Call for paper Conferenza ESPANET Italia 2021 on social work in the anti-trafficking field

We are very happy to announce that the ESPAnet Italy 2021 Conference call for papers is finally online! You can find the details on the following link: https://www.espanet-italia.net/call-for-papers-2021/https://www.espanet-italia.net/call-for-papers-2021/

Please send a proposal to contribute to the panel: “Evolution of social phenomena and impact of the pandemic. The role of social workers in the systems of protection of victims of trafficking and severe exploitation”. The deadline for the call for papers is May 14th. Looking forward to receiving your proposals!

Next is the text of the call in English: Evolution of social phenomena and impact of the pandemic. The role of social workers in the systems of protection of victims of trafficking and severe exploitation

This session proposes to examine the role of social workers who work with victims and potential victims of trafficking and severe exploitation (mainly those working within the public sector, but also in collaboration with the third sector). While they are in a privileged position to focus on the vulnerability of this target group and to address their needs, as involved in their mission, their role is made particularly complex by the fact they work within a wider system of specialised services that involve numerous actors (anti-trafficking system, law enforcement agencies, judicial system, etc.). Little empirical research has been carried out on the specific role of social workers in anti-trafficking system, as well as on the perception of people victims of trafficking and severe exploitation of this role, particularly in face of the continuous evolution in the phenomenon of trafficking. In face of the on-going pandemic, it is all the more urgent to promote a reflexive exercise on the role of social workers in the perspective of multi-agency collaborations and the tensions between institutional times and modus operandi (length of social protection projects, regularisation, specific needs of the target, such as mothers with children, etc.) and biographical times of the people target of these interventions. We invite researchers, but also social workers, operators from law enforcement and judicial authorities and relevant actors operating in anti-trafficking systems in European countries, to propose an empirical contribution on:

• comparisons on the role of social workers in different territorial contexts (across regions in the same country, across European countries, etc.),
• the perception of people victims of trafficking and severe exploitation (for the scope of sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, forced begging and forced involvement in criminal activities) of social interventions and the role of social workers,
• the open challenges for social services with respect to multi-agency work regarding people victims of trafficking, and in the context of the on-going pandemic.