Gender Dynamics of 'Human Trafficking': Migration from Cameroon to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States.

This article examines human trafficking with a focus on the gendered migration experiences of Cameroonians working in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, particularly those coerced into domestic work in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Using ethnographic research and the concept of gendered infrastructural violence, it highlights how exploitation is embedded in institutional labour migration frameworks, such as the kafala sponsorship system, and reinforced by interactions with employers and recruitment agencies. The study reveals migrants' navigation across rigid migration categories—such as tourist, labour migrant, and refugee—to secure employment and residency, challenging policy-imposed distinctions. It also finds that Cameroonian migrants' understanding of human trafficking extends beyond formal definitions like the United Nations Palermo Protocol, incorporating their economic outcomes in the Gulf as central to their perceptions of exploitation.