Beyond Trafficking - reflection on research with child and youth migrants in the majority world

24 Apr 2018

On 24 April 2018, the ISS21 Migration and Integration Research Cluster hosted a seminar with visiting academic, Dr. Roy Huijsmans of the International Institute for Social Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Dr Huijsmans presented the findings of his research with child and youth migrants in the majority world.

Since the turn of the millennium, anti child trafficking has found a firm space on global development agendas. The emergence of the trafficking discourse and its critique follow similar contours as we have seen in the past with regard to street children, child labour and child prostitution. In this presentation, Roy Huijsmans argued that research in the majority world on children and young people as migrants, which initially emerged as a critique to the dominant trafficking discourse, has by now matured into a dynamic sub-field in its own right, making important contributions to childhood and youth studies more broadly. This includes the importance of adopting a relational approach, the challenge of accounting for children and young people’s agency, and it has triggered insightful historical reflections on child and youth mobility. At the same time, research on children, young people and migration has developed into distinctly different ways between the majority and minority world despite the potential the theme of migration and mobilities holds for bridging this divide.

Roy Huijsmans is senior lecturer at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS, part of Erasmus University Rotterdam). His research includes work on child and youth migration, young people and mobile telephony, intra-household dynamics and theorising age and generation. He has edited ‘Generationing Development: A relational approach to children, youth and development’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

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c.nilaoire@ucc.ie