Call for papers 23

2026-02-27

Human Trafficking: Different Contours in New Scenarios: Comparative Perspectives between Europe and Latin America

Coordinators

José Manuel Grima & Verónica Gómez Fernández

Start Date: March 2, 2026

End Date: September 15, 2026

Publication Date: December 2026

Introduction to the Monograph

Human trafficking has ceased to be a crime with rigid structures and has become one of the most dynamic and lucrative illicit economies in the world, ranking as the third largest source of income for organized crime. Human trafficking is characterized by a high capacity for strategic adaptation to technological changes and contemporary geopolitical transformations. In this context, digitalization has structurally reconfigured all phases of the trafficking cycle, from recruitment to exploitation and control:

  • Cyber ​​Recruitment: Traffickers use social media, dating apps, and online games to identify and recruit victims through emotional manipulation or false job offers.
  • Online Exploitation: There is a critical increase in sexual exploitation without physical contact, where control is exerted through constant monitoring and live streaming.
  • AI and Deepfakes: By 2026, the use of artificial intelligence to generate child sexual abuse content (deepfakes) and the automation of cyber scams represent new vectors of mass victimization that hinder legal tracking.

The current landscape is also characterized by a significant increase in situations of vulnerability stemming from the systematic exploitation of humanitarian crises, armed conflicts, and climate emergencies. These contexts create scenarios of structural vulnerability that facilitate recruitment and exploitation:

  • Migration Crises: The flow of refugees and migrants in irregular administrative situations constitutes a priority target for trafficking networks due to their lack of legal protection and support networks.
  • Child Exploitation: According to the UNODC's 2024 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, child exploitation has increased by 25%, with an alarming 31% increase in child victims detected globally compared to pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating a worrying trend.
  • Environments of Trust: Recruitment persists within the family or close social circles, where emotional bonds and manipulation operate as mechanisms of control and coercion.

On the other hand, beyond sexual exploitation, which remains one of the most visible forms, criminal networks have diversified and made their methods more complex:

  • Labor Exploitation: Present in sectors such as illegal mining, agriculture, and domestic work, facilitated through mechanisms of "debt bondage" and conditions of extreme precarity.
  • Forced Criminality: Forcing victims, especially minors, to commit criminal activities such as drug trafficking, organized theft, or financial fraud in digital environments.
  • Reproductive Exploitation: Using women in vulnerable situations for gestation with the obligation to hand over or sell the newborn.

The complexity of trafficking today demands new research and studies from academia that go beyond its sole consideration as a criminal offense. It is imperative to generate new knowledge about its methods of production and to share the results obtained in different forums.

Submissions are also encouraged that examine media representations, public narratives, the social construction of victim and perpetrator, and the cultural imaginaries that permeate human trafficking in European and Latin American contexts. Intersectional approaches that consider gender, ethnicity, social class, and migration processes will be especially valued.

This special issue invites reflection on human trafficking from a comparative perspective between Europe and Latin America, considering not only its operational transformations but also its cultural, discursive, and symbolic dimensions. Contributions are expected to analyze how the historical, social, normative, and cultural contexts of both regions shape different forms of vulnerability, representation, and institutional response to the phenomenon.

Questions to be answered

  • How has digitalization reshaped the modus operandi of trafficking networks?
  • How do current humanitarian and climate crises act as catalysts for victimization?
  • What is the role of emotional manipulation and environments of trust in contemporary recruitment?
  • How does human trafficking interact with other illicit economies within transnational organized crime?
  • What barriers prevent victims of labor trafficking from being effectively identified in global supply chains?
  • Why does such a wide gap persist between the estimated number of victims and official detection figures?
  • What is the impact of intersectionality (gender, ethnicity, social class) on vulnerability to trafficking?
  • Are human rights approaches more effective than criminocentric approaches in victim recovery?
  • What similarities and differences are observed between Europe and Latin America in the cultural construction of vulnerability? How do the media and institutional discourses represent trafficking in both regions?
  • What tensions exist between criminocentric and human rights-based approaches in different regional contexts?
  • How do historical and colonial trajectories influence contemporary dynamics of exploitation?

Keywords

  • Exploitation through digital environments
  • Grooming
  • Money laundering
  • Vulnerability
  • Human mobility
  • Debt bondage
  • Forced crime
  • Exploitation in tourism
  • Public policies and revictimization
  • Media representations
  • Digital culture
  • Intersectionality
  • Gender and migration
  • Coloniality and postcoloniality
  • Transnational governance

Submission instructions and proposals

Submission guidelines and link:

https://www.upo.es/revistas/index.php/ccs/about/submissions