En la República de Panamá

As mentioned, complex systems theory is comprehensively discussed in Chapter 5, with a proposed application of the complex systems theoretical framework as a strategy for investigating human trafficking for sexual exploitation presented in Chapter 6. In addition, from the outset of this research, concepts that contain the spirit of complex systems theory are employed before the theory is deconstructed and operationalised in Chapter 5 and Chapter 6. These concepts are outlined below.

1.7.5.1 Investigation Complex System (ICS)

The 91 participants and their 15 subsystems that were included in this study formed part of the Investigation Complex System (ICS) and are introduced in Section 4.2. The ICS consists of a large network of elements, which includes police officials, investigators, prosecutors, social workers, citizens, departments and organisations to

name but a few. All of these stakeholders directly or indirectly contribute to the investigation of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. As elements of the system, they interact in a complex manner and do not have a central point of control. This gives rise to emergent complex behaviour, which is exhibited by the ICS at a macro level. Every participant in this study was allocated an abbreviated code to which selected verbatim quotes were attributed and which communicated their relevant subsystem (see Section 3.3.3). Participants from the sex trade (Sex Trade Professional (STP) 1 to STP 10) and victims of trafficking (VOT 1 to VOT 5) were considered part of both the ICS and the TCS as they were able to offer insights from their lived experiences that relate to both complex systems.

Participants from the sex trade shared experiences that directly or indirectly, past or present, contributed to criminal activities related to human trafficking. They also shared experiences of how they had successfully or unsuccessfully offered knowledge, information or assistance to the ICS in the process of investigating human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The same principle applies to victims who were able to offer insights from their lived experiences into the inner workings of the TCS that emanated from their past exploitation by traffickers, but who formed part of the ICS at the time of the interviews, during which they shared their lived experiences with the investigation into the crime. This is consistent with complex systems theory, which states that elements of different systems can be in several systems and can connect or withdraw from those systems (Byrne & Callaghan, 2014: 33). Complex systems therefore interpenetrate, which makes an unequivocal distinction of their boundaries very difficult.

1.7.5.2 Trafficking Complex System (TCS)

The Trafficking Complex System (TCS), as the adversarial system that is investigated by the ICS, was not explicitly deconstructed in this study, but included participants from the sex trade (STP 1 to STP 10) and victims of trafficking (VOT 1 to VOT 5). The lack of a clear explication of this complex system is partly due to the hidden populations and subsystems that make up this complex system, and the vast number and variety of perpetrators, known and unknown, who directly or indirectly carry out the crime. Significant insights related to the constituent elements of the TCS were, however, gleaned from participants and subsystems that were included in this study,

with a visual snapshot of the TCS provided in Figure 5.1 in Chapter 5. Constituent elements of the TCS included traffickers; brothel owners and staff members; pimps; drug dealers; persons in prostitution; victims of trafficking; corrupt public-, police- and law enforcement officials; ‘Johns’ or buyers of sexual services; recruiters; transporters; funders; politicians; corporates; embassies; and civil society, to mention a few. As elements of the TCS, they interact in a complex manner and do not have a central point of control. Similar to the inner workings of the ICS, these complex interactions give rise to emergent complex behaviour, which is exhibited by the TCS at a macro level.

1.7.5.3 Subsystems

Complex systems consist of “entangled systems of systems of systems” (Johnson 2010: 115), with each complex system comprising numerous subsystems or “organs” (Cilliers, 2001: 143) that form part of the whole. The term ‘subsystem’ will be used when reference is made to the internal structures of the ICS and TCS. The ICS subsystems may include the different state departments such as the SAPS and the DSD, or NGOs and coalitions that make up the ICS. As subsystems these can again be considered in terms of their own subsystems, which include different groups, departments or sections, each consisting of smaller groups or, again, subsystems consisting of different people. An example could be the SAPS as a subsystem within the ICS. The SAPS consists of visible policing, crime intelligence, and the Hawks, as subsystems within the SAPS, which may contribute to the investigation of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Each of these subsystems is again cascaded into different subsystems, which may include different units. Each subsystem has its own rules, boundaries, unique characteristics and even culture. Membership in subsystems can change over time.

The same principle applies to the TCS, which consists of multiple overlapping criminal enterprises as subsystems and a host of individual role-players that perform numerous sub-activities, which again make up various subsystems. Referring to ‘systems of systems of systems’ when describing complex systems and their numerous subsystems therefore makes conceptual and intuitive sense when explaining the internal structures of the ICS and the TCS.