Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Spain: estimates and reality

Abstract

This paper analyses the estimates offered by political and social media on trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Spain. Estimates of the costs and economic benefits obtained by traffickers from their victims are calculated using different information sources. These sources are collected by the authors (interviews with key informants and traffickers, analysis of court rulings, ethnographic work, analysis of news items reported in the press, and memoirs from official bodies). The results question the contradictory and obsolete information used to refer to the number of victims, economic volumes, and the number of men paying for sexual services.