From Female Migrant Sex Workers to Migrant Workers: When the Danish Labor Market Encounters the Policy Field of Anti-Trafficking.

This article examines the evolving Danish anti-trafficking policy field, highlighting its shift from focusing primarily on female migrant sex workers to including migrant workers in formal labor markets. It analyzes how four intersecting regimes—labor market, crime, migration, and social policy—shape anti-trafficking efforts, with particular attention to the role of the Danish trade union 3F as a new actor. Despite this inclusion, the article argues that the figure of the migrant worker as a victim of human trafficking remains largely invisible due to conflicting logics between labor rights, national migration policies, and entrenched stereotypes of the ideal victim as a poor migrant woman in prostitution. The dominance of migration and crime regimes, which emphasize national sovereignty and legal status, marginalizes labor exploitation concerns and limits support for exploited migrant workers outside the sex industry. Comparatively, the article notes that Finland’s anti-trafficking policies more explicitly recognize migrant workers as victims, contrasting with Denmark’s continued focus on sex trafficking victims.