By Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)

2025 marks the 10 year anniversary of the Modern Slavery Act. Since that time the gaps in the UK’s systems to prevent, identify and address exploitation, including trafficking and modern slavery, have been well evidenced.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill misses a crucial opportunity to drive meaningful change to ensure that all victims of exploitation are protected, whatever their immigration status.

By failing to repeal key elements of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and the Illegal Migration Act 2023, this Bill does not address key drivers of exploitation. Instead, this Immigration Enforcement centred approach fails to provide meaningful opportunities for survivors to recover through security and decent work. This only plays into the hands of exploiters.

London: T (FLEX) , 2025. 6p

By European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex)

The following scenarios are based mainly on Serious Incidents Reports received by the Frontex' Fundamental Rights Office, concerning violations that allegedly took place at border areas where the Agency is operating. All cases refer to situations where third country nationals are under the jurisdiction of the authorities of the host state participating in a joint activity. In 2022-23, the Fundamental Rights Office launched approximately 100 Serious Incident Reports related to fundamental rights, matching the scenarios outlined below. This indicates that they represent potential violations of a widespread nature. Outlined scenarios, regardless of the direct or indirect involvement of Frontex staff and/or assets, may negatively impact the Agency and have potential legal implications, including for the broader European Border and Coast Guard community and respective national authorities. Active involvement by participants in joint activities in practices presented below, such as collective expulsions, amounts to a violation of EU and international law as well as a breach of the Frontex Code of Conduct. To ensure Frontex' full compliance with fundamental rights, it is necessary that the Agency makes clear to all operational participants that practices and policies as the ones described below are in violation of EU and international law and may result in Frontex' disengagement, triggering of Article 46 of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation, or other forms of administrative, financial and operational consequences. Frontex' Fundamental Rights Office recognises that similar cases often form part of broader systemic issues, identified through its monitoring. The Office is mandated to provide recommendations to the Agency, relevant also for national authorities. The following scenarios are complementary to these efforts and aim to provide basic guidance for officers deployed at the borders as well as other staff tasked with related duties. Seven different scenarios of fundamental rights violations are briefly presented. While presented scenarios have been developed on the basis of most frequently alleged violations, it is important to note that this is a non-exhaustive list. While this document includes basic references to violated rights, it is not intended to be a legal analysis. Outside of the official border crossing point. based on real-life Serious Incident Reports (SIR) Category 1, and includes a list of potentially violated rights. The last section of the document outlines "dos" and "don'ts" for border guards in case of witnessing or learning about similar cases in the performance of their duties.

Warsaw • Poland : European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), 2024 . 16p

By Rebecca Rabinovitch,

In 2019, two appeal court decisions found that the administrative segregation regime used in Canada’s federal corrections system violated prisoners’ constitutional rights. While the two decisions differed in their analyses, some key points emerged: a constitutional system for segregating prisoners would need to ensure prisoners did not experience prolonged periods of severe isolation, and would need independent review of decisions to isolate prisoners. In response to these decisions, Bill C-83 was introduced. Among other changes, this bill aimed to abolish administrative segregation and replace it with a new system of structured intervention units (SIUs), intended to allow more humane separation of prisoners in line with the constitutional requirements identified by the appeal court decisions. However, this bill was criticized by many experts from the beginning of the legislative process as making insufficient change to truly vindicate the rights in question. Many worried that SIUs would be, in effect, administrative segregation under a new name. Now, as the five-year review of Bill C-83 approaches, there is an opportunity to assess whether SIUs have met the constitutional standards they were intended to realize. Through examination of the available data on SIUs – including documents from the Implementation Advisory Panel and Correctional Service Canada itself – this report examines the ongoing and serious violations of prisoners’ Charter rights under this system. The documented failures of the SIU regime in allowing these violations to continue highlights the urgency with which the review of Bill C-83 should be conducted. Under the SIU system, prisoners still experience a problematic degree of isolation. Many prisoners do not receive adequate time outside of their cells or engaged in meaningful human contact. Legislative standards for these activities are framed as obligations to provide opportunities rather than to ensure these standards are met, meaning that isolation can occur even when there is legislative compliance. However, prisoner refusals of offered opportunities cannot fully explain the degree of isolation present in SIUs, indicating that noncompliance with the legislation is a factor as well. These continuing conditions of severe isolation demonstrate that the holdings of the appeal court decisions relating to the duration of isolation and procedural fairness around isolation decisions cannot be dismissed as limited in relevance only to the former system of administrative segregation. Prisoners also continue to experience extended stays in SIUs. While the CCRA requires that prisoners be transferred out of the SIU as soon as possible, there is no cap on the duration of SIU stays to prevent prolonged isolation. A portion of the prisoners experiencing prolonged SIU stays also experience significant isolation caused by not receiving their entitlements to time outside of their cells and time in meaningful human contact. Under the Mandela Rules, the international standards for the treatment of prisoners accepted by Canada, this group of prisoners is experiencing torture. While Bill C-83 introduced a mechanism for review of SIU decisions by Independent External Decision Makers (IEDMs), this system contains serious flaws that impede its ability to provide  adequate procedural fairness. This problem is particularly urgent given the findings that prisoners continue to experience the very serious threats to life, liberty, and security of the person presented by the harmful degree of isolation faced in SIUs. In particular, IEDM review occurs after long periods of confinement in the SIU, and is reliant on information provided by Correctional Services Canada. This information has not been consistently complete or accurate, presenting a significant barrier to fair review. Even worse, many prisoners face delays in being referred to IEDM review at all, as well as delays in implementation of IEDM decisions. Finally, the SIU system has implications for the s. 15 Charter equality rights of particularly vulnerable groups of prisoners. Black and Indigenous prisoners are significantly overrepresented in the SIU population, meaning that these marginalized groups are placed at a heightened risk of experiencing the negative effects of SIU residence. Prisoners with mental health needs are also overrepresented in SIUs, despite their unique vulnerability to the psychological harms of isolation. The system of IEDM review has not succeeded in returning members of these groups to the general prison population, in part due to inconsistent provision of information about prisoners’ mental health status and social history factors to IEDMs. In combination, these problems indicate that serious violations of prisoners’ Charter rights remain prevalent in the SIU system. Bill C-83 cannot be said to have resolved the constitutional problems identified by the appeal courts of Ontario and British Columbia in their examination of the administrative segregation regime. As such, a thorough and expeditious five-year review of Bill C-83, involving civil society and aimed at reconsidering all aspects of SIUs, including compliance and enforcement, is imperative. In addition to the need to approach this review with urgency, this paper identifies further recommendations key to creating a system that can adequately respect prisoners’ Charter rights, including the following: • Amend the CCRA to define “solitary confinement” in line with the international standards set out in the Mandela Rules, • Prohibit prolonged solitary confinement (solitary confinement lasting over 15 days), • Prohibit solitary confinement for prisoners with serious mental health issues, and • Mandate improved data-sharing with the public and civil society   

The John Howard Society of Canada & David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, 2023. 43p

By Anita Orav

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In recent years, the European Union has faced a significant number of asylum applications, with over 513 000 applications received in the first half of 2024 alone. Women and girls make up a substantial proportion of asylum seekers, with one in three asylum-seekers being female. In international law, the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention is the main instrument regulating asylum. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Istanbul Convention provide a framework for protecting the rights of women who seek protection. The EU has developed a common European asylum system that has gradually incorporated gender-sensitive elements in legal texts such as the Qualification Directive, the Asylum Procedures Directive and the Reception Conditions Directive. These directives offer special protection to vulnerable individuals, including women and children. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has played a crucial role in advancing a gender-sensitive approach in EU asylum law, acknowledging the specific experiences and circumstances of women and other vulnerable individuals seeking protection in the EU. The CJEU has recognised gender-based violence as a form of persecution and grounds for asylum or subsidiary protection. It has also acknowledged the importance of considering the individual circumstances and experiences of asylum seekers, particularly women and girls, who may face persecution or harm owing to their adherence to certain values or lifestyles. This aligns with a more gender-sensitive approach in EU asylum law and policy in recent years. Nevertheless continued progress is needed to address the human rights challenges faced by women and girls in asylum procedures.

Bruxelles/Brussels - Belgium : EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2025. 8p.

By Chris Horwood and Bram Frouws

Almost 10 months after damning human rights reports and global publicity exposed Saudi Arabian state-driven border killings of migrants – labelled by Human Rights Watch as possible crimes against humanity - the deaths and injuries continue. New evidence appears to indicate that the Saudi border authorities at their southern border with Yemen are continuing to use live weapons to fire indiscriminately at Ethiopians and Yemenis crossing the border irregularly. This update report argues that while the crimes being committed are murderous and grievous, the level of inaction and impunity in the face of global exposure and condemnation should also disturb us all.

London/Denmark: Mixed Migration Centre, 2024. 9p.

By Paul Clewett, Julia Litzkow, Jennifer Vallentine

This paper examines smuggling dynamics and the related protection risks faced by refugees and migrants in the Western Balkans in 2024. It provides an overview of EU migration policy developments in the Western Balkans, focusing on the implementation of anti-smuggling measures. It examines shifts in smuggling routes and operations, and the experiences of people on the move under stricter migration management. The report also considers the potential impact which the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum may have on smuggling dynamics and the protection risks facing refugees and migrants in the region.

The research is based on 17 interviews with refugees and migrants, 24 key informant interviews, and a review of secondary sources. It provides an overview of changes as of mid-2024, following the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) June 2023 study Western Balkans: Mixed Migration Trends and Dynamics.

It aims to directly contribute to identifying solutions in the Western Balkans, in particular regarding the Danish Refugee Council’s (DRC) work in protecting refugees and migrants in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

London/Denmark: Mixed Migration Centre, 2024. 23p.

By Bijal Shah

Just about all outcomes of the enforcement of law, whether beneficial or concerning, are to some extent the result of administrative discretion. In her insightful new article, Misdemeanor Declination: A Theory of Internal Separation of Powers, Professor Alexandra Natapoff expertly illustrates that this is as true in criminal administration as anywhere else. In particular, Natapoff identifies and evaluates an important moment of discretion in the administration of criminal law: a prosecutor’s decision whether to decline or file formal criminal charges after police have made an arrest. This invited response both appreciates Natapoff's enthusiasm for enhancing prosecutorial discretion in criminal administration and maintains a bit of skepticism regarding its efficacy. More specifically, it draws on the immigration context in order to explore the possibilities and hazards of internal administrative checks for constraining excessive policing in both the criminal and immigration environments. First, this response suggests that directives ensuring uniformity are important to ensuring high-quality prosecutorial discretion. Second, it argues that agency culture is an important player in the internal separation of powers that reduces prosecutors’ overarching potential to constrain law enforcement. Third, it observes that the declination decision can serve a gatekeeping function that limits desirable access to adjudication, particularly for communities with fewer resources and reduced participation in democratic process. Finally, this response notes the possibilities of institutional design and public oversight for improving law enforcement accountability.

Texas Law Review Online, Volume 103, 2024, Boston College Law School Legal Studies Research Paper No. 639, 15p.

By Stephen Webb

As immigration rises to the top of voters’ concerns, a major new Policy Exchange report examines why governments of both parties have found it so hard to get the numbers down, and what policies would be needed to achieve this. 

The report, written by Stephen Webb, a former Home Office director and with foreword by The Honourable Alexander Downer AC, former Foreign Minister of Australia, sets out the incentives in the system that have led to consistently high migration. These include the power of the pro-immigration lobby, mixed incentives within Government, and a human rights case law that has consistently moved in a more liberal direction over the past 30 years. It notes that the problems we are facing in the UK are increasingly shared by other European countries.   

The report exposes that at least £11m is being spent by NGOs with a focus on migration issues on research, analysis and lobbying – with a further £30m in taxpayer funded grants to universities, most of which have a clear tilt towards liberal immigration policies. 

The report argues that the policy response needs to change the incentives, whether they be on migrants themselves, employers and renters, other government departments and third countries who do not cooperate on returning their nationals. The report recommends: 

An auction system to allocate a limited number of work visas to ensure they go to the highest quality candidates, with the proceeds used to increase wages in the care sector,A system of ‘sureties’ which impose a penalty on visa holders if they do not leave on timeIllegal migrants to know they will not be allowed to settle in the UK, but will be transferred to safe accommodation on Ascension IslandTougher laws to block visas and overseas aid going to countries that do not cooperate in returns of their nationalsMuch tougher penalties for those employing and renting accommodation to people without the right to be in the UK.A cross European coalition to reform the ECHR, with a willingness to leave if this is not delivered 

In a foreword to the report, former Australian Foreign Minister, The Honourable Alexander Downer AC, said: 

“The issue of immigration has become one of the most contentious on the Western world…so far few countries have managed the issue well…but the British immigration system is a particular shambles… 

A British government will have sooner or later to get control of the immigration program.  If they fail to do so, we can be sure populists and extremists will get elected who promise to do it.”

London: Policy Exchange, 2025. 85p.

By Human Rights Watch

This has been a year of elections, resistance, and conflict, testing the integrity of democratic institutions and the principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. Whether in response to heightened repression in Russia, India, and Venezuela, or catastrophic armed conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, governments around the world are being called upon to demonstrate their commitment to human rights, democracy, and humanitarian action. Many have failed the test. But even outspoken and action-oriented governments have invoked human rights standards weakly or inconsistently, feeding global perceptions that human rights lack legitimacy. That is an irresponsible and dangerous conclusion, and conveniently absolves governments of their legal obligations to uphold international human rights law both at home and in their actions abroad. Reflecting on the events of 2024, this is not a moment to retreat from the protections needed by everyone everywhere. Instead, governments should respect and defend universal human rights with more rigor and urgency than ever, and people and civil society need to remain steadfast in holding them accountable. The Power of Popular Resistance Elections need to abide by human rights standards, but elections are never an end in themselves. While rigged and otherwise unfair elections are a sign of more rights violations to come, even free and fair elections don’t necessarily mean a rights-respecting future. Although over 70 countries conducted national elections in 2024, their full impact on human rights will only be felt in what follows. Racism, hate, and discrimination drove many elections in the past year. In the United States, Donald Trump won the presidency for a second time, raising concerns that his new administration would repeat and even magnify the serious rights violations of his first term. Likewise, in the European Parliament elections of 2024, far-right parties made significant gains, exploiting anti-immigrant sentiment and nationalist rhetoric to advance policies that threaten minority communities and undermine democratic norms. Yet elsewhere, there was meaningful democratic resilience, as voters proved unwilling to accept populist agendas and held leaders and their parties accountable. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hate speech on the campaign trail did not win him the electoral majority he craved, showing that even in the face of systemic challenges, democracy can still put a check on power. Authoritarian leaders tightened their grip on power in countries such as Russia, El Salvador and the Sahel nations of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, leveraging fear and misinformation to stifle dissent.

Our Annual Review Of Human Rights HumanRights Watch, 2025. 554p

By Stacey Cutbush, Leanne McCallum Desselle, Melissia Larson, Brianna D’Arcangelo

The past decade has seen a rapid increase in efforts to combat human trafficking. This rush has led to disparate approaches when developing programs and providing service, creating a fragmented landscape in which service providers have varying levels of preparedness and capacity. Subsequently, the services rendered to survivors of human trafficking are varied and uneven. To remedy this, there is a pressing need for a landscape analysis of existing standards in the field to inform the creation and adoption of unified standards of care (SOCs), ensuring a cohesive, consistent, and robust service response to survivors of human trafficking.

In recent years, there has been a growing demand from practitioners, evaluators, and researchers for unified SOCs in the anti-trafficking field. These stakeholders have expressed a need to establish principles, guidelines, or frameworks for service delivery to support their efforts. Establishing a cohesive, consistent, and robust framework that can be utilized across the field will benefit anti-trafficking efforts. Building on this momentum, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Office of Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) have issued a call to action to develop unified SOCs for human trafficking service providers. As part of this multi-phase initiative, Freedom Network USA received a competitive award to the lead the development of SOCs and will convene an SOCs Technical Working Group (SOC TWG) to identify, adopt, adapt, and/or develop SOCs for human trafficking service providers.

RTI’s purpose in this project is to conduct a literature review by reviewing and synthesizing all existing literature related to human trafficking SOCs. This literature review will provide the SOC TWG with a foundational understanding of the current state of the field. Additionally, the insights derived from the literature review will guide the process and criteria for the TWG’S identification, adoption, adaptation, and/or development of SOCs in response to OVC-OTIP’s call to action. 

Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI, 2023. 20p. 

By The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The 2024 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons is the eighth of its kind mandated by the General Assembly through the 2010 United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. This edition of the Global Report provides a snapshot of the trafficking patterns and flows at global, regional and national levels. It covers 156 countries and provides an overview of the response to the trafficking in persons by analysing trafficking cases detected between 2019 and 2023. A major focus of this edition of the Report is on trends of detections and convictions that show the changes compared to historical trends since UNODC started to collect data in 2003, and following the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The findings are further informed and enriched through the analysis of summaries of more than 1000 court cases adjudicated between 2012 and 2023, providing closer insights into the crime, its victims and perpetrators, and how trafficking in persons comes to the attention of authorities.

As with previous years, this edition of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons presents a global picture of the trends, patterns and flows of trafficking (Chapter 1), alongside detailed regional analyses (Chapter 3). This edition of the Global Report presents a special chapter on Africa (Chapter 2) produced with the purpose of unveiling trafficking patterns and flows within the African continent. The chapter is based on unprecedented number of African countries covered for the Global Report.

This edition of the Report presents a new contribution from an early career and young academic researchers, as part of UNODC’s Generation 30 initiative, aimed at building new connections between the UN and academia, while expanding research opportunities for young people. The contributions featured in the report was submitted in response to a call for proposals issued on the UNODC website in 2023.

Vienna: UNODC, 2024. 176p.

By The American Immigration Council

The Torrance County Detention Facility (Torrance) is one of approximately 200 facilities across the United States where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains immigrants with pending removal proceedings. Located in the rural New Mexico desert, this detention facility holds a notorious reputation for its inhumane living conditions and for the speed at which individuals detained there go through their removal proceedings, often without adequate legal counsel. Despite these noted abuses, in September 2021, ICE placed over 100 Haitian migrants into Torrance while they awaited removal proceedings. For months thereafter, the media continued to report on a variety of obstacles Haitians endured in detention including inadequate access to legal counsel.

Due to the increase in complaints from individuals being held at Torrance, the American Immigration Council (The Council) sought to ascertain whether particular barriers to due process exist for Haitian nationals, as well as to investigate the overall treatment of Haitian nationals at Torrance. The request sought data related to individuals detained at Torrance from January 1, 2021, including arrest/apprehension information, immigration status, biographic information, detention history, and release information. ICE responded by providing data between January 1, 2021 and November 17, 2022, and this is what we found when we analyzed it:

ICE's Use of Racial Classifications Are Unreliable, Labeling Most Detained Individuals “White:” Individuals in detention at Torrance represented 54 different countries spanning five different continents. However, 86 percent of individuals detained at Torrance were categorized as racially “white.” The data suggests that ICE failed to systematically document the race of detained individuals.

Africans Had the Highest Lengths of Detention at Torrance: Because ICE’s race categorizations proved unreliable, researchers grouped detained individuals by continent to measure the impact geographic location has on detention lengths. The data showed that African migrants had the highest lengths of detention.

ICE Officers Continued to Populate Torrance Despite Multiple Warnings: During the reviewed time period, ICE had substantial warning signs that Torrance was not equipped to house detained migrants through failed inspections, COVID surges, staffing shortages, and even

government oversight agency reports recommending shutting the facility down. Despite these warning signs, the data showed that ICE continued to detain migrants at Torrance, putting them at risk.

Oversight Efforts Seemingly Reduced the Detained Population at Torrance—But Only Temporarily: The data shows that between August and November 2022, a period that included the suicide of Kesley Vial at Torrance and a government report calling for the closing of Torrance, the population of Torrance consistently decreased. However, in December 2022, ICE began repopulating the facility.

Washington, DC: The American Immigration Council, 2024. Published: October 24, 2024

EJI’s report documents the abduction, abuse, and enslavement of Africans for nearly five centuries.

Between 1501 and 1867, nearly 13 million African people were kidnapped, forced onto European and American ships, and trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, including the British, French, and Spanish colonies that would later comprise the United States.

Two million people died during the barbaric Middle Passage.

The global trafficking that separated millions of women, men, and children from their homes, families, and cultures destabilized African countries and left them vulnerable to conquest, colonization, and violence for centuries.

And in the Americas, a caste system based on race and color emerged in tandem with legal and political systems to codify white supremacy and enshrine enslavement as a permanent and hereditary status. That racial hierarchy continues to haunt our nation today.

The enslavement of human beings occupies a painful and tragic space in world history. Denying a person freedom, autonomy, and life represents the worst kind of abuse of human rights.

Many societies tolerated and condoned human slavery for centuries. But in the 15th century, an expanded and terrifying new era of enslavement emerged that has had a profound and devastating impact on human history.

The abduction, abuse, and enslavement of Africans by Europeans for nearly five centuries dramatically altered the global landscape and created a legacy of suffering and bigotry that can still be seen today.

After discovering lands that had been occupied by Indigenous people for centuries, European powers sent ships and armed militia to exploit these new lands for wealth and profit starting in the 1400s. In territories we now call “the Americas,” gold, sugar, tobacco, and extraordinary natural resources were viewed as opportunities to gain power and influence for Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavian nations.

Europeans first sought to enslave the Indigenous people who occupied these lands to create wealth for foreign powers, resulting in a catastrophic genocide. Disease, famine, and conflict killed millions of Native people within a relatively short period of time.

Determined to extract wealth from these distant lands, European powers sought labor from Africa, launching a tragic era of kidnapping, abduction, and trafficking that resulted in the enslavement of millions of African people.

Between 1501 and 1867, nearly 13 million African people were kidnapped, forced onto European and American ships, and trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean to be enslaved, abused, and forever separated from their homes, families, ancestors, and cultures.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade represents one of the most violent, traumatizing, and horrific eras in world history. Nearly two million people died during the barbaric Middle Passage across the ocean. The African continent was left destabilized and vulnerable to conquest and violence for centuries. The Americas became a place where race and color created a caste system defined by inequality and abuse.

In the “colonies” that became the United States, slavery took on uniquely appalling features. From New England to Texas, Black people were dehumanized and abused while they were enslaved and denied basic freedoms. Legal and political systems were created to codify racial hierarchy and ensure white supremacy. Slavery became permanent and hereditary, defined by race-based ideologies that insisted on racial subordination of Black people for decades after the formal abolition of slavery.

Millions of Black people born in the U.S. were subjected to abuse, violence, and forced labor despite the young nation’s identity as a constitutional democracy founded on the belief that “all men are created equal.” Racialized slavery was ignored, defended, or accommodated by leaders while the new nation gained extraordinary wealth and influence in the global economy based on the forced labor of enslaved Black people.

The economic legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade—including generational wealth and the founding of industries that continue to thrive today—is not well understood.

Montgomery, AL: Equal Justice Initiative, 2023. 150p.

By Rodante van der Waal

Reproductive injustice is an urgent global problem. We are faced with the increased criminalization of abortion, higher maternal and neonatal mortality rates for people of color, and

more and more research addressing the structural nature of obstetric violence. In this collection of essays, the cause of reproductive injustice is understood as the institutionalized isolation of (potentially) pregnant people, making them vulnerable for bio- and necropolitical disciplination and control. The central thesis of this book is that reproductive justice must be achieved through a radical reappropriation of relationality in reproductive care to safeguard the access to knowledge and care needed for safe bodily self-determination. Through empirical research as well as decolonial, feminist, midwifery, and Black theory, reproductive justice is reimagined as abolitionist care, grounded in the abolition of authoritative obstetric institutions, state control of reproduction, and restrictive abortion laws in favor of community practices that are truly relational.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2025. 496p.

Edited By S Irudaya Rajan

South Asia Migration Report 2024 documents key themes of remittances, resilience, and rehabilitation from the region. This volume: • Includes dedicated fieldwork to map migration within and outside South Asia; • Analyses the impact of Covid-19 on migrants and migration in South Asia; • Highlights the plight of Afghan migrants post-Taliban takeover in the country. This book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of economics, development studies, migration and diaspora studies, gender studies, labour studies and sociology. It will also be useful to policymakers, think tanks and government institutions working in the area.

Oxford, UK: Routledge India, 2025. 242p.

By Nina Mast

This spotlight details the racist history of tipping, federal and state policy governing tipped work, and the experience of tipped workers in the economy—both nationwide and in the South. Across the country, tipped workers are more likely to be people of color, women, women of color, or single parents, and are disproportionately born outside of the United States. Tipped workers earn low wages, experience high rates of poverty, and are vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace—particularly in the form of wage theft and sexual harassment. The South has the largest tipped workforce of any region. Tipped workers in the South are paid the second lowest median wage of any region, and most Southern states allow employers to pay tipped workers as little as $2.13 an hour. Hispanic workers in the South are overrepresented in tipped work, as are women—who account for 70% of the tipped workforce despite making up less than half of all workers in the region.

Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute, June 18, 2024. 14p.

By Iran Human Rights

Qarchak Prison in Varamin (Tehran province) has become one of the darkest symbols of systematic human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Originally designed as a poultry farm, the facility has been transformed into an inhumane detention centre for women prisoners, including political prisoners. The conditions in this prison not only violate international principles such as the Bangkok Rules1 and the Nelson Mandela Rules but also disregard the most basic principles of human dignity. At Qarchak, women are confined in extremely cramped spaces with inadequate ventilation and lighting. They endure unsanitary drinking water, poor-quality food, lack of adequate healthcare services, and degrading, gender-based treatment as part of their daily suffering. Qarchak is not only a prison filled with violence and abuse but also, due to severe overcrowding and lack of basic facilities, many prisoners are deprived even of sleeping space, forced to sleep on the floor. The prison is also a glaring symbol of violations against women and mothers. Mothers whose children stay with them in this hazardous and polluted environment until the age of two when they are taken into state care. Often, these mothers have no means to find out about their children’s fate. Undocumented children born in this prison are caught in a cycle of deprivation and injustice from the moment they are born. IHRNGO Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated: “Qarchak Prison is a symbol of the blatant denial of humanity and human dignity. The continued operation of such facilities is a stain on the conscience of the world. Today, more than ever, we must call on the international community not to remain silent in the face of such widespread human rights violations.” By publishing this report, IHRNGO reiterates its demand for the immediate closure of Qarchak Prison and the transfer of all prisoners to facilities that meet minimum international standards. The existence of such places, especially in the 21st century, is a stark reminder that justice and human dignity are still sacrificed in many parts of the world. We call on the international community, human rights organisations, and all conscientious individuals to take action to close down Qarchak Prison. This should not merely be seen as a domestic issue; it is a test for the international community to unite in defending human dignity and rights. The closure of Qarchak Prison is a necessary step toward securing prisoners’ rights and a symbol of global commitment to justice and humanity.

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) , 2024. 18p.

By Alex Papadovassilakis, et al.

One year ago, in the early hours of January 15, 2024, Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as president of Guatemala. His inauguration marked the culmination of a historic upset, in which Arévalo – a rank outsider campaigning on a promise to root out high-level graft – bested a series of candidates linked to elite corruption networks attempting to tighten their grip on the state. Arévalo and his party, the Seed Movement (Movimiento Semilla), then survived a wave of legal attacks that sought to prevent the president-elect from even taking office. Having accomplished his improbable rise to the presidency, Arévalo has spent his first year in power pursuing the paradoxical task of advancing an anti-corruption agenda in a country where corruption is the norm. Guatemala’s institutions have long been infiltrated by corrupt actors seeking to plunder state funds for personal gain and further illicit schemes, while the justice system has long responded to the interests of elites seeking to shield themselves from prosecution for these transgressions. Arévalo took on this mission with only limited tools at his disposal. The president inherited a compromised set of ministries and executive agencies, responsible for administering billions of dollars in public funds. His inexperienced party, Semilla, founded in July 2017 and thrust into power for the first time, remains a minority force in a Congress dominated by old guard lawmakers. And the administration is reckoning with a hollowed-out justice system that has shown far more interest in persecuting Arévalo and Semilla than investigating high level corruption and organized crime. Faced with these restraints, the Arévalo administration has neither been able to develop a coherent plan for tackling corruption nor succeed in enacting tangible anti-graft reforms. The government has also dedicated valuable time and resources to repelling controversial legal attacks from prosecutors linked to the elite networks that oppose Arévalo’s reformist platform. Within this highly unstable environment, InSight Crime embarked on an investigation aimed at evaluating the main roadblocks to implementing an anti-corruption agenda in the current political climate in Guatemala. We have focused on resistance presented by corruption networks embedded in key branches of the state.

Insight Crime, 2025. 7p,

Edited by Becky Batagol, Kate Seear, Heli Askola and Jamie Walvisch

In this book, leading law academics along with lawyers, activists and others demonstrate what legislation could look like if its concern was to create justice for women. Each chapter contains a short piece of legislation – proposed in order to address a contemporary legal problem from a feminist perspective. These range across criminal law (sexual offences, Indigenous women’s experiences of criminal law, laws in relation to forced marriage, modern slavery, childcare and sentencing), civil law (aged care and housing rights, regulating the gig economy; surrogacy, gender equity in the construction industry) and constitutional law (human rights legislation, reimagining parliaments where laws are made for the benefit of women). The proposed laws are, moreover, drafted with feedback from a senior parliamentary draftsperson (providing guidance to contributors in a personal capacity), to ensure conformity with legislative rigour, as well as accompanied by an explanation of their reasons and their aims. Although the legislation is Australian-based, the issues raised by each are recognisably global, and are reflected in the legislation of most other nations. This first feminist legislation project will appeal to scholars of feminist legal studies, gender and the law, gender studies and others studying or working in relevant legal areas.

London; New York: Routledge, 2025. 392p.

By Marcin Rojszczak

This book discusses contemporary standards of legal safeguards in the area of bulk electronic surveillance from the perspective of the European legal model. Bulk, or untargeted, surveillance, although traditionally associated with the interception of electronic communications, is increasingly used as a convenient tool for collecting information on large groups of society. The collection of redundant information, which is intrinsic to bulk surveillance, is no longer a side effect but an important objective of the use of bulk powers. As a result, untargeted surveillance is everywhere increasingly being implemented, and without any clear link to state security or crime-fighting objectives. This work examines the origins of untargeted measures, explores their mechanics and key concepts, and defines what distinguishes them from other forms of surveillance. The various elements of the legal safeguards in place, which are fundamental to protecting individuals from the risks of abuse of power, are analysed in detail. The book discusses not only the different standards of legal safeguards, but also gives examples of their implementation in individual European countries. It also examines the relationship between the development of the global data market and untargeted surveillance powers, in particular in the context of the risks associated with algorithmic surveillance, client-side scanning, the privatisation of surveillance – or surveillance as a service – and the increasingly widespread use of preventive content filtering mechanisms. The book will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers working in the areas of law, international relations, public policy, engineering and sociology. It will also appeal to professionals dealing with various aspects of the use of surveillance measures, such as experts, members of the legislature and law enforcement agencies.

London; New York: Routledge, 2025. 290p.