Uncovering Anti-Colonial Bias in Human Trafficking Research

Abstract

Historically drawing from clinical and scientific methods and principles, evaluation as a discipline has privileged notions such as ‘objectivity’ and replicability, often overlooking the role of power and context. Despite its portrayal as value-neutral and objective, evaluation, like many other discourses, remains steeped in social norms and implicit bias. There is a growing need to recognise and dismantle this entrenched bias, acknowledging the need to move beyond a colonial framework from the Global North with metrics that perpetuate these epistemic hierarchies. Particularly in contexts as complex as anti-trafficking, we argue that evaluation frameworks are rarely neutral and often reflect power asymmetries. Using the case of anti-trafficking debates, this paper argues for a decolonial lens towards research and evaluation frameworks that seek to amplify voices from the Global South. We argue that decolonised evaluative practices can jumpstart the journey towards capturing nuanced realities of affected communities, in more inclusive and contextually relevant ways.