Abstract
Child sex trafficking has become one of the most highly publicised social issues of our time and, due to its global nature, transnational anti-trafficking advocacy networks are well placed and central to lead campaigns against it. Whilst there is an abundance of literature on the subjects of child sex trafficking and transnational advocacy networks we lack an understanding of the motivations of these networks that act as buffers against trafficking. Cosmopolitan globalisation theory remains a compelling framework for examining the motivations of transnational anti-child sex trafficking networks in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Applying a cosmopolitan globalisation lens, this article discusses the social justice goals of transnational advocacy networks, their centrality in combating child sex trafficking, and their ability to perform cosmopolitan ‘globalisation from below’ to counter global social problems.
Highlights
In the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) transnational advocacy networks (TANs) have been forming since the 1990s to combat child trafficking for sexual exploitation
TANs against Child sex trafficking (CST) in the GMS, as key cosmopolitan players, are successfully rejecting the notion that the bad luck of certain persons to find themselves locked up in states that deny or fail to provide basic human rights is reason enough for those of us who are more fortunate to turn our backs on their plight
This article has discussed the cosmopolitan motivations of TANs and posited that cosmopolitan theory is a useful framework for examining the collective motivations, values and activities of TANs advocating against CST in the GMS
Summary
In the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) transnational advocacy networks (TANs) have been forming since the 1990s to combat child trafficking for sexual exploitation. Child sex trafficking (CST) occurs in all Southeast Asian countries. In a region where the demand for young brides, adoptive infants, sex with children, images of child pornography, and cheap labour is strong, children may be trafficked at source or during migration, either en route or after reaching their destination. Transit and destination countries for child trafficking exist throughout the Southeast Asia region with some countries characterised as origin, or transit, or destination, and others encompassing all three Complex push and pull factors including poverty, gender inequality, unemployment, and forced migration complicate the CST issue. The regional picture that emerges from the available literature is one in which children experience serious physical, psychological, emotional and Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal, Vol., No.1, 2013
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