The Need for Evidence to Assess Concerns About Human Trafficking During the 2010 World Cup

This briefing by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) critiques the lack of evidence in anti-trafficking campaigns preceding the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. The authors argue that sensationalized claims, such as those in the "Stop 2010 Human Trafficking" campaign, conflate sex work with trafficking and overestimate risks, which may divert resources and hinder the ability of sex workers to report actual crimes due to the continued criminalization of their work.

• The "Stop 2010 Human Trafficking" campaign used a video containing claims that the authors describe as "exaggerated and inaccurate," including the assertion that 100,000 people would be trafficked into South Africa before the World Cup and that the legalization of sex work increases trafficking.
• Comparison with the 2006 World Cup in Germany suggests that public fears of trafficking during such events are often vastly inflated; while media reports predicted 40,000 victims in Germany, researchers found evidence of only five cases.
• The authors argue that conflating sex work with trafficking is harmful because it denies the agency of sex workers and that criminalization prevents sex workers from reporting abuse. An ISS/SWEAT study found significant police abuse of street-based sex workers, including 47% threatened with violence, 63% sworn at, and 12% raped by officers.
• Evidence from New Zealand's 2003 Prostitution Reform Act, which decriminalized sex work, indicates that such a framework did not increase the number of people entering sex work and instead improved working conditions and the ability to report abuse to police.

APA

Gould, C., & Richter, M. (n.d.). The Need for Evidence to Assess Concerns About Human Trafficking During the 2010 World Cup. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-need-for-evidence-to-assess-concerns-about-human-trafficking-during-the-2010-world-cup

Chicago

Gould, Chandre, and Marlise Richter. The Need for Evidence to Assess Concerns About Human Trafficking During the 2010 World Cup. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-need-for-evidence-to-assess-concerns-about-human-trafficking-during-the-2010-world-cup.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gould |first1=Chandre |last2=Richter |first2=Marlise |title=The Need for Evidence to Assess Concerns About Human Trafficking During the 2010 World Cup |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-need-for-evidence-to-assess-concerns-about-human-trafficking-during-the-2010-world-cup |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gouldndneed, author = {Gould, Chandre and Richter, Marlise}, title = {{The Need for Evidence to Assess Concerns About Human Trafficking During the 2010 World Cup}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-need-for-evidence-to-assess-concerns-about-human-trafficking-during-the-2010-world-cup}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }