Élisa Narminio

Child trafficking is one of the most pressing transnational issues in need of a robust international legal and policy response. An estimated 3 to 4 million people fall victim of traffickers every year, a third of them children (UNODC 2016).  Although trafficking in human beings is not a new phenomenon, it has in recent years acquired grave dimensions worldwide in the context of globalisation (D’Cunha 2002, IOM 2007): it is considered the third largest, second most profitable and fastest growing criminal industry globally, benefitting from a “merchandise” that can be sold numerous times (ILO 2014). All countries are affected, either as countries of origin, transit or destination. Interest in the issue of human trafficking has been on the rise in the past decade. Firstly, however, research has been mostly conducted in silos, falling under legal studies, human rights, migration, security studies, gender studies, etc., but failing to convincingly build bridges between the different approaches. Hence, whilst the international community is starting to take forward legal and policy responses to trafficking, accompanied by regional efforts in the EU and ASEAN to give a practical grounding to international treaties, these measures often lack anchorage, due to the absence of holistic, evidence-based studies linking theory with practical responses. Secondly, a heavy focus has been placed in the literature on the trafficking of adults for the purpose of sexual exploitation, due in part to its prevalence (54% of victims in 2014, UNODC 2016), the historical roots of the anti-trafficking movements, and its visibility in society. A far less studied form of trafficking is that of boys and girls for the purpose of labour exploitation in a range of industries (38% of cases in 2014, UNODC 2016). These gaps in the literature prevent both legal and policy provisions to be adequately targeted to the populations they intend to protect. Experts, be it in academia, civil society or policy-making, unanimously admit that in order to efficiently leverage anti-trafficking initiatives, a better understanding of the phenomena is key.

The interaction of the multiple layers of actors active in the field of child trafficking represents another understudied area. Deep changes in the social, legal, political and economic structures of society since the late 20th century have led to a shift away from the Westphalian system and towards a “globalisation” of issues traditionally devolved to sovereign states (Agnew & Corbridge 1995; Ruggie 1998; Beck 1999, 2005). The growing cross-border movements of goods and people, whether legal or illicit, have indeed triggered the need for common legal frameworks and transnational policies, calling for coordinated action between public administration, civil society and businesses. This shifting configuration of actors, agencies, themes and initiatives across multiple centres of authority interrogates the “normal” multi-level governance[1] literature premised on static notions of the state (Stubbs 2005, Hooghe 2003) and stresses the need for a more refined approach to the new actors and management modes of the policy and practice arena (Wihtol de Wenden 2013). Supranational and transnational regimes have emerged in the past decades to govern political and social issues beyond the public and national perimeters. The involvment of private actors in political issues has been defined in multiple ways (Weiss 2000; Kohler-Koch & Rittberger 2006), yet, at its most basic level, it encompasses state and non-state actors' joint administration of societal problems. Arthur Bentley first theorised politics as resulting from the interlocking actions of composite groups. In his wake, numerous analyses have emerged on the attempts by private actors to influence public entities, and the relationship of those actors to the State (Truman 1959; Heinz et al. 1993; Knill 2002; Courty & Michel 2012; Ciepley 2013; Waddock 2008), but also on the changes of public policy governance models towards more horizontality and flexibility (Hall & Biersteker 2002; Peters 2009; Stone 2013), and on the role of private actors in transnational policies and global governance (Mansbach et al. 1976; Keck & Sikkink 1999; Börzel & Risse 2005; Scherer et al. 2006; Kobrin 2009).

                  If the involvement of private actors in the technical management of public goods, including infrastructure and service delivery, dates back at least to the Roman empire, the expansion of their scope of action to eminently political areas, traditional strongholds of the State, is more recent and problematic. Transnational public policies on migration are unique in as far as they engage with sovereign prerogatives (police, justice, security, diplomacy) and touch upon the place carved out for the Other in society. As such, it covers dimensions as diverse as administrative status, respect for human rights, social issues (education, housing, health), labour law, international agreements, organized crime, etc. However, while the hybridization of governance through state and non-state players on transnational migration issues is a fact, it is clear that the circumscription of this phenomenon presents a gap, both in theory and in practice. In view of its importance and its generalization, the literature has little interest in the role of private actors in transnational migration policy. Recent studies have focused on the European context’s multi-level governance practices (Pécoud & Geiger 2010; Menz 2012; Caponio & Jones-Correa 2017), more specifically on the role of NGOs (Colley & Ron 2002) and that of the private sector (Guiraudon 2002; Gammeltoft-Hansen 2006, 2013; Infantino 2016). The role of businesses, in particular, would benefit from increased attention, since enterprises are at the heart of important issues, such as the risk of exploitation of vulnerable migrants and human trafficking practices. The literature is at the moment insufficient where child trafficking in supply-chains is concerned.