Human trafficking in the consept of social policy: A field study on victims

Human trafficking, a modern form of slavery, is a widely studied subject under international law or transnational crimes. However, the issue has never been defined as a social problem nor discussed from the perspective of Social Policy. This study measures the effectiveness of social policy tools, such as voluntary repatriation and victim support programs, applied to victims of human trafficking in Turkey as a requirement of international agreements and a social state, from the perspective of victims. In the first part, the conceptual framework and the historical development of human trafficking are given. In the second part, the causes of human trafficking, the problem areas it causes, the regulations on human trafficking in international and Turkish law are mentioned. In the third part, social policies for victims of trafficking are included and in the fourth part, which is the last part, the effectiveness and efficiency of these policies was tried to be measured by using a participatory method, with a qualitative research, conducted with 14 Migration Experts working in the Directorate of Migration Management. As a result of the research, it has been observed that the laws and regulations written on the desk have difficulties in going beyond the theory and practice. In addition, it has been understood that there are problems arising from the lack of coordination, education and awareness in the fight against a constantly evolving dynamic crime such as human trafficking. Despite these problems, it is understood that the Republic of Turkey is in a great struggle to meet international standards in the fight against this crime under the leadership of the Directorate of Migration Management.