Beyond Professional Expertise Alone: Recognising Survivor Knowledge in Anti-Sex-Trafficking Practice

In Spain, efforts to address sex trafficking of migrant women involve collaboration between public institutions, law enforcement, and specialised NGOs, aiming to prevent exploitation, identify victims, and provide protection. Despite these efforts, identifying victims remains a challenge. While this is often explained through mistrust of institutions and stigma, this article argues that an additional issue lies in the difficulty professionals face in connecting their expertise with the lived realities of the women they assist. Based on interviews with twenty-six professionals working in anti-sex-trafficking response, and drawing on theories of epistemic privilege, situated knowledge, and cultural humility, the study examines how practitioners understand and navigate these limits in practice. Participants describe that relying solely on formal knowledge can limit meaningful engagement. In contrast, approaches incorporating lived experience, shared language, or related social experience tend to improve trust and communication. These limits are particularly visible in recognising exploitation, interpreting trauma, and navigating cultural and linguistic differences. The article introduces the concept of the “four domains”: trafficking, pain, cultural-linguistic meaning, and stigmatisation, to describe areas of understanding that remain partly inaccessible without lived experience. The findings suggest that integrating diverse forms of knowledge can strengthen anti-trafficking responses, but this requires careful and ethical implementation.