How has COVID-19 affected migrant workers vulnerability to human trafficking for forced labour in Southeast Asia?—a narrative review
This paper by ASEAN-ACT published in the Journal of Public Health and Emergency seeks to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers’ vulnerability to human trafficking for forced labour in Southeast Asia.
Migrant workers already make up a large proportion of those most vulnerable to the coercion and exploitation that define human trafficking, yet few are officially identified as such. While migrants have been working in the very occupations and sectors essential to keeping societies and economies running during the pandemic, they have oftentimes been the least protected.
The authors argue that to avoid further increases in human trafficking for labour exploitation as a result of the pandemic, the vulnerabilities of migrant workers should be addressed from policy to operational levels.