”Vi fixar och trixar oss fram till att hjälpa människor”: En studie med fokus på det sociala arbetet med köpare och säljare av sexuella tjänster i Sverige i relation till mänskliga rättigheter.

Abstract

The thesis ”Vi fixar och trixar oss fram till att hjälpa människor” focuses on social work in the field of prostitution and human trafficking in Sweden. Through semi-structured interviews with social workers in the municipalities of Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö working with persons selling and buying sex, and through discourse analysis, the author analyses the perceptions among these social workers of the relation between human rights, prostitution and human trafficking, and the social work which they conduct. The thesis concludes that although the social workers perceive prostitution and human trafficking and social work in this field as human rights related, they are not explicitly using a human rights based approach in their work. The thesis concludes that the social workers identify several aspects that infringe on the rights of their clients in relation to the human rights principles of Universality, Non-discrimination, Accountability and Rule of law and the principle of Participation and Inclusion. They portray the human rights situation of street based sellers, especially those not being Swedish citizens and those affected by human trafficking, as severe. The thesis concludes that the social workers find several obstacles (legal as well as structural) that diminish their ability to strengthen their clients’ human rights situation. Finally, the thesis concludes that some of the social workers would like to see a stronger responsibility being taken on a national level concerning social work in the field of prostitution and human trafficking in Sweden.