Lessons Learned from Modern Slavery UN conventions related to refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers. 21 While varying national definitions always complicate global measurement, statelessness research is further complicated by unclear definitional parameters around de facto statelessness and international guidelines. As a potential solution, the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians adopted Resolution II: Resolution Concerning Further Work on Statistics of Forced Labour to establish a working group to share best practices in forced labour surveys globally. 22 Data capacity and reporting issues in statelessness research might be ameliorated with the formation of another working group focused on global best practices to address statelessness that may be used to develop field-wide standards. B Self-Identification among Target Research Populations An issue that arises in both statelessness and modern slavery contexts includes an unwillingness or lack of awareness by research participants to self identify as a stateless or an enslaved person. Often many people in these situations are unaware of the labels that Western researchers may place on them, and it can sometimes become detrimental to their personal resilience to be labelled as a victim of either circumstance. 23 Particularly in the context of labour trafficking, discrepancies between legal definitions and lived experiences may account for low rates of selfidentification. 24 In the modern slavery field, this challenge is typically mitigated by multiple rounds of cognitive testing and the inclusion of survey items on conditions such as force, fraud and coercion to validate self-responses. 25 For example, it is possible that someone might respond that they are not experiencing forced labour, but based on the work conditions that they describe, we may consider that circumstance to represent a situation of modern slavery. Similarly, in statelessness research, surveys can be adjusted to include questions on the details of individual situations that will help clarify the specific circumstance of each respondent for researchers. 21 22 23 24 25 See, eg, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, opened for signature 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 137 (entered into force 22 April 1954). Resolution II: Resolution Concerning Further Work on Statistics of Forced Labour, cited in Report of the Conference: 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (Report ICLS/19/2013/3, International Labour Office, October 2013) 66; ‘Statistics on Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking’, International Labour Organization (Web Page) <https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/statistics/lang--en/index.htm>. Victims of Modern Slavery — Frontline Staff Guidance (Guidance, United Kingdom Home Office 18 March 2016) 20–21 <https://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/media/1057/victims-of-modern-slaveryfrontline-staff-guidance-v3.pdf>. Masja van Meeteren and Jing Hiah, ‘Self-Identification of Victimization of Labor Trafficking’ in John Winterdyk and Jackie Jones (eds), Palgrave International Handbook of Human Trafficking (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) 1605. Jacqueline Joudo Larsen and Pablo Diego-Rosell, ‘Using Surveys to Estimate the National Prevalences of Modern Slavery: Experience and Lessons Learned’ (2017) 30(3) CHANCE 30, 31–32. 145