Disaggregating vulnerabilities: Trafficking, HIV and AIDS in South Asia

It is taken as a given that the imperative to act against both trafficking and HIV and AIDS is already understood, as there are many responses to trafficking and/or HIV and AIDS in the region. The objective of this article is not to provide a detailed analysis of HIV and AIDS and trafficking in the region, nor is it to provide a detailed critique of the responses. Rather, it aims to put forward a conceptual framework based on current understandings and responses within which to locate responses to HIV and AIDS and trafficking and to facilitate the deconstruction of what are understood to be ‘vulnerabilities’. The paper seeks to analyse the links between current responses to trafficking and HIV and AIDS, understand the realities of women's and girls' lives—both women living with HIV and AIDS and those who have been trafficked—as well as examine vulnerability through understanding power as a problem. It will propose a conceptual framework which brings together analysis and understanding and further develops our understanding of the issues using a feminist approach.