Forced Migration and Modern Slavery: Unplanned Journeys of Exploitation and Survival

Guest Editor: Brad K. Blitz

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Introduction to Forced Migration and Modern Slavery: Unplanned Journeys of Exploitation and Survival

Brad K. Blitz

In 2021, Tomoya Obokata, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, presented his report on the nexus between displacement and contemporary forms of slavery to the UN Human Rights Council. His report highlighted a number of causal factors such as discrimination, having an uncertain migration status, and exposure to the informal labour market both inside and outside camp settings. This special issue develops the key messages from the UN Rapporteur’s report.

Summary of the Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Including its Causes and Consequences on the Nexus Between Displacement and Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Tomoya Obokata

At the 48th Session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Tomoya Obokata, presented his thematic report on the nexus between displacement and contemporary forms of slavery (A/HRC/48/52). The present submission provides a summary of its main findings and recommendations. Readers are referred to the report itself for detailed references and evidence used.

Europe’s Migrant Human Trafficking – A Case Study of Romania’s Sexually Exploited Women

Roxana Claudia Tompea

This paper examines the debate surrounding sex trafficking and forced prostitution in the context of a growing market for migrant sex workers in Europe in general, and in Romania, in particular. By focusing on the theory of political economy paired with one of international migration, it identifies two major hindrances that both national authorities and international organizations face when addressing this dynamic phenomenon. First, the existing policies do not recognise the determinants that push women into sex trafficking (there is a limited applicability of consolidated and cross-border laws, and a lack of national political will to invest more in investigative and protective efforts); and second, the laws that do exist are by default corrective and focused on the supply of sex. Thus, they omit to integrate the socio-economic framework required to embed appropriate responses. As such, organized groups vastly capitalise on these vulnerabilities which push European women into sexual exploitation, with most cases emerging from Romania. The paper concludes that the central challenges for Romanian authorities remain widespread, and it endorses a shift of paradigm at the policymaking level (transferring focus from the supply to the demand of sex victims – as the former cannot sustain itself without the latter)

What Has 20 Years of ‘Freedom’ Meant for Kamaiya Men in Kailali District, Nepal? Analysing Changing Patterns of Migration as a Marker of Freedom

Matthew Maycock

Almost 20 years after being officially ‘freed’ from the Kamaiya system of bonded labour in July 2000, this paper considers the lived experience of freedom for male Kamaiya former bonded labourers in Nepal. The article considers the symbolic and material significance of migration in the post-bondage era within Kamaiya communities. The focus on migration for this group of young male former bonded-labourers who were previously unable to migrate, facilitates analysis of the ways in which migration between Nepal and India enables new performances of masculinity. Ultimately, this paper argues that migration, however precarious, has become an important marker of freedom for the Kamaiya.

Re-(B)ordering: The Impact of the European Union’s Externalisation of Migration on the Human Rights of Migrants in Libya

Lauren Jackson

The European Union (EU) maintains a policy of externalisation towards migration, with specific reference to Libya. What has resulted is the transformation of the European border through extra-territoriality, which consequently silences migrant voices and leads to a violation of human rights. The EU not only tolerates human rights violations occurring in Libya as a result of its policies, but proactively enables these abuses to occur. Consequently, migrants who attempt to reach Libya and then cross the Mediterranean into Italy and beyond, risk being condensed to exceptional human beings, wholly because they fall within the gaps of the global system.

Stuck In The Middle: The Case of Venezuelan Migrants

Carolina Spiridigliozzi and Florencia Barbeito

The violation of human rights implies a failure of the state-inhabitant relationship and the international governance system from which these rights emerge. Although the link between human trafficking and migration is widely accepted, there is still a gap in the research on the correlation between the isolationist attitudes adopted by States and the increase in human trafficking and exploitation networks. Therefore, studying the situation of Venezuelan displaced people is essential to understand the challenges and the need for transnational perspectives to address the complexities of migration processes and thus prevent the rise of human exploitation networks.

Forced into Slavery: Eritreans Caught Between Refugee and Migration Policies

Lucy Hovil and Sasha Jesperson

The protection offered to refugees, while intended to be above politics, is influenced by politics in the state of origin, host states and donor countries. Accordingly, refugees must negotiate with the rules and policies of each state to ensure their own safety and work within or circumnavigate the many constraints they encounter. Using the case study of Eritreans moving into Ethiopia or Sudan who then seek onward movement because they do not feel secure, this article considers the dangers of policies framed by the concept of ‘mixed migration’ and highlights the risk of refugees being pushed into modern slavery by the inadequacy of approaches ostensibly designed for their protection.

Immigration Detention in Australia and Asylum Seekers’ Rights to Appropriate Health Care. Health Care Consequences of Keeping Asylum Seekers in Mandatory Detention in Alternative Places of Detentions (APOD)s

Vinu Verghis, Jackson Moody, and Suzanna Fay

As a signatory to various international conventions, Australian government is obligated to provide protection to asylum seekers who have fled their own country and are seeking protection. Despite this provision, asylum seekers arriving in boats are detained in detention centres offshore as well as in alternative places of detention onshore owing to their illegal entry. An important question is to look at how mandatory detention emulates modern slavery by a continuum of exploitative practices such as restriction of movement and abuse of vulnerability. This article explores the available evidence on how closely human smuggling and human trafficking are linked and to what extent are we exposing asylum seekers to further rights violation by turning back the boats, as is what happening currently in Australia. In this article we look at current Australian detention policies, health impacts of mandatory detention policies and impact of COVID-19 on refugees seeking asylum in Australia before discussing our recommendations

The Ru.Lag: the Kremlin’s New Empire of Forced Labor

Alexandra Lewis and Brad K. Blitz

In 2022, Russia reinvaded Ukraine, scaling up a military conflict that began in 2014 with its sudden annexation of Crimea. With the invasion came the establishment of filtration camps, to divide up captured Ukrainians into civilian and combatant groups, for deportation, imprisonment or release. At time of writing, over one million Ukrainians and at least 240,000 children have been confirmed to have been sent to Russia, but the actual numbers are estimated to be far higher. These Ukrainians are caught in a two-way human pipeline that has also led to the conscription of Russians, mainly from ethnic minority or rural areas, to fight and die in the war. We argue that the Kremlin’s war has given rise to a new form of governance characterized by a set of laws, policies, and practices that can be introduced at will through presidential decrees, and marshalled to create a state-wide system of oppression – a Ru.Lag, weaponizing transportation, deportation and forced labor. The Kremlin’s war machine depends on state direction, not only of the military-related industries but also of legislative and judicial institutions. The Ru.Lag reaches all present on Russian-controlled territories, regardless of their nationality, and through its utilitarian commodification of human bodies and disregard for individual autonomy evokes the Soviet Gulag of old.