Economic Research and Perspectives

Economic Research and Perspectives

Estimation of Vulnerability Index of Modern Slavery in Urban and Rural Areas of Iran by Fuzzy Method

Authors
faramarz khalighi 1
Hossein Sadeghi seghdel 2
Bahram Sahabi 2
Sajjad Faraji Dizaji 2
1 Ph.D. Student of Economics, Department of Economic Development, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University
2 Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Economic Development, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University
Abstract
The findings of the studies by the International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration (2022) show that all over the world, more than forty million people are victims of modern slavery. On the other hand, studies of the Global Slavery Index (2016) show that there are more than 495,000 "modern slaves" in Iran. The emergence of such a damage is a stimulus to investigate and study this phenomenon and its determinants by calculating the vulnerability indicators for Iran.

Considering that there is no effective quantitative index in the field of improving the condition of slaves in Iran, the general goal of this research is to estimate a fuzzy index that includes the dimensions of vulnerability of slaves between 1996 and 2018.

We investigate the slavery situation in four dimensions: 1) Political and civil support; 2) Economic, social and health rights; 3) personal security and 4) Refugees and Conflict. The findings of this research show that the above-mentioned index has a downward trend during period under study.

Introduction

Slavery is any type of system in which the principles of property rights apply to humans and allow people (slaves) to be bought, sold, or owned by others like property. Over the years, this concept has been objectified in various situations such as labor, military, pre-service, etc. The life of a slave, with all its difficulties and hardships, is not the end of his personal life, in the sense of losing all the opportunities of a normal life; because it is possible for a slave to free himself. A slave soldier can be promoted to a senior military rank, or even a slave can become an important person in society. However, in the 15th century, the "Atlantic slave trade" destroyed this possibility. In such a way that over 400 years, 12 million Africans were transported as slaves to European and American colonies and did not have the possibility to return to a normal life. Even if they were freed from slavery, they were still deprived of some rights. Until the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, efforts were made to dismantle the system of slavery and the slave trade, and this issue was banned in most countries.

Considering that there is no effective quantitative index in the field of improving the condition of slaves, the general goal of this research is to estimate a multidimensional index that includes the dimensions of vulnerability and the number of slaves. In other words, the main goal of this research is to calculate an index in the field of the status of slaves, separated by gender and province. The existence of this index helps policy makers to organize their actions in the field of slaves' vulnerability.

Methodology

In this section, using an analytical-descriptive method, variables in four groups 1. Political and civil support; 2. Economic, social and health rights; 3. personal security and 4. war and asylum are categorized and, the vulnerability index of slaves will be estimated using the theory of fuzzy sets over the years. To calculate the fuzzy index of each of the aforementioned dimensions of the vulnerability index of slaves, it is necessary to consider variables for each of these dimensions.

The indexing method for the vulnerability of slaves is three-step, so that first, a fuzzy index will be created for each of the above-mentioned dimensions using the fuzzy method. In the second stage, by combining two political and civil indicators, its fuzzy index is made, and for the economic and social dimensions, the corresponding fuzzy index is obtained.

Results and Discussion

Using the aforementioned data, the system was simulated with a fuzzy approach, and the vulnerability index of slaves was obtained by separating urban and rural areas and by gender, as described in the following diagram:



According to the above graph, it is clear that the trend of slavery in the country is decreasing and it has experienced a total decrease of 50%. Having said that, the conditions of the villagers are more difficult than the urban dwellers, and girls have experienced more vulnerability. However, in urban areas, the trend of slaves for boys and girls has been the same.

Conclusion

Paying attention to the vulnerability of modern slavery requires the creation of appropriate platforms and contexts in economic, social and cultural dimensions in the regions of the country, and increasing the role and function of people in different economic-social types also creates platforms for development. Therefore, it is necessary to review the definitions related to development programs from the perspective of anti-slavery and to formulate and apply different levels of programs according to the characteristics and conditions of boys and girls in urban and rural areas. Therefore, according to the results of this research, it is suggested that the key policy priorities to reduce or eliminate forced labor and forced marriage should be changed and formulated in such a way that the rights and freedom of workers to determine wages and choose workplaces are recognized, and policies should be fair and anti-discriminatory in hiring workers
Keywords
Modern Slavery
Vulnerability
Forced Labor
Forced Marriage
Fuzzy method

Subjects

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Economic Research and Perspectives
Volume 23, Issue 3
Autumn 2023
Pages 229-260