Slavery resources

Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group.
The Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group has created proposals for a revised National Referral Mechanism (NRM), one for adults and a separate one for children, to assist the Home Office in its ongoing review of the current system. The NRM is the process through which victims of trafficking are formally identified and supported and has been in place in the UK since 2009. After it was established, the ATMG has raised concerns about the way in which it operates and has highlighted these in its research reports. The proposed models address these issues and provide workable solutions to them.

Audrey Guichon, Anti-Slavery International.

New research looking at the vulnerabilities to widespread abuse of Nepalese migrant domestic workers in Lebanon rooted directly in the systems in place in both home and destination countries. It also looks at the work Anti-Slavery and its partners have done to reduce these vulnerabilities and the first signs of change.

Anti-Slavery International.

This report examines Anti-Slavery International’s project aimed at improving lives of child domestic workers by the realisation of a small grant scheme (SGS). This fresh approach for Anti-Slavery International and its partners in Costa Rica, India, Peru, Philippines, Tanzania and Togo has seen 52 fledgling local groups many led by child domestic workers themselves – provided with funds to support child domestic workers and influence policies and practices towards them across 9 countries. Closely monitored and mentored by project partners since 2009, these local groups have directly assisted thousands of child domestic workers and have changed the attitudes of local and national duty bearers to improve the lives of many more.

Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group.
Fourth report in the ATMG series analyses the UK’s response to trafficking four years on from the Council Of Europe anti-trafficking convention coming into force. Whilst there has been a number of improvement in the government’s response to trafficking through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the system fails to systematically identify, assist and protect victims of trafficking. The report highlights major problems of the UK’s system, especially looking at victims of trafficking through context of their immigration status, causing the decision making to be unfair and discriminatory.

Anti-Slavery International, Catherine Turner.

This report reviews the literature available on child marriage to show that a potentially high proportion of children in marriage are in slavery.  Despite a good deal of publicity around child marriage its links with slavery have received very little attention to date.  As not all child marriage (involving under 18 year-olds) is slavery, the report outlines the relevant international slavery framework to help clarify when child marriage could amount to slavery.  It also notes gaps at the international level for addressing child marriage as a slavery issue, and at the national level in terms of tackling it in law and practice.  It also deals with the complexity of root causes.

Anti-Slavery International. 

This report summarizes Anti-Slavery International’s project run in six countries aimed at improving lives of child domestic workers by involving them in advocacy activities. This fresh approach for Anti-Slavery International and its partners in Costa Rica, India, Peru, Philippines, Tanzania and Togo has seen child domestic workers develop their own advocacy projects and increased the opportunities of children to be empowered to actively claim their rights with decision-makers.

Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group
This report examines the effectiveness of the UK’s Criminal Justice System’s (CJS) response to trafficking in terms of law, policy and practice. The report found that, in spite of localised examples of good practice, the CJS fails to systematically prosecute traffickers and protect victims’ rights. Despite the Government’s claims to make the UK a “hostile environment” for traffickers, human trafficking is not a policing priority.

Based on interviews with around 3,000 children the report is a study into the psychosocial wellbeing of child domestic workers across six countries in three continents (Peru, Costa Rica, Togo, Tanzania, India and Philippines). This report makes an important contribution to our understanding of child domestic work and provides important indicators for the circumstances that affect these child workers as well as the aspects of their lives that contribute to their wellbeing in a positive way.

Anti-Slavery International, Galy Kadir Abdelkader, Moussa Zangaou.

This report focuses on the ‘wahaya’ practice in Niger, whereby girls and women of ‘slave caste’ are bought and sold as unofficial wives. They are referred to as ‘fifth wives’, as they are additional to the four wives permitted to Niger, but they are not officially married to their master and therefore have none of the legal rights and protection to which legal wives would have recourse. ‘Wahaya’ are essentially slaves used for domestic labour and sexual gratification.

The report presents testimonies from individual wahaya to expose the shocking realities of the practice and calls for efforts to end these forced unions.