Framework for tackling modern slavery developed by Oxford University team
Professor Andrew Thompson, an expert in global and imperial history, presented the new framework at the United Nations in New York.
The framework, written for the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, is designed to help international non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations to identify potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.
It also aims to help them to understand the cultural and societal norms that push people into exploitative situations.
Professor Thompson and his team have provided guidance on how vulnerable individuals, communities, and groups can be offered safe, viable, and legal alternatives to unsafe survival strategies that may lead to them being trafficked and exploited.
“It is testimony to what can happen when a tightly knit team of people come together to produce something which none of them could have achieved on their own.
“It also speaks to the importance of historical knowledge and approaches from humanities disciplines to tackling some of the biggest challenges the world is wrestling with at a time of great geopolitical upheaval and technological change.”
The framework is based on nearly a century of international agreements, such as Article 4 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and is rooted in rigorous historical and humanitarian research.
The team gathered data from the strategic plans of international non-governmental organisations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration, and conducted interviews with their leaders to assess anti-trafficking measures.
They also collaborated with 39 civil society organisations across 24 countries to gather actionable insights and recommendations, and worked directly with survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking.
Nasreen Sheikh, a survivor of modern slavery and a human rights activist, has welcomed the framework.
She said: “As a survivor, I see this framework as a roadmap for prevention, one that helps us intervene before exploitation begins.”
The team have also written one of the three main chapters for a report for the Global Commission on Modern Slavery.
The chapter, ‘Civil Society and Crisis Contexts,’ highlights the importance of addressing human trafficking and modern slavery within global protection efforts.
It explores how situations of armed conflict and other crisis contexts heighten people’s vulnerability to these crimes and provides recommendations for re-engineering the international humanitarian system to better identify, prevent, and combat these crimes.
