Walk Free Explained

Walk Free
Founders:	Andrew Forrest
Founding Location:	Perth, Western Australia
Type:	Nonprofit
Purpose:	Human rights (Slavery)
Headquarters:	Perth, Western Australia
Product:	Global Slavery Index

Walk Free is an international human rights group based in Perth, Western Australia. Its goal is the end of modern slavery.^[1]

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.7 – part of a framework adopted by the United Nations in 2015 – seeks to end modern slavery by appealing to the international community.^[2] Walk Free's approach to achieving SDG 8.7 involves building a knowledge base to inform action and driving legislative change in countries in partnership with faiths, businesses, academics, NGOs, and governments. Through these partnerships, direct implementation, and grassroots community engagement Walk Free believes modern slavery can be eradicated.

The initiative was founded by Grace Forrest in 2011. Walk Free are best known for their publication of the Global Slavery Index, now in its fourth edition.

In 2013, Walk Free became a co-founder of the Freedom Fund, an anti-slavery non-profit organisation. The Freedom Fund works to tackle the many forms of modern slavery in regions where it is most highly concentrated.^[3]

Global estimates of modern slavery

In 2017, the inaugural Global Estimates of Modern Slavery were produced by the International Labour Organization and Walk Free in partnership with the International Organization for Migration. The analysis drew on data from nationally representative surveys implemented through the Gallup World Poll including a module on modern slavery in 48 countries, and data from the Global Slavery Index Vulnerability Model.^[4]

Acknowledged data gaps in earlier editions of the Global Slavery Index, including lack of data on forced sexual exploitation and children in modern slavery, were addressed by adopting a combined methodological approach when developing the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. This involved drawing on three sources of data:

1. The existing Global Slavery Index survey program was expanded to include 54 surveys covering 48 countries. More than 71,000 people have been interviewed and the countries surveyed represent over half of the world's population. It is the most extensive survey program on modern slavery ever undertaken and forms the central component of the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery.
2. Administrative data from the International Organization for Migration's databases of assisted victims of trafficking, and
3. Data derived from validated secondary sources and a systematic review of comments from the International Labour Organization supervisory bodies regarding ILO Conventions on forced labour.^[5]

Global Slavery Index

See main article: Global Slavery Index. The Global Slavery Index presents a ranking of 160 countries based on the percentage of the population estimated to be in modern slavery.

In 2013, Walk Free released the first edition of the Global Slavery Index. Later editions were released in 2014, 2016 and 2018. The 2018 Global Slavery Index Vulnerability Model provides a risk score for 167 countries^[6] while the Government Response Index provides an assessment on 181 governments.^[7]

The index provides rankings across three dimensions:

• Size of the problem: What is the estimated prevalence of modern slavery country by country in terms of percentage of population and absolute figures
• Government response: How are governments tackling modern slavery
• Vulnerability: What factors explain or predict the prevalence of modern slavery^[8]

The methodology of early editions of the Global Slavery Index has been criticized by researchers Andrew Guth, Robyn Anderson, Kasey Kinnard, and Hang Tran. According to their analysis of the 2014 edition, the Index's methods had significant and critical weaknesses which raised questions about its replicability and validity.^[9]

The Walk Free Foundation has stated that it "welcomes constructive criticism",^[10] and subsequent editions of the Global Slavery Index, published in 2016 and 2018, have undergone significant changes to the methodology to determine prevalence estimates.

Resources

As well as the Global Slavery Index and the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, Walk Free have produced a number of other reports. Recent releases include

• Measurement Action Freedom: An independent assessment of government progress towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7
• Bitter Sweets: Prevalence of forced labour & child labour in the cocoa sectors of Côte d'Ivoire & Ghana
• Pervasive, Punitive and Predetermined: Understanding Modern Slavery in North Korea
• Beyond Compliance: The Modern Slavery Act Research Project
• The G20 Obligation: Achieving Sustainable, Fair, and Inclusive Global Supply Chains
• The Faith Community's Role in Ending Modern Slavery
• Towards a Common Future: Achieving SDG 8.7 in the Commonwealth

See also

• Slavery
• Contemporary slavery

External links

• Home page

Notes and References

1. Web site: Walk Free | The Minderoo Foundation . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20230219141726/https://www.minderoo.org/walk-free/ . 19 February 2023 . 14 March 2022 . Minderoo.org.
2. Web site: 8.7 Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms – Indicators and a Monitoring Framework. Indicators.report. 14 March 2022.
3. Web site: What we do | The Freedom Fund. Freedomfund.org. 14 March 2022.
4. Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. 19 September 2017. 14 March 2022. Ilo.org.
5. Web site: Global Estimates of Modern Slavery : Forced Labour and Forced Marriage. Ilo.org. 14 March 2022.
6. Web site: Vulnerability | Global Slavery Index. Globalslaveryindex.org. 14 March 2022.
7. Web site: Government Response. Globalslaveryindex.org. 14 March 2022.
8. Web site: Walk Free Foundation. 2014. Global Slavery Index. 9. 2015-03-27. 2015-01-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20150101193937/http://d3mj66ag90b5fy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Global_Slavery_Index_2014_final_lowres.pdf. dead.
9. Andrew Guth, Robyn Anderson, Kasey Kinnard and Hang Tran, Proper Methodology and Methods of Collecting and Analyzing Slavery Data: An Examination of the Global Slavery Index, in Social Inclusion (open access journal), Vol. 2, No 4 (2014), pp. 14-22, article posted on the Cogitatio website on 17 November 2014: "The Global Slavery Index aims to, among other objectives, recognize the forms, size, and scope of slavery worldwide as well as the strengths and weaknesses of individual countries. An analysis of the Index's methods exposes significant and critical weaknesses and raises questions into its replicability and validity" (summary of the article) - "The formation and implementation of sound policy is not possible without sound data. The methodology and methods used in the Index are currently inadequate and therefore the Index cannot be validated or replicated. Furthermore, the publicity given to the Index is leading to the use of this poor data not only by popular culture and reputable magazines and news organizations [...], but also by academic journals and high level policy makers [...], which can lead to inaccurate policy formulation and a compounding of harm [...]" (p. 19).
10. News: Fiona David . 15 January 2014 . Global slavery index researchers welcome constructive criticism . . 14 March 2022.