A couple of things to say about this. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/123976551/women-are-the-primary-victims-of-human-trafficking-new-zealands-plan-to-stop-slavery-forgot-them?cid=app-iPhone

(1)“The spokesperson said the ministry would update the plan to more clearly recognise prostitution and sexual exploitation as forms of trafficking” – generously assume this is a typo. Exploitation can obvs occur in this context but ‘prostitution’ is not 'a form of trafficking.'

(2) exploitation occurs in ALL forms of work. There's no reason to ignore the sex industry, but there's no reason to single it out either. In NZ, existing evidence does point to there being more exploitation outside of the sex industry though.

(3) Stating that most victims of trafficking are women forced into the sex industry ignores the fact that the statistics this is based on are fraught with issues, and that the sex industry is prolifically targeted by anti-trafficking campaigns, more so than other forms of work.

(4) While anti trafficking work sounds like it is intrinsically ‘good’, there’s evidence that it does significant harm internationally in many cases, particularly so in the sex industry. E.g traumatic police raids in the guise of ‘rescue’, forced stays in ‘shelters’, deportation.

(5) If officials are interested in preventing exploitation in the sex industry in NZ, taking steps to remove Section 19 so that migrant workers have legal rights under the PRA is where to start. This should have happened at least a decade ago.

(6) Final thought - is the term trafficking actually helpful to describe so many different forms and contexts of exploitation? The definition of trafficking has expanded significantly over time. Does that actually help to address instances of exploitation or does it hinder this?