La Strada Netowrk As an Example of Tansnational Mobilization Against Trafficking in Women

My presentation will explore mobilization around trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). I will focus especially on the La Strada Netwrok (LS) that is a network of non-governmental organizations from CEE and Netherlands. La Strada was developed in the mid 1990s as a result of cooperation between Dutch, Polish and Czech activists and since then developed in a European network and is a recognized actor in anti-trafficking mobilization on the national level as well as internationally.

This network becasue of its roots as a cooperatiob between activists from the Western Europe and from post-socialist countries is a fruitful example to explore the processes of transnational mobilization. Firstly, I will use the concept of transnational activist networks in order to examine the role of the exchange of information and knowledge as well as the patterns of cooperation between activists form Netherlands and CEE. 

Secondly I will give a closer look to the framing of traffcikingby the network as a whole and by particular members of LS. Trafficking is linked to migration policy, national and international security, politics of prostitution etc. Framing of trafficking by a NGO depends on the location fo the actor, the views on prostutution, the source of funding etc. Using the example of La Strada I will investigate of the way particular LS members manage to reconcile a moderate framing of traffiking with gaining audience and support in local contexts.

Poland will serve as a case study for the analysis of the interplay between framing of trafficking by activists and relations between NGOs and the state agencies.