Football and sex: The 2006 FIFA World Cup and sex trafficking

Abstract

The staging of the 2006 Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup brought together a wide ranging coalition of interests in fuelling a moral panic around sex trafficking in Europe. This coalition of diverse groups aimed to protect innocent third world women and prevent organized crime networks from luring them into the sex industry. In this article we will argue that as a result of increased attention prior to the World Cup 'protective measures' imposed by nation-states and the international community to prevent "disastrous human right abuses" (Crouse, 2006) have seriously undermined women's human rights, especially in relation to migration and mobility. We survey media sources in the lead up to the World Cup to identify the nature of the coalition seeking to protect women considered to be vulnerable to trafficking and the discourses relied upon that have served to undermine women's agency and diverse experiences of increased border and mobility controls. We conclude that measures introduced around the 2006 World Cup in relation to sex trafficking did not end with its final whistle.Svetsko prvenstvo u fudbalu 2006. godine okupilo je koaliciju grupa i organizacija sa razlicitim interesima koje su doprinele razbuktavanju moralne panike o trgovini zenama u Evropi. Ova koalicija imala je za cilj da zastiti nevine zene treceg sveta i spreci organizovane kriminalne grupe da ih namame u seks industriju. Autorke clanka zakljucuju da su ovakva povecana paznja uoci svetskog prvenstva, kao i "mere zastite" koje su preduzete od strane drzava i medjunarodne zajednice, dovele do ugrozavanja zenskih prava, i to posebno prava u vezi mobilnosti i mogucnosti da migriraju. Autorke su analizirale medijske napise uoci Svetskog prvenstva kako bi identifikovale prirodu ove koalicije i diskurse koji su rezultirali u podrivanju zenskog aktiviteta i dovele do pojacanja kontrole na granicama. Autorke zakljucuju da mere preduzete u vezi sa Svetskim prvenstvom 2006. godine nisu okoncane sa poslednjim zvizdukom sudije.