, or coercion due to violence or the threat of violence, abuse of authority, debt bondage or deception (Caldwell et al. 1997; Specter 1998; Wijers and Lap-Chew 1997), along with estimates that up to 120,000 women and children are being trafficked specifically into Western Europe each year (European Commission, 2001:2) along with the recognition from non governmental sources that the number of victims is probably higher than the official statistics (Europol, 2000). The literature acknowledges the potency and prevalence of causal factors (IOM, 2001; MNHR, 2000; Scanlan, 2002; UN, 2000; OSCE, 2002) impacting women in the trafficking dynamic. Causal factors (also known as push and pull factors) are elements that push women away from cities and/or countries of origin into the dynamic of trafficking and/or pull women towards other countries and thus facilitating and sustaining the trafficking chain. Utilising a feminist criminology theoretical framework, this doctoral study explored the potency and prevalence of certain causal factors for women trafficked from Moldova to Western Europe. By means of a qualitative methodology, this exploratory study supported existing research in its findings such that strenuous economic circumstances and experiences of violence in the home and/or society are potent causal factors pushing women out of their country of origin and pulling them towards destination countries and consequently into the hands of traffickers. A serendipitous finding was that some women believed that since borders were fairly easy to cross within and outside of the European Union, it therefore did not deter them from leaving their countries of origin in an attempt to seek employment elsewhere.