Funding of Anti-Modern Slavery Interventions

Abstract

This review looks at the availability of funds to tackle modern slavery1 and human trafficking2, and the availability of data in this regard. It seeks to move beyond the findings of Martina Ucnikova’s 2014 paper, OECD and Modern Slavery: How much aid money is spent to tackle the issue?, and identify updated (post-2013) data on funding by governments as well as private sector and philanthropic organisations. The review found a very limited peer-reviewed academic literature in this regard and drew largely on reports by development organisations and think tanks (though these too were limited). The query called for a specific focus on LMICs, in particular 12 identified countries. However, most anti-modern slavery funding is directed globally and/or data is not disaggregated by country. This and time constraints meant it was not possible to address this aspect of the query.