A Multi‐Method Approach to Prioritize Locations of Labor Exploitation for Ground‐Based Interventions

Ioannis Kougkoulos,Nathan Kunz,M Selim Cakir,Doreen S Boyd,Stefan Gold,Alexander Trautrims,Kornilia Hatzinikolaou

doi:10.1111/poms.13496

Abstract

Recent estimates suggest that more than 40 million people worldwide are in situations of modern slavery and other forms of labor exploitation. UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 addresses this problem and urges stakeholders to take effective measures to end all forms of labor exploitation by 2030. Labor exploitation is often a direct consequence of forced migration, and humanitarian operations have a key role to play in tackling this issue worldwide. Academic research can facilitate this by providing the necessary decision‐making tools to support antislavery practitioners in humanitarian organizations and governments. For effective resource allocation, these practitioners need tools to help them systematically identify and assess the risks of labor exploitation in an area. In this study, we develop a multi‐method approach that combines various data sources to capture the issue's complex and multidimensional nature. Through satellite remote sensing, we first identify 50 informal settlements hosting migrant workers in the strawberry production area of Southern Greece. We then apply a multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method to a subset of six informal settlements in order to evaluate their labor exploitation risks based on eight criteria. In addition to being practically implemented by a humanitarian organization and a government agency in Greece, our study advances research on humanitarian operations and labor exploitation by elucidating how a multi‐method approach can be used for data‐driven prioritization of interventions against labor exploitation. Our approach offers opportunities for other applications in the field of humanitarian operations.

Highlights

The agricultural sector is considered high risk for various forms of labor exploitation, including modern slavery
We develop a multi-method approach combining satellite-based remote sensing technologies for identifying informal migrant worker settlements, ground truthing1 inspections, and a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) model to help governments and humanitarian organizations to assess labor exploitation risks in different settlements and to prioritize their interventions
Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and Humanitarian Operations Our study aims to shift the focus of labor exploitation research from the macro level to an operational, ground-based evaluation of the risk of labor exploitation, using an operations research methodology

Summary

Introduction

The agricultural sector is considered high risk for various forms of labor exploitation, including modern slavery. In order to demonstrate how our proposed multimethod approach operates in labor exploitation interventions, we focus on the Greek agricultural sector, and the strawberry production fields around Nea Manolada in the Peloponnese region. The choice of this empirical background was motivated by a 2017 high-stake ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which was unprecedented and set a new standard in the history of labor exploitation prevention (Chowdury et al 2017). In July 2018, for example, a fire broke out due to hazardous conditions and burned down an entire worker settlement (Ekathimerini 2018)

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Conclusion