Social Conflict, Migration and Forced Labour: Contemporary and Emerging Issues
A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Work, Employment and the Labor Market".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1232
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The confluence of conflict, climate change and global migration is exacerbating conditions in which vulnerability to forced labour can flourish. Approximately 281 million people (4% of the global population) were recorded as migrants in 2023 (United Nations, 2023), including an estimated total of 35.3 million refugees and 5.4 million asylum seekers (UNHCR, 2023). Simultaneously, 71.1 million people remained displaced from their homes, with 62.5 million people being displaced due to conflict and violence (IDMC, 2023). In addition to conflict and violence, natural disasters are presenting a growing risk, with 60.9 million people displaced within their home country (IDMC, 2023).
Forced labour is a direct consequence of these global insecurities and the social and market forces that face asylum seekers, refugees and other displaced people. Displaced populations are often restricted to access to poor-quality employment in unregulated employment sectors (ILO, 2020). A range of factors such as domestic and international laws, local and regional policies, and restrictions around the right to work mean than often traumatised populations move directly into highly vulnerable working circumstances with the potential to exacerbate rather than alleviate these vulnerabilities.
This Special Edition will interrogate global changes in conflict and migration and their implications for patterns of forced labour. The SI is open to articles addressing forced labour from a global perspective as well as at the micro level of their impact upon individual communities. Articles are sought that address both the causes and consequences of forced labour, as are case studies that shed light on specific jurisdictions and communities.
References
- United Nations (2023) International Migrant Stock. https://www.migrationdataportal.org/sites/g/files/tmzbdl251/files/2023-06/Key_Global_Migration_Figures_June_2023.pdf.
- UNHCR (2023) Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2022. Global Trends 2022 report (unhcr.org) https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/global-trends-report-2022.pdf.
- Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (2023) (internal-displacement.org) https://www.internal-displacement.org/sites/default/files/publications/documents/IDMC_GRID_2023_Global_Report_on_Internal_Displacement_LR.pdf.
- International Labour Organisation (2020) Employment and decent work in refugee and other forced displacement contexts. Compendium Final (ilo.org) https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---migrant/documents/publication/wcms_763174.pdf.
Dr. Craig Paterson
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- conflict
- displacement
- forced labour
- migration
- climate change
- trafficking
- human rights
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