Policy Coordination in Combating Human Trafficking: A Systematic Review of Institutional Frameworks and Multi-Agency Collaboration

Abstract

Human trafficking remains one of the most pressing global challenges, violating fundamental human rights and undermining social, legal, and political systems worldwide. Despite the establishment of international instruments such as the Palermo Protocol, responses to trafficking continue to suffer from fragmented policy implementation, weak institutional capacity, and inconsistent collaboration among agencies. These gaps highlight the urgent need to examine how institutional frameworks and multi-agency collaborations can be more effectively aligned to combat trafficking. This study aims to analyse the research landscape on policy coordination in combating human trafficking, with particular emphasis on institutional frameworks and collaborative governance mechanisms. Using a systematic review approach supported by Scopus AI Analytics, the study employed a structured search strategy and advanced bibliometric tools to identify, categorize, and synthesize literature published up to September 2025. The analysis generated summaries, expanded summaries, concept maps, topic expert profiles, and emerging themes, offering a comprehensive overview of the field. The findings reveal consistent themes emphasizing the importance of international and national policy coordination, rising themes such as the role of healthcare professionals and collaborative governance in prevention, and novel themes including social rehabilitation, economic empowerment of survivors, and the prevention of organ trafficking. Prominent scholars were identified as shaping the discourse on cross-sector collaboration and systemic change. Theoretically, the study contributes to governance and human rights perspectives by situating trafficking within multidimensional frameworks, while practically, it underscores the importance of resource allocation, inter-agency trust, and survivor-centred interventions. Limitations include reliance on Scopus-indexed publications and abstract-based analysis, but these are offset by the study’s broad coverage and analytical depth. The review concludes that future research should expand empirical evaluations of collaborative practices and explore interdisciplinary approaches to address emerging challenges.