COVID-19 Supplemental Issue, Abstracts

Guest Editor
Dr. Helen McCabe
Guest Assistant Editors
Dr. Ben Brewster
Laoise Ni Bhriain
Hannah Lerigo-Stephens
Dr. Daniel Ogunniyi

 

Foreword to the COVID-19 Supplemental Issue

Dr. Helen McCabe
Assistant Professor in Political Theory,
University of Nottingham School of Politics and International Relations, and Rights Lab

The global pandemic of COVID-19 represents a large and sudden exogenous shock to the world, and is having a significant impact on almost every single human being’s life in 2020 either in terms of their health, or those of their loved ones, or the consequences of the ensuing economic downturn. Given this, there are likely to have been severe consequences for people experiencing modern slavery; people at risk of modern slavery; survivors of modern slavery; those engaged in, or profiting from, modern slavery; and those working to combat it across the world. At the moment, however, as the pandemic continues to rage, a comprehensive understanding of the economic and social evidence of the effects is not available.

This Special Issue gives us the opportunity to highlight some of the research which is being done across the world to investigate, chart, and analyse the impact of COVID-19 on human trafficking solutions. A wealth of work is being done, both new research and the adaptation of existing projects to respond to this crisis. Researchers share insights into the impact on people vulnerable to modern slavery; those already experiencing it; those perpetrating it; those trying to fight it; and those trying to understand it as researchers and practitioners.

Hanley and Gauci sound an important warning note as to how COVID-19 might push efforts to monitor and address human trafficking down the international political agenda, while Chazal looks at the specific case of the impact of COVID-19 on the abilities of relevant agencies to work on preventing modern slavery in Australia during the pandemic. Mahaffey considers the impact on anti-trafficking efforts in Oklahoma, particularly among indigenous populations.

Several researchers consider the impact of COVID-19 on those already at risk of modern slavery. Byrne, Bradley, Khumallambam and Sahariah explore how COVID-19 has impacted women in India, and how the pandemic highlights how vulnerability and resilience to modern slavery is fluid. Thinyane and Gallo track the impact of COVID-19 on companies in Southeast Asia. Hansen et al consider its impact in the Ready-Made Garment industry in Bangladesh, while Sahai explores the impact on migrant workers from the same country. Niezna, Kurlander and Shamir scrutinise the impact on migrant workers in Israel. Ewan considers the impact on forced sexual exploitation across the world, while Iyer et al consider the specific impact on child sexual exploitation in India.

McGaughey tracks the impact of COVID-19 on increased risk of modern slavery in Australian companies’ supply chains – and the question of whether these were tackled, or whether the pandemic has let some companies off the hook in meeting their obligations to tackle this problem.

Others are exploring the effects of COVID-19 on survivors. Hogan and Roe-Sepowitz explore the impact of COVID-19 on survivor-support services in Arizona, and Chazal and Raby for Australia. Cordisco Tsai and Eleccion report on the impact of survivors in the Philippines. Lastly, Brewster examines the impact on “county-lines” child exploitation for drug-trafficking in the UK.

The research in this special issue also looks at good practice, resilience and adaptation. Valverde-Cano considers good practice by some European states regarding asylum and migration during the pandemic, and what lessons could be learned from this for the future. Thinyane and Gallo explain how changes to their research due to COVID-19 led to the adoption of remote monitoring with modifications to their existing Apprise Audit tool so that working conditions could continue to be scrutinised during the pandemic. Brady, McCabe and Otiende report their methodological adaptations for working remotely with survivors of human trafficking in Kenya

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had, and will continue to have, a significant, negative effect on modern slavery and efforts to end it, seriously jeopardising our chance of achieving the global goal of ending it by 2030. There are important lessons to be learned from this research in order to try to mitigate these impacts as much as possible. We look forward to sharing more in-depth findings in 2021 when this on-going research has more detail, and more recommendations, to communicate.

 

Abstracted Articles in this issue…
(Click/tap the article title to read/download in a new browser window/tab)

 

Forward to the COVID-19 Supplemental Issue
Dr. Helen McCabe

COVID-19’s Impact on Anti-Trafficking Efforts: What do we know?
Idel Hanley, Jean-Pierre Gauci

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Identification of Victims of Trafficking and Their Access to Support Services in Australia
Dr. Nerida Chazal, Ms Kyla Raby

Critiquing America’s Response to Human Trafficking: Race, Gender, and Colonialism Narratives in a COVID-19 Context
Lucy Mahaffey

Fluid Vulnerabilities: Narratives of Modern Slavery in India during Lockdown
Dr. George Byrne, Professor Tamsin Bradley, Elizabeth Khumallambam, Dr. Sutirtha Sahariah

Ready Made Garment (RMG) Study: Bangladesh and India
Christopher Hansen, Jafar Iqbal, Maansi Parpiani, Michelle Davis, Ridhi Sahai, Vaiddehi Bansal, Mithila Iyer, Kareem Kysia

Overseas Labor Recruitment (OLR) Study – Bangladesh
Ridhi Sahai, Vaiddehi Bansal, Muhammad Jalal Uddin Sikder, Kareem Kysia

Underlying conditions: The Commodification of Migrant Workers Under COVID-19
Maayan Niezna, Dr. Yahel Kurlander, Hila Shamir

The Finance of Sex Trafficking and Impact of COVID-19
Phoebe Ewen

Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Study – India
Erika Keaveney, Mithila Iyer, Xiran Liu, Kareem Kysia

Pivoting technology: understanding working conditions in the time of COVID-19
Hannah Thinyane, Michael Gallo

Australia’s Modern Slavery Act and COVID-19: a get out of jail free card?
Fiona McGaughey

Services and Safety for Survivors of Human Trafficking: A Social Service Agency Statewide Survey on the Impact of COVID-19
Kimberly A. Hogan

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on survivors of human trafficking in the Philippines
Laura Cordisco Tsai, PhD, and Jonna Eleccion

COVID-19 and Child Criminal Exploitation: Implications of the Pandemic for County Lines
Ben Brewster, Grace Robinson

Assessing the impact of ad-hoc migratory and asylum regulations on the vulnerability to human trafficking and forced labour in Spain, Germany, and Italy: identifying good practices during the COVID-19 pandemic
Dr. Ana B. Valverde-Cano, Juan J. Ruiz-Ramos, Paola Cavanna

The Impact of COVID-19 on Survivors of Modern Slavery in Kenya
Emily Brady, Dr. Helen McCabe, Sophie Otiende, Aisha Ali Haji, Rehema Maya, Yasmin Manji, Ruth Sorby