Care in Crisis : Rethinking Institutional Ethics for Trafficking Survivors in Serbia Amidst the Pandemic
Care in Crisis : Rethinking Institutional Ethics for Trafficking Survivors in Serbia Amidst the Pandemic

Author(s): Jelena Ćeriman, Jelena Hrnjak, Andrijana Radoičić Nedeljković
Subject(s): Politics, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Sociology, Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: Victims of human trafficking; Serbia; Covid 19; Pandemic
Summary/Abstract: The book Care in Crisis: Rethinking Institutional Ethics for Trafficking Survivors in Serbia Amidst the Pandemic examines institutional ethics of care during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on an empirical study of women and girls who survived trafficking in human beings in Serbia. Based on qualitative research, the study demonstrates that pandemic response measures were designed without consideration of the specific vulnerabilities and needs of this target group. The findings show that interactions with public support services frequently reproduced patterns of re-traumatization through bureaucratic procedures, fragmented responsibilities, and a lack of trauma-informed institutional practices. The analysis further reveals structural weaknesses in state systems of social protection, health care, policing, justice, and education, alongside the compensatory role assumed by civil society organizations. By situating these findings within a feminist ethics of care framework, the book identifies systemic failures of institutional responsibility and argues for a reconfiguration of care as a political and ethical obligation rather than an ad hoc response to crisis.

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