Research & Publications

Human Trafficking and Climate Change: Understanding Intersections and Strengthening Responses in the Philippines contains findings from research by FTS and JPIC-IDC. The research examines the linkages between climate change, climate change-related hazards, and human trafficking in the regions of Eastern Visayas and Caraga (Eastern Philippines). The research finds that communities affected by climate change become exposed to the risk of exploitation by human traffickers. Exploitation can take different forms, but in Eastern Visayas and Caraga it is mostly labor trafficking and forced labor, child hazardous labor, sexual trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), and online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC). Recognizing that natural hazards heighten the vulnerability of individuals and communities to exploitation by human traffickers, actions that address climate change-related vulnerabilities become a much-needed strategy to end the conditions that allow human trafficking to exist.

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Between Neglect and Exploitation: Four Case Studies in Indigenous Communities of the Peruvian Amazon contains findings from research by FTS and ONOTZI, a Peruvian indigenous rights organization. The research examines the linkages between illegal extractivism, human trafficking risk, and environmental degredation in the Peruvian Amazon. The research points to the ways that human trafficking is driven by illegal mining and logging, and drug trafficking. Indigenous persons live in conditions that place them at a high risk of human trafficking. The research identifies diverse forms of modern slavery manifesting in communities. Adults work in conditions characteristic of forced labor and human trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. Forced child marriages are normalized, and adolescents are also trafficked for labor and sexual exploitation. The report calls on the Peruvian state to implement a range of recommendations that address the root causes of human trafficking among indigenous communities and safeguards their human rights.

English Full Report
English Executive Summary
Informe completo en español
Resumen ejecutivo en español
Ashaninka Executive Summary
Ashaninka Full Report

This Free the Slaves field investigation documents the types, nature, and scale of slavery at major mining sites in the South Kivu province. It also analyzes the factors that make Congolese workers vulnerable to enslavement and recommends solutions.

Full Report: English | French

Executive Summary: English | French

Gold mining is one of Ghana’s major industries—gold exports are one of the country’s biggest sources of income. But at many mining sites, children are exploited as workers. The Child Rights in Mining pilot project addressed the lack of awareness and protection of child rights, which cause hazardous child labor practices and sexual violence against children. Using illustrated drawings based on the lives of local residents, the project educated parents on the rights of children and how to protect them.

Full Report

Executive Summary: English | French

Nepal’s 2015 earthquake killed thousands, left large parts of the country in ruins, and sparked a sharp rise in human trafficking. This action-research project documented the post-earthquake experience in Nepal, and provided essential action-step recommendations to ensure that desperate and vulnerable people aren’t enslaved in the aftermath of natural disasters around the globe.

Full Report 

Child trafficking is widespread in Ghana – for fishing, mining, farming, domestic servitude and prostitution. Researchers uncover the prevalence and drivers of child trafficking in this report, and identify promising interventions designed to liberate victims, support survivors, and prevent future enslavement. 

Full report | Summary

Restavèk is a traditional system in which Haitian children are sent to live with other families and work as domestic servants. The expectation is for the host family to provide schooling, food, and shelter. Yet many children are abused and enslaved in their new homes. The Model Communities project is based on the premise that building community consensus against >restavèk is a strong strategy to prevent and reverse the flow of children into domestic servitude. 

Full Report: English |French

Executive Summary: English|French

Gold mining is one of Ghana’s major industries—gold exports are one of the country’s biggest sources of income. But at many mining sites, children are exploited as workers. The Child Rights in Mining pilot project addressed the lack of awareness and protection of child rights, which cause hazardous child labor practices and sexual violence against children. Using illustrated drawings based on the lives of local residents, the project educated parents on the rights of children and how to protect them.

Full Report

Executive Summary: English | French

This report investigates the problem of—and solutions to—child trafficking in northern India. We highlight some of the stark realities that underpin trafficking today, and some recommendations for bringing it to an end. We are clear that child trafficking is not an intractable problem, but it is one that deserves and requires focused and well-informed long-term strategies.  

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FTS’ recent report “Learning from NGOs’ Approaches to Modern Slavery in Southeast Asia” highlights findings learning from 64 surveys with representatives of organizations addressing modern slavery in Southeast Asia. Read more below to understand how organizations are defining modern slavery, the approaches that are being adopted, and the activities implemented to address severe exploitation. The report also highlights some of the existing gaps affecting the response and provides recommendations for improved multi-stakeholder action against modern slavery.

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Download Executive Summary

Civil society plays a critical role in raising awareness, advocating with governments to take robust action and developing new interventions to disrupt slavery and aid its survivors. This study, co-authored by Deloitte and Free the Slaves, explores the goals, norms and policy priorities for civil society coalitions within the anti-slavery movement. 

Full Report

As part of its regional strategy to eradicate modern slavery in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), FTS launched a small-scale research study to better understand the anti-modern slavery landscape in the region. The findings will provide organizations like FTS with an indication of the current state of knowledge and approaches of civil society organizations regarding modern slavery. These can in turn inform programmatic strategies in the region and ensure that anti-modern slavery ventures correspond with current approaches while addressing existing gaps, furthering capacities to address the issue, and driving the anti-modern slavery movement at the regional level. 

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This study highlights how systemic factors that contribute to resilience against exploitation are being impacted by Covid-19 in urban centers within Senegal and Kenya. The research provides evidence toward effective targeting, adaptation and implementation of anti-slavery interventions in the wake of Covid-19. It offers suggestions on how to limit negative impacts arising from the pandemic and where to direct policy, practice and funding attention for ongoing benefit. Research conducted and published in 2021 in partnership with the University of Nottingham Rights Lab.

Summary English
Kenya Report English
Senegal Report English, French
Comparative Report English, French

Between Neglect and Exploitation: Four Case Studies in Indigenous Communities of the Peruvian Amazon contains findings from research by FTS and ONOTZI, a Peruvian indigenous rights organization. The research examines the linkages between illegal extractivism, human trafficking risk, and climate change in the Peruvian Amazon. The research points to the ways that human trafficking is driven by illegal mining and logging, and drug trafficking. Indigenous persons live in conditions that place them at a high risk of human trafficking. The research identifies diverse forms of modern slavery manifesting in communities. Adults work in conditions characteristic of forced labor and human trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. Forced child marriages are normalized, and adolescents are also trafficked for labor and sexual exploitation. The report calls on the Peruvian state to implement a range of recommendations that address the root causes of human trafficking among indigenous communities and safeguards their human rights.

English Full Report
English Executive Summary
Informe completo en español
Resumen ejecutivo en español
Ashaninka Executive Summary
Ashaninka Full Report

This Free the Slaves field investigation documents the types, nature, and scale of slavery at major mining sites in the South Kivu province. It also analyzes the factors that make Congolese workers vulnerable to enslavement and recommends solutions. 

Full Report: English | French 

Executive Summary: English | French

The journey from the Horn of Africa through Yemen to the Arab Gulf accounts for 40% of all migratory movements worldwide and has seen a constant increase over the past few years. In 2023, with 86,630 people migrated to Yemen from the beginning of January to the end of July.

East African migrants seek to reach the Arabian Peninsula due to:

• poverty
• climate change
• food and water isecurity
• conflict
• ethnically motivated violence

Many of those migratory flows between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are illegal in character, taking place beyond the routes and mechanisms allowed by countries of destination and countries of origin. The reasons why many migrants have been choosing irregular channels of migration are mainly connected to the limited options for regular migration as well as the administrative challenges associated with those few options.

Illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa typically rely on smugglers to make their journey towards the Arabian Peninsula. As they do so, they become particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. Significantly, exposure to the risk of trafficking is observed at three distinct moments along the journey – when transiting through Djibouti and Somalia before crossing the Gulf of Aden, when transiting through Yemen upon disembarking in the Arabian Peninsula, when arriving in the rich Gulf monarchies, especially Saudi Arabia.

The forms of trafficking most commonly observed along the Eastern Route include:

• sex trafficking & commercial sexual exploitation
• forced labor and hazardous forced labor (e.g., in construction)
• domestic servitude
• debt bondage
• worst forms of child labor, including forced street begging and sexual exploitation
• forced criminality

Download the Full Report

This Free the Slaves field investigation documents the types, nature, and scale of slavery at major mining sites in the South Kivu province. It also analyzes the factors that make Congolese workers vulnerable to enslavement and recommends solutions. 

Full Report: English | French

Executive Summary: English | French

Gold mining is one of Ghana’s major industries—gold exports are one of the country’s biggest sources of income. But at many mining sites, children are exploited as workers. The Child Rights in Mining pilot project addressed the lack of awareness and protection of child rights, which cause hazardous child labor practices and sexual violence against children. Using illustrated drawings based on the lives of local residents, the project educated parents on the rights of children and how to protect them. 

Full Report 

Executive Summary: English | French

Every person has the right to freely choose his or her spouse. But for many women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, marriage is coerced and a form of slavery. This exposè examines the causes and impacts of forced marriage in the Congo through the stories of women and girls who have experienced it firsthand. 

Full Report: English | French

Executive Summary: English | French

Child trafficking is widespread in Ghana – for fishing, mining, farming, domestic servitude and prostitution. Researchers uncover the prevalence and drivers of child trafficking in this report, and identify promising interventions designed to liberate victims, support survivors, and prevent future enslavement. 

Full report | Summary

This study highlights how systemic factors that contribute to resilience against exploitation are being impacted by Covid-19 in urban centers within Senegal and Kenya. The research provides evidence toward effective targeting, adaptation and implementation of anti-slavery interventions in the wake of Covid-19. It offers suggestions on how to limit negative impacts arising from the pandemic and where to direct policy, practice and funding attention for ongoing benefit. Research conducted and published in 2021 in partnership with the University of Nottingham Rights Lab.

Summary English
Kenya Report English
Senegal Report English, French
Comparative Report English, French

Between Neglect and Exploitation: Four Case Studies in Indigenous Communities of the Peruvian Amazon contains findings from research by FTS and ONOTZI, a Peruvian indigenous rights organization. The research examines the linkages between illegal extractivism, human trafficking risk, and climate change in the Peruvian Amazon. The research points to the ways that human trafficking is driven by illegal mining and logging, and drug trafficking. Indigenous persons live in conditions that place them at a high risk of human trafficking. The research identifies diverse forms of modern slavery manifesting in communities. Adults work in conditions characteristic of forced labor and human trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. Forced child marriages are normalized, and adolescents are also trafficked for labor and sexual exploitation. The report calls on the Peruvian state to implement a range of recommendations that address the root causes of human trafficking among indigenous communities and safeguards their human rights.

English Full Report
English Executive Summary
Informe completo en español
Resumen ejecutivo en español
Ashaninka Executive Summary
Ashaninka Full Report

The journey from the Horn of Africa through Yemen to the Arab Gulf accounts for 40% of all migratory movements worldwide and has seen a constant increase over the past few years. In 2023, with 86,630 people migrated to Yemen from the beginning of January to the end of July.

East African migrants seek to reach the Arabian Peninsula due to:

• poverty
• climate change
• food and water isecurity
• conflict
• ethnically motivated violence

Many of those migratory flows between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are illegal in character, taking place beyond the routes and mechanisms allowed by countries of destination and countries of origin. The reasons why many migrants have been choosing irregular channels of migration are mainly connected to the limited options for regular migration as well as the administrative challenges associated with those few options.

Illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa typically rely on smugglers to make their journey towards the Arabian Peninsula. As they do so, they become particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. Significantly, exposure to the risk of trafficking is observed at three distinct moments along the journey – when transiting through Djibouti and Somalia before crossing the Gulf of Aden, when transiting through Yemen upon disembarking in the Arabian Peninsula, when arriving in the rich Gulf monarchies, especially Saudi Arabia.

The forms of trafficking most commonly observed along the Eastern Route include:

• sex trafficking & commercial sexual exploitation
• forced labor and hazardous forced labor (e.g., in construction)
• domestic servitude
• debt bondage
• worst forms of child labor, including forced street begging and sexual exploitation
• forced criminality

Download the Full Report

As part of its regional strategy to eradicate modern slavery in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), FTS launched a small-scale research study to better understand the anti-modern slavery landscape in the region. The findings will provide organizations like FTS with an indication of the current state of knowledge and approaches of civil society organizations regarding  modern slavery. These can in turn inform programmatic strategies in the region and ensure that anti-modern slavery ventures correspond with current approaches while addressing existing gaps, furthering capacities to address the issue, and driving the anti-modern slavery movement at the regional level. 

Download