Investigating human trafficking from the Andean Community to Europe: the role of goodwill in the researcher–gatekeeper relationship and in negotiating access to data

Abstract

This research note describes different gatekeepers to quantitative data on victims of human trafficking in Europe. It explores how the researcher–gatekeeper relationship must be negotiated, and in particular, explicates how the notion of ‘goodwill’ might help foster a research relationship and collaboration. I identify that goodwill might be measured as a continuum, and argue that it can be fostered but at other times is constrained by factors outside of the researchers’ control. I conclude that goodwill is an important resource to help negotiate access with gatekeepers to hard-to-reach data.

Keywords:

• gatekeepers
• hard-to-reach quantitative data
• goodwill
• human trafficking

Notes

1. More specifically, CHSA aimed at gaining a more comprehensive picture of the trafficking of Andeans from the Andean Community (i.e. the four South American countries Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Columbia) to Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

2. For example, reports produced by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, and data provided by national bodies including the Dutch Rapporteur for Human Trafficking, the UK National Referral Mechanism, and Germany’s national police force – the Bundeskriminalamt.