Overview
You can find out more about the Limitations and Assumptions and Considerations below.
If you have any additional information or would like to get in touch, please do contact us.
A full list of Sources is available below.
Introduction
The information presented on this website results from a desk-based review of published material that provides direct or indirect evidence of the links between climate change, migration and modern slavery. It summarises relevant points from the sources analysed.
The desk-based review covered academic literature – i.e. journal articles and research reports – and grey literature, such as non-governmental organisation (NGO) reports, country submissions to the Special Procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and policy briefs. Based on our review, we have presented the most relevant resources for policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholder groups on the resources hub.
The content available on the website is a starting point and we aim to provide more in-depth analysis of the existing resources.
Limitations
The number of resources addressing the links between climate change, migration and modern slavery is very limited. Most of the existing documents exploring this intersection are produced by NGOs.
A few of the resources analysed were produced by governments, which points to a risk of bias in their recommendations. Where authors do recognise these links, they do not always do so directly.
The terminology on the different forms of modern slavery adopted on this site is mostly based on the language used in the sources analysed. The language refers to the understanding of the terminology by the authors and may not correspond with the definitions adopted by Anti-Slavery International and under this project. Similarly, the climate change terminology differs in each document, the website reflects the language used in the source document analysed to avoid confusion.
Among the sources identified as relevant, most focus on situations in South Asia. Evidence on situations in Latin America and the Caribbean was limited, and at this point no evidence was found on the Middle East and North Africa, North America, Europe or Central Asia regions as origin regions, although some of these regions (for example, the Gulf) were identified as destination regions for people pushed to migrate in the context of climate change. More research on regions other than South Asia would help provide a more comprehensive understanding of these issues in different contexts.
With regard to climate change, the information on a country is not intended to provide an exhaustive description of all climate phenomena experienced there, or the general level of climate and environmental vulnerability of a specific country. We only highlight those climate events referenced in the sources analysed when they are relevant to our understanding of vulnerability to modern slavery in the context of climate change.
While we have sought to include sources in languages other than English, we have had limited access to such sources. Efforts to address this will be made as our work progresses.
Assumptions and considerations
Whether the link between climate change, migration and modern slavery is direct or indirect is determined based on the analysis of the research team, taking into consideration how people’s ability to survive was impacted by a climate change event.
We have used the World Bank’s categorisation of regions.
The language and terminology used on this website is based on:
- most up to date United Nations standard terminology and relevant recommendations,
- the International Organization for Migration Glossary on Migration,
- definitions of types of modern slavery – e.g. forced labour and human trafficking – adopted by the International Labour Organization and the United Nations,
- Oxfam’s Inclusive Language Guide.
In particular, climate and environmental terminology across the website refers to the terminology adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and within the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, with the exclusion of the specific documents analysis.