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The Global Slavery Index (GSI), which has been produced by the Walk Free Foundation in 2013, 2014 and 2016, seeks to calculate the number of victims of human trafficking (or 'modern slavery') in each country and to assess and rank government responses. Using the latest iteration of the Index, this article examines each of the three elements (vulnerability measurement; prevalence measurement and response measurement), making some preliminary findings about the quality of the methodology and its application under each heading. It concludes with a consideration of two broader issues: (i) the conspicuous lack of critical engagement with the Index; and (ii) what the Index reveals about the changing face of antitrafficking/anti-slavery work--most particularly, the growing involvement of metrics-focused strategic philanthropy in defining the 'problem' and directing responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In countries around the world it is common practice for victims of human trafficking who have been "rescued" or who have escaped from situations of exploitation to be placed and detained in public or private shelters. In the most egregious situations, victims can be effectively imprisoned in such shelters for months, even years. This article uses field-based research to document this largely unreported phenomenon. It then considers the international legal aspects of victim detention in shelters and weighs the common justifications for such detention from legal, policy, and practical perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the drivers and processes of forced migration may overlap for people seeking refuge or experiencing human trafficking, responses are invariably rooted in legislation and policy rather than empirical enquiry. In the UK, tightening of legislation around asylum has, for the past three decades, resulted in a 'hostile environment'. During this time, a discourse around human trafficking (also referred to as 'modern slavery' in the UK) has emerged. This paper looks at asylum and human trafficking in the UK to consider a fractioning of protection and resulting fractioning of support for basic needs and welfare provision, provided through the establishment of parallel systems of support for both populations. This paper explores the distinctions, interface, key points of contact, and disconnects between asylum and trafficking in the UK. It details the trajectory of asylum policy, provides an overview of the pre-history to the hostile environment, the impacts of fractioning refugee protection, and what this means for trust as a result. It is argued that trust is an essential component of UK government policies but that the trajectory of asylum policy from a focus on integration to a culture of hostility runs directly counter to efforts to identify 'victims' of 'modern slavery'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international media have repeatedly singled out the Mekong region as a hotspot for 'sex trafficking'. Yet, in recent years anti-trafficking campaigns that focus on prostitution have lost momentum, witnessed by a decline in project activity and media attention. This article suggests that a moral panic relating to prostitution has partly been overshadowed by a broader focus on the Thai labour sector, particularly the fishing industry. At the same time, this shift coincides with a discursive reorientation away from 'trafficking' towards 'modern slavery'. This article explores the gendered dimensions of this shifting regime of migration governance which in effect replaces women and girls with men and boys as the central locus for action. Although this change must be understood in light of structural changes within the Thai economy and a broader compassion and programme fatigue, this article points to the similar moral registers that both 'sex trafficking' and 'slavery at sea' invoke. Neoliberal modes of activism coupled with emergent social media help explain why anti-trafficking and modern slavery discourses have gradually redirected attention away from sex to fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Current efforts to end contemporary slavery represent a fourth wave of an Anglo-American abolitionist movement. Despite this historic precedent, there is little agreement on the nature of the problem. A review of current academic discourse, movement frames, and policy approaches suggests that six perspectives predominate: a prostitution approach focused on sexual exploitation of “women and girls”; a migration approach focused on the cross-border flow of migrants; a criminal justice approach focused on law and enforcement; a forced-labor approach emphasizing unfree labor; a slavery approach focused on trafficking in comparative-historical context; and a human rights approach centered on individual rights. This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and advances an expanded version of the human rights approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bibliography on slavery is presented, including the book "Color Struck: Essays on Race and Ethnicity in Global Perspective," by Julius O. Adekunle and Hettie V. Williams, the article "Practicing African American Archaeology in the Atlantic World," by Anna S. Agbe-Davies and the article "Religion and Slavery," by Douglas Ambrose.

The passage of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children in 2000 marked the first global effort to address human trafficking in 50 years. Since the passage of the UN Protocol international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and individual states have devoted significant resources to eliminating human trafficking. This article critically examines the impact of these efforts with reference to the trends, political, and empirical challenges in data collection and the limitations of international law. I argue that current international law disproportionately addresses the criminal prosecution of traffickers at the expense of trafficking victims' human rights, and has therefore not yet reached its full potential in the fight against human sex trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes up the evolving relationship between antislavery and human trafficking. In recent times, there has been renewed interest in issues such as people smuggling, forced labor, and, in particular, sexual servitude. These serious problems are regularly represented as a species of slavery, with trafficking being portrayed as a form of slave trading, but there has been relatively little discussion of how this connection is established, or how contemporary problems relate to the broader history of organized antislavery. Building upon the concept of an "Anti-Slavery Project," the article embraces a macrohistorical perspective, which seeks to integrate contemporary discussion of trafficking within a larger historical complex. This starts with the nexus between antislavery, "white" slavery, and human trafficking and ultimately extends to the difficult relationship between trafficking, transit, and larger political agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]