Transposition and beyond: EU minor victims of human trafficking in the Netherlands

Abstract

The situation of EU minor victims of human trafficking in the Netherlands is worrying and the procedures and responsible organisations remain unclear. This thesis aims to improve our understanding of the support, assistance and protection of EU minor victims of human trafficking in the Netherlands. A legal analysis on transposition of the Human Trafficking Directive of 2011 was conducted in combination with semi-structured, face-to-face interviews to identify cross-sector collaboration in line with the EU Human Trafficking Strategy of 2012. The latter is based on the assumption that transposition alone does not necessarily ensure compliance. The studies on legal implementation often focus on timely transposition. This thesis however, contributes to the scholarly debate by conducting an analysis of correct transposition. Furthermore, compliance is said to have three elements, legal implementation; practical application; and enforcement. Most compliance studies focus on one element which is mostly the legal implementation. This thesis therefore looks into transposition and beyond by studying the presence of the pre-conditions and processes of cross-sector collaboration. Lastly, this thesis contributes to the cross-sector collaboration literature by combining theoretical frameworks and applying it to qualitative data.