In recent decades, countries around the globe have taken measures to stop sexual exploitation of children by transnational offenders. But despite the growing attention for this problem, scientific... Show moreIn recent decades, countries around the globe have taken measures to stop sexual exploitation of children by transnational offenders. But despite the growing attention for this problem, scientific research about sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism (SECTT) is in its infancy. Using a novel application of the theoretical framework of guardianship to SECTT, this doctoral dissertation investigates the role of third parties in combating child sexual exploitation by transnational offenders. How can governments, in both destination and sending countries, enact guardianship against SECTT? To what extent can individual citizens, like you and me, help to stop it? And which lessons can be learned for more effective policy?The studies in this book illustrate the possibilities and challenges for governments and citizens to enact guardianship against SECTT, while demonstrating different research methods that can be used to bring more light to this under-researched problem. Highlighting the importance of perceptions, unpicking the responsibilities of sending countries, and at times challenging popular conceptions, the book’s timely plea against superficial solutions draws attention to the need for more evidence-based policy. Those involved in child protection, from academics to practitioners, will find the material in this book an insightful starting point to inform new ways of confronting SECTT. Show less
In the recent international campaigns against child marriage, there is a puzzle of agency: while international human rights institutions celebrate when girls exercise their agency not to marry,... Show moreIn the recent international campaigns against child marriage, there is a puzzle of agency: while international human rights institutions celebrate when girls exercise their agency not to marry, they do not recognize their agency to marry. ‘Child marriage’, defined as “any formal marriage or informal union where one or both of the parties are under 18 years of age”, is considered always forced, assuming that children are not capable of consenting to marriages. In order to re-examine, reflect, and discuss this approach to agency, this dissertation offers empirical evidence of child marriage, based on findings from the author’s fieldwork in Indonesia. Why children marry and how this practice both informs, and is treated within, multiple competing normative frameworks in place? The dissertation starts from analysing child marriage discourse at the international level, moves to discuss the political contestation over child marriage at the national level (Indonesia), and then investigates child marriage as a social practice on the Indonesian island of Bali.This is a socio-legal study of international human rights, which contributes to the scholarly field of human rights and children’s rights by using ideas from the other disciplines in social science. Show less
