Launch of new report on the link between lack of official documentation and modern slavery

The United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) and the Freedom Fund have produced and recently launched an important resource offering evidence on modern slavery risks among people lacking official documentation. The report provides key information to understand the paths to a lack of documentation, i.e. the range of circumstances potentially entailing such a lack of documentation. It then focuses on the link between this lack of documentation and modern slavery in a number of focus countries (Brazil, Kenya, Nepal), before offering strategies to address the latter. During the presentation of the report, it addressed the link between these instances and the rates of birth registration and the potential obstacles to access other services. In particular, the report clearly states that “[i]ncreasing birth registration emerges as a central preventive strategy” of a lack of documentation and therefore of modern slavery.

CHIP welcomes this new resource that further evidences the importance of registering children from birth and providing them with a documented legal identity in line with the UNCRC, as a lack thereof represents a potential risk of children being sold, trafficked and being victims of modern slavery.

See: Crawley, H., Ghimire, A., Marcelin, L. H., Oucho, L. and Smith, A. (2024). Modern slavery risks among people lacking official documentation: A global evidence review. New York: The Freedom Fund. Available at: https://www.freedomfund.org/app/uploads/2024/04/peoplewithoudocumentation-2024-04.pdf.