Инструменты влияния Европейского Союза в сфере противодействия торговле людьми на постсоветском пространстве (original) (raw)

Инструменты влияния Европейского Союза в сфере противодействия торговле людьми на постсоветском пространстве

Trafficking in human beings has long been defined as one of the most salient issues for post-Soviet countries’ internal security. However disputable the accuracy of the data on human trafficking in the post-Soviet space, most experts agree that massive human trafficking is taking place both within and between the countries of the post-Soviet region, extending beyond regional borders as well. Often being underestimated by the local governments, these problems have attracted attention of international actors - both states (such as the USA, Russia, the UK, Sweden or Japan) and intergovernmental organisations (the EU, OSCE, UNODC, IOM, etc.). Most projects, in one way or another, are positioned as part of regional migration governance and management mechanisms that are being developed by various international bodies. But unlike international migration governance that unfolds in the absence of a global migration regime, international action against human trafficking relies on international regime layers both at global level (provided by the UN Convention and Protocol) and at regional levels - for example in South East Asia or in Europe (the Council of Europe Convention). This said, one still observes divergent approaches of multiple international actors that attempt to be active governors in the field. This concerns both IOs -one may only be surprised to see how various UN bodies try to preserve the anti-human trafficking agenda within their domain, to say nothing about such IOs as IOM - and individual states, with the USA being the most prominent example. This paper asks what instruments the EU deploys in order to establish itself as a noticeable, influential and potentially coordinating actor in this complex environment involving a significant number of other international governors. We do not look at direct bilateral cooperation of the EU with targeted recipient countries that have been identified as key countries of origin and/or transit for human trafficking in the region. Instead, the paper focuses on partnerships that the EU has been building with other international governors tackling this problem in the postSoviet space. We argue that, contrary to the USA mostly using a “stick” in the form of “naming and shaming” as well as sanctions/threat of sanctions linked to a system of indicators, the EU opts for softer approaches involving production and use of knowledge for policy influence through tactical partnerships with other international governors. This has important implications both for its anti-trafficking action and for its wider international governance agenda. Relying on partnerships with other international governors resulting in production and exchange of (perceived as solid and legitimate) expert knowledge leads to mutual reinforcement of the governor function that the EU and its partners have in the field of anti-human trafficking, as well as in other overlapping policy fields.