« Nou se pa bèt ! »
This article is based on an ethnographic research integrating different participatory techniques with boys and girls (aged 9-17 years) of Haitian origin who have migrated illegally to the touristic area of Sosúa (Dominican Republic) in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Using a theoretical approach of political and cultural economy of childhood, I propose a critical but also politically committed understanding of child exploitation. More precisely, I highlight the gap between young migrants’ localized voices and experiences and the globalized and dominant advocacy narratives about child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. I then show the need for a comprehensive reassessment of our current ways of thinking and intervening concerning these two forms of child exploitation and I advocate for taking into proper account children’s own perspectives in the process.