Slave ship, J.M.W.Turner
The Global Slavery Index emerged out of a worldwide social and political movement that seeks to expose and eliminate the exploitation of human beings for private profit. While the Index’s efforts to quantify the problem of modern slavery are laudable, this should not preclude careful scrutiny of the methodology and how that is applied. This article, the second in a two-part series, analyses two of the Index’s key measurements: prevalence (how many slaves are present in each country), and the quality of government responses. It then turns attention to the apparent reluctance to critically engage with the Index on the part of those who are well placed to identify its technical limitations and guide improvements. What is behind this reticence? And does it even matter? Is there perhaps some value to the argument that it is unfair and counterproductive to criticise those who are acting in good faith, who are genuinely seeking to do good and useful work to end human exploitation?
Assessing country-level prevalence
