Assessing Global Governance in the Area of Human Trafficking Through Civil Society Participation in its Regime Complex

Abstract

Human trafficking (HT) is a major international problem that states still struggle to tackle. Against this backdrop, this working paper aims at analysing the architecture of HT global governance and at suggesting ways for improvement. It, among others, gives recommendations for actors such as the European Union, which is very active in HT governance.

In order to do so, the working paper focuses on the participation of civil society organisations in HT global governance, seeing them as important drivers of governance at the global level. After presenting the phenomenon of HT and its governance puzzle, a first section characterises such governance, identifying and describing the HT regime complex by using civil society participation as a proxy. A second section analyses the main actors of the regime complex. The conclusion draws recommendations and identifies paths for further research.

Keywords: Civil society organisations; European Union as a leader; global governance; human trafficking; international negotiations; negotiation burden; participation; regime complexes; representation.