Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2020 C 2(1) Potential Incentives of Governments to Undercount or Not Count These Populations A similar challenge that both statelessness and modern slavery researchers share are governments that may either suppress target population statistics or be unwilling to count them at all. Often, governments are concerned with the impact of this data on their national reputations. In the case of modern slavery, there is a concern that poor performance may affect non-humanitarian and non-trade related foreign assistance from the US through the Trafficking in Persons Report. 26 For instance, the Dominican Republic’s reported figures for statelessness were flagged in the 2017 UNHCR Global Trends report as potentially incomplete due to their ongoing efforts to address their statelessness issues. 27 A potential way to overcome this hesitation by national governments is to incentivise measurement through UN commitments and public support for ongoing measurement efforts. D Ethical Concerns in Researching These Populations Measurement of statelessness and modern slavery is fraught with ethical concerns on how to best protect vulnerable populations through this research. Ethical research standards must uphold the safety of research subjects above all others. 28 For example, research on modern slavery in the United States must account for changes to immigration enforcement policy that has placed both modern slaves and stateless persons at risk of deportation if other asylum or trafficking-related protections are denied. 29 In modern slavery research, prioritising the protection of research respondents from unintended reprisal has led to anonymised and otherwise data encrypted methods of data collection to protect the identities of research participants. Additionally, it is considered best practice to have referrals for local support services available as research is underway in the event that a research participant requires support. IV POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED A Promising Method 1: Survey-Based Research The GSI and the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery have used nationally representative survey-based research to estimate modern slavery. 30 This research is complemented by available risk modelling to supplement data gaps where surveys are not feasible. Often for nationally representative survey research, a national census is an important starting point to determine sampling frames. 26 27 28 29 30 US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report (Report, June 2019) 37 <https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report/>. Global Trends 2017 (n 18) 64, 69. ‘The Belmont Report’, Institutional Review Board (Web Page) <http://www2.umf.maine.edu/irb/other-links/the-belmont-report/>. Martin de Bourmont, ‘New US Policy Raises Risk of Deportation for Immigrant Victims of Trafficking’, Foreign Policy (online, 2018) <https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/09/new-uspolicy-raises-risk-of-deportation-for-immigrant-victims-of-trafficking-immigration-visa/>. GSI (n 2); Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage (Report, Walk Free Foundation and International Labour Organisation 2017) <https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_575479/lang--en/index.htm>. 146