Our research

In collaboration with researchers in other disciplines, our intention is to expose the nature and extent of modern slavery.

CReMS approaches modern slavery as a social ill arising when employers systematically violate the rights of workers made vulnerable by their legal and social status, such as migrant labourers. This can be a consequence of strategic decision-making by domestic or internationalised firms. In collaboration with researchers in other disciplines, our intention is to expose the nature and extent of modern slavery to ensure it plays no further role in the global economy.

What is modern slavery?

Modern slavery comprises a continuum of practices from labour exploitation to forced labour and outright slavery at the extreme. It involves workers being trapped in abusive employment relationships, and is a profoundly troubling characteristic of the contemporary global economy. Modern slavery persists across both developed and developing nations, in diverse industries and is sustained - at least in part - by internationalised firms from liberal democracies that exercise considerable control over global supply chains.

From the perspective of international business, modern slavery matters because firms' decisions about where and how production, distribution, and marketing are organised shape incentives to respect or violate workers' rights. Beyond markets, corporations also play an under-examined role in shaping labour standards, alongside policymakers and enforcers at different governing levels.

Despite a delayed response relative to other advanced economies, New Zealand is now progressing toward the introduction of modern slavery legislation. Our research has challenged the Government to take the necessary steps to consider a Modern Slavery Act and, further, to confront the structural conditions that have allowed migrant worker exploitation to become embedded in certain industries.

Resources

Below are some videos documenting the extent of modern slavery worldwide:

Publications

Published work

2026 

  • Stringer, C., & Yea, S. 2026. Death and disposability of Indonesian migrant fishers at sea. Maritime Studies, 25 (1), 11.

2025

  • Stringer, C. 2025. Stalled progress: New Zealand’s legislative inaction. In Commonwealth Parliament Association UK. Legislating against Modern Slavery. https://www.uk-cpa.org/what-we-do/modern-slavery/e-handbook-legislating-against-modern-slavery-human-trafficking-forced-labour

  • Yea, S., Stringer, C., & Rao, S. 2025. Restorative justice in cases of seafood slavery. Journal of Human Trafficking, 11(3), 287-300. doi:10.1080/23322705.2022.2128597

2024

  • Burmester, B. 2024. How wicked is modern slavery: a consideration of Raškovic’s “taming wicked problems”. Critical Perspectives on International Business.
  • Burmester, B.M. 2024. MNE intercession, antitrust, and supply chain slavery: a new regulatory strategy to realise SDG 8.7. In International Business and SDG 8: Exploring the Relationship between IB and Society (pp. 87-106). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

2023

  • Collins, F.L. & Stringer, C. 2023. The trauma of exploitation: Emotional geographies of temporary migration and workplace unfreedom. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 55(2): 303-319.
  • Yea, S., & Stringer, C. 2023. The informalisation of precarious work in fishing crew: Experiences of Fijian fishers on distant water vessels. Marine Policy, 155, 105709.
  • Yea, S., Stringer, C. & Palmer, W. 2023. Funnels of unfreedom: Time-spaces of recruitment and (im)mobility in the trajectories of trafficked migrant fishers. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(1): 291-306.

2022

  • Burmester, B., Stringer, C., Michailova, S. & Harré, T. 2022. How modern slavery legislation might reimagine New Zealand companies’ supply chains. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations.
  • Collins, F.L. & Stringer, C. 2022. Migration, discrimination and the pathway to workplace exploitation in Aotearoa New Zealand. In McCarthy, A. Narratives of Migrant and Refugee Discrimination in New Zealand. Taylor & Francis. p133-156.
  • Michailova, S., Stringer, C. A., & Husted, A. 2022. Modern slavery in the diamond jewelry business: How can science combat it? Rutgers Business Review, 7(3): 274-288.
  • Stringer, C., Burmester, B., & Michailova, S. 2022. Modern slavery and the governance of labor exploitation in the Thai fishing industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 371, 133645.
  • Stringer, C., Collins, F. & Michailova, S. 2022. Migrant worker exploitation in New Zealand: A qualitative study of migrants’ and stakeholders’ views. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations.
  • Yea, S., Stringer, C. & Rao, S. Restorative justice in seafood slavery. Journal of Human Trafficking: 1-14.

2021

  • Stringer, C., Kartikasari, A., & Michailova, S. 2021. "They make a business out of desperate people": The role of recruitment agents in cross-border labour chains. Australian Journal of Management, 46(4): 672-689.
  • Yea, S. & Stringer, C. 2021. Caught in a vicious cycle: connecting forced labour and environmental exploitation through a case study of Asia–Pacific. Marine Policy, 104825.

2020

  • Michailova, S. 2020. Is irresponsible business immune to COVID-19? The case of modern slavery. In COVID-19 and International Business (pp. 257-263). Routledge.
  • Michailova, S., Stringer, C. & Mezias, J. 2020. Commentary and Introduction - Studying modern slavery: It is time for IB scholarship to contribute. AIB Insights, 20(2).

2019

  • Burmester, B., Michailova, S. & Stringer, C. 2019. Modern slavery and International Business scholarship: The governance nexus. critical perspectives on international business, 15(2/3): 139-157.

2018

  • Michailova, S. & Stringer, C. 2018. Tackling the ugliest phenomenon of our times, modern slavery: An invitation to the IB scholarly community. AIB Insights, 18(2): 7-10.
  • Stringer, C. & Michailova, S. 2018. Why modern slavery thrives in multinational corporations' global value chains, Multinational Business Review, 26(3): 194-20

Reports

Online resources