Why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and Ethiopia
This article challenges policy discourses that frame children’s independent movement as intrinsically exploitative and threatening to their development. Drawing on research with children and adults in Benin and Ethiopia, two countries caught up in current efforts to eradicate child migration and the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Routledge
2013
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| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1797059254271606784 |
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| author | Boyden, J Howard, N |
| author_facet | Boyden, J Howard, N |
| author_sort | Boyden, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article challenges policy discourses that frame children’s independent movement as intrinsically exploitative and threatening to their development. Drawing on research with children and adults in Benin and Ethiopia, two countries caught up in current efforts to eradicate child migration and the trafficking with which it has become associated, the article critiques assumptions about children’s vulnerability and physical dependence and contests the idea that appropriate childhood is necessarily fixed spatially within stable family structures. It thus situates children’s migration within socio-cultural and economic contexts and suggests that it should be understood as part of a moral economy that confounds simplistic paradigms that conflate migration with trafficking. Policy suggestions are offered for how best to secure children’s well-being through acknowledgement of the important relationship between mobility and child maturation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:01:34Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:2778ca19-f4f5-4289-a34c-e5035a35b27c |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:01:34Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:2778ca19-f4f5-4289-a34c-e5035a35b27c2022-03-26T12:07:09ZWhy does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and EthiopiaJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:2778ca19-f4f5-4289-a34c-e5035a35b27cChildren and youthMigrationIntergenerational relationshipsEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetRoutledge2013Boyden, JHoward, NThis article challenges policy discourses that frame children’s independent movement as intrinsically exploitative and threatening to their development. Drawing on research with children and adults in Benin and Ethiopia, two countries caught up in current efforts to eradicate child migration and the trafficking with which it has become associated, the article critiques assumptions about children’s vulnerability and physical dependence and contests the idea that appropriate childhood is necessarily fixed spatially within stable family structures. It thus situates children’s migration within socio-cultural and economic contexts and suggests that it should be understood as part of a moral economy that confounds simplistic paradigms that conflate migration with trafficking. Policy suggestions are offered for how best to secure children’s well-being through acknowledgement of the important relationship between mobility and child maturation. |
| spellingShingle | Children and youth Migration Intergenerational relationships Boyden, J Howard, N Why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and Ethiopia |
| title | Why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and Ethiopia |
| title_full | Why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and Ethiopia |
| title_fullStr | Why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and Ethiopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and Ethiopia |
| title_short | Why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed? The moral economy of children’s movement in Benin and Ethiopia |
| title_sort | why does child trafficking policy need to be reformed the moral economy of children s movement in benin and ethiopia |
| topic | Children and youth Migration Intergenerational relationships |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT boydenj whydoeschildtraffickingpolicyneedtobereformedthemoraleconomyofchildrensmovementinbeninandethiopia AT howardn whydoeschildtraffickingpolicyneedtobereformedthemoraleconomyofchildrensmovementinbeninandethiopia |