Abstract

This paper was in response to a call for input on homelessness as a cause and a consequence of contemporary forms of slavery. The report has since been hosted (and was cited in the main report) on the UN Special Rapporteur website.

Whilst the anti-trafficking field has excelled in documenting research, elevating voices, and providing services to many marginalised and vulnerable populations, trafficked LGBTQI+ people, and especially LGBTQI+ young people still go ignored, underserved, or unserved by the sector. Additionally, LGBTQI+ young people and homelessness, and its clear links to sex trafficking is similarly overlooked and rarely reported by local and national governments, leading it to become insufficiently tackled via global mechanisms. This underreporting of sex trafficking amongst LGTBQI+ populations and especially LGBTQI+ young people living homeless, make it difficult to understand the specific nature of trafficking crimes, and the total number of people who have been affected by it across the globe. It is clear from the evidence that trafficking is happening to homeless LGBTQI+ young people and they live at a heightened risk of it. This population are falling through gaps in research, detection, and provision, and so now it is time to act.

​The first part of this report will outline some of the issues with the current narratives around trafficking and the resources which have been put into place, as well as problematising some of the language and discourses used by the anti-trafficking field. It will then examine the available literature which meshes together LGBTQI+ young people, homelessness, and trafficking, which has been emerging in North America. It then explores more sporadic global research data from different nation states and regions, though we recognise that the current research and screening of LGBTQI+ populations conducted so far, is not enough.

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However, this scoping report is an attempt to ‘jump start’ the conversation about LGBTQI+ young people, homelessness, trafficking and modern-day slavery, and the precarious risks which they face on a day to day basis. We hope that you will find this report a useful starting ground, which has aimed to bring together some of the official literature about this topic area, to provide a useful and empowering set of recommendations from various sources. We hope these recommendations will be used by nation states, governments, civil society, academics, and institutions, to tackle this issue.