Figures de la victime de la traite des êtres humains : de la victime idéale à la victime coupable

During the mobilization by associations and the debates in the French parliament about the status of victims of trafficking in human beings, an ideal victim was presented. As a young woman – a naive, innocent, vulnerable foreigner – she needs to be protected in the name of human rights. However this victim becomes a suspect once attention shifts to her legal status (undocumented immigrant) or economic activity (prostitution), and the ideal vanishes behind national priorities for protecting the country from « undesirables ». The tension between these priorities and universal principles produces an « impossible » victim, characterized by its absence. How has this absence of the « victim » of human trafficking been socially produced ? Besides the foregoing tension, it also results from a social relation and from restrictions on the activities of the police, judges and associations.