The purpose is to work collaboratively with policymakers, people with lived experience, researchers, civil society and business to turn evidence and expertise into policy change. The ultimate aim is to improve the policies and laws that are there to protect people from exploitation and harm. A key feature of the PEC is its rigorous focus on ensuring the research is highly relevant to all actors, an approach that ultimately leads to policy change grounded in the lived experience of people who have suffered human rights harms and have survived exploitation.
We are living in a time of growing political polarisation. The protection of human rights is under threat and claims made about them in the media are often not grounded in evidence. With a history grounded in tackling modern slavery, our research has shown that these harms cannot be understood in isolation. We increasingly see how exploitation connected to modern slavery overlaps with broader human rights issues, such as in:
labour markets through low pay and exploitative treatment of workers
migration policies that prioritise immigration control over protecting people from harm
an unequal society where our access to protection and support depends on how much power and status we have (whether to do with gender, race, sexuality, age, migration status, physical ability, income or social status)
Firstly, our approach is unique in that it combines three important aspects that together lead to better policies and laws to protect and prevent exploitation:
- centring the expertise of people with lived experience
- co-creating a research agenda with policymakers
- collaborative approach to generating robust evidence to inform policies.
Secondly, we don’t currently look at all areas of human rights. Our focus is very much on modern[MH1] slavery and related areas of human rights including human trafficking, labour exploitation, child criminal exploitation, the harmful impacts of migration policy on migrants, and how all these human rights harms are seen and spoken about in the media and public discourse. These areas of focus will evolve over time, as the world around us changes and the need (as well as our capacity) to work on new areas evolves.
Broadly speaking, the impact aimed for is:
- Better policy and laws that centre people’s lived experience.
- Enhanced support for survivors.
- More effective enforcement of laws against human rights harms.
- Fewer people trapped in situations of exploitation and harm.
- Better understanding of why human rights matter.
The PEC’s agenda focuses on six broad themes:
- Modern slavery & human trafficking
- Reducing risks of exploitation in migration
- Protecting children from exploitation
- Violence against women & Girls
- Business, human rights and labour exploitation
- Informing the UK public debate on human rights
No. UK policy is an important focus, but exploitation is a global problem, so the PEC also looks at the international context. It engages with the UK Foreign Office and Department for International Development about its policy towards modern slavery overseas, and with the UK Home Office on issues relating to migration. It also engages with other governments around the world, international organisations and businesses, all of whom have power to reduce exploitation and harms globally, including through international standard-setting processes.
Alongside its partners, the PEC does identify research questions which require long-term thinking and careful consideration, but is also able to respond with agility to opportunities and needs that arise.
Yes. The PEC works closely with policymakers to ensure that its work is policy-relevant. It is also not afraid to challenge Government policy where necessary in light of the evidence produced by its research.
Yes. The PEC directly involves the corporate sector as an important partner in the work to address modern slavery and related human rights harms. It seeks to harness the private sector’s creative capacity to innovate, but it is not controlled or influenced by private interests. Partners who make contributions in cash or in kind to the PEC will be sought, but all contributions will be completely transparent and our research will remain independent and unbiased. Academic freedom and integrity are core to the PEC’s values of independence and transparency, and are safeguarded through rigorous governance structures.
No, the PEC is not a campaigning or lobbying organisation. The PEC carries out rigorous research conducted to the highest standards of academic integrity, all grounded in the expertise of people with lived experience of the harms we’re seeking to eradicate. The result is evidence and recommendations to inform and strengthen the policies which policymakers have helped to identify.
The PEC acknowledges that exploitation is a result of unequal power, with root causes that are socio-economic, political and cultural in nature. So, to look at it through a single lens would be ineffective. The PEC brings expertise together in a collaborative research partnership, and is interdisciplinary in the wider partnerships it works with. Being led by Oxford University, working with other faculties and research centres focused on overlapping topics (such as migration, human rights, ethics etc) is core to our approach. The other member universities within the PEC partnership also have an array of expertise across these different areas. Working collaboratively and across disciplines is vital to enable a thorough understanding of the problem and offer a robust analysis of the solution.
We are living in a time of growing political polarisation. The protection of human rights is under threat and claims made about them in the media are often not grounded in evidence.
Meanwhile, our research into modern slavery and human trafficking over the years has shown how these human rights harms cannot be understood in isolation. Instead, they are part of a wider human rights landscape, interconnected with other issues such as labour conditions, immigration control, and access to protection. This means that laws and policies in one area can have significant consequences for the others.
So, to have greater impact, it’s vital that we evolve to reflect today’s world and tackle the broader realities that enable exploitation to take place. Our approach remains the same: bringing together research, policy, and lived experience expertise to inform how people can be better protected from harm. What’s changing is our ability to address a wider range of issues where exploitation is rife.