Welcome to the Slavery Research Bulletin, the Freedom Fund’s monthly brief designed to bring you new & compelling research from the global anti-slavery movement.

Addressing modern slavery in tuna fishing supply chains

A study from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre assesses responses to modern slavery in tuna fishing supply chains. Surveying 35 global brands, the study charts improvements to worker protections and reporting in the industry over the past two years. While 83 percent of companies now have human rights policies in place, only 43 percent could describe their human rights due diligence processes, and the assessment deemed these processes largely ineffective in detecting and remediating abuses.

Assessing interventions to prevent child marriage

United Nations University shares a systematic review of interventions to prevent child marriage in low- and middle-income countries. Covering 30 evaluations over the last 20 years, the review found that promoting girls education through conditional cash or in-kind transfers was the most effective strategy in preventing child marriage. Unconditional transfers were less effective, and the effect of livelihoods programs depended on visibility and accessibility of local labour markets for women and girls.

Reintegration of trafficking survivors in Bangladesh and Cambodia

Researchers from the Institute of Development Studies interviewed 40 survivors in Bangladesh and Cambodia to map their journeys of reintegration and factors that led to meaningful change. Survivors linked successful reintegration to food and economic security and access to social support structures like family. Survivors also reported the importance of mental health care as a precursor to livelihood support such as skill training.

How to plan ethical research on child marriage

The Global Programme to End Child Marriage share guidelines for ethical research into child marriage in humanitarian settings. Using lessons learned from nine studies on child marriage within conflict-affected populations, the guide provides an explanation of core concepts for ethical research, key components of study design and implementation, as well as an overview of gaining ethical approval from Institutional Review Boards.

Organising informal workers for labour rights

A comparative study by the University of California, Los Angeles investigates approaches for organisation and action by informal workers in China, India, Mexico, South Korea and the United States. Focusing on domestic work and construction, the study examines worker relationships with the state, with employers and each other. Different tactics were used in each location to activate state enforcement of regulation, employers’ provision of rights, and in the case of domestic work, to be recognised as legitimate employment.

Read on…

• The International Organization for Migration reports on the effects of stigma on trafficking in Ethiopia.
• Focus on Labour Exploitation shares methods for feminist participatory action research with vulnerable workers.
• Verité examines risks of exploitation for migrant workers from the Philippines to Europe.

And finally…

Freedom Fund colleagues from six countries reflect on the impact of our covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund, watch here.

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