Abstract
Human trafficking is a violation of human rights that takes many forms (U.S. Department of State, 2017). Participation in same-sector and multisector coalitions and collaborative counter-trafficking efforts are being actively encouraged by the aid industry globally. Working in partnership with other organizations within and across sectors is increasingly perceived as necessary. There is a wide variety of models for structuring and enacting multisector collaboration to counter human trafficking, but little is known yet about the effects of various models combined with the communication practices of leaders and members, on the functioning and outcomes of the collaborations, and most extant studies overlook the Global South. This paper helps redress the dearth of research on coalitions in the Global South through a multimethod, comparative analysis of three national level counter-trafficking coalitions (CTCs) operating in the regions of sub-Sahara Africa, Asia-Pacific Islands, and Southeast Asia. All three CTCs began in the civil society sector and are comprised primarily of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The primary research question addressed in this paper is: Through what structures and practices do NGO-led CTCs in Global South countries engage with public and private sector entities? Findings indicate similarities in the vulnerabilities of NGO-led CTCs in Global South countries, and the challenges they face in cross-sector interactions, but variations in the strategies they employ in those interactions. Each CTC engages the public and private sectors in their country in multiple ways: through membership in the CTC, partnerships with the CTC, and/or a range of engagement practices. Finally, NGO-led CTCs in the Global South engage in the kinds of cross-sector and local-global dynamics that are a key focus in critical cosmopolitan theorizing.
Highlights
The crime of human trafficking is defined by the United Nations ‘as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation’
The primary research questions addressed in this paper are: With which hopes and fears, despite which challenges, and through what structures and practices do nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)-led counter-trafficking coalitions in Global South countries engage with governmental and private sector entities? Findings indicate similarities in the vulnerabilities of NGO-led CTCs in Global South countries, and the challenges they face in cross-sector interactions, but variations in the strategies they employ in those interactions
As we stated at the outset of this paper, we do not assume that cross-sector engagement, much less collaboration, is always possible or inherently good for NGOs
Summary
The crime of human trafficking is defined by the United Nations ‘as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation’ (U.N. General Assembly, 2000). National laws defining human trafficking vary from country to country, so the United Nations’ definition has been critiqued as problematic To paraphrase the United Nations’ definition, human trafficking can be generally understood as a violation of human rights and an abuse that manifests in many forms, including forced labor in any industry including sex work, the commercial sexual exploitation of children, bonded labor or debt bondage, and domestic servitude. Difficult to determine definitively, experts on the prevalence of human trafficking claim there are currently around 40 million victims of human trafficking globally and that victims include men, women, adults, and children (International Labour Organization et al 2017)
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