Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

My research focuses on human rights and human trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation with a special focus on Europe and East Asia. As such, I am interested in investigating the multilayered structure of discrimination in form of sexual, economic, racial/national discrimination which causes this human rights violation. Against this background, my research scrutinizes the possibilities for the construction of norms and social structures which address these forms discrimination as a prime cause for human trafficking.

In this vein I apply a comparative and social constructivist approach which investigates the mechanisms of anti-trafficking norm diffusion and internalization in different world regions and focuses on the role of links between regional organizations, national governments, and civil society actors. In this context, I have conducted extensive field work with policy makers and civil society actors in Europe and East Asia. As one result of my work, I have highlighted the conditions under which processes of capacity and network building by states, civil society actors and regional organizations in Europe and Asia evolve and contribute in tackling human trafficking.