Contemporary slavery in armed conflict: Introducing the CSAC dataset, 1989–2016
| Author | Angharad Smith,Monti Narayan Datta,Kevin Bales |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00223433211065649 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Special Data Features |
Contemporary slavery in armed conflict:
Introducing the CSAC dataset, 1989–2016
Angharad Smith
Centre for Policy Research, United Nations University
Monti Narayan Datta
Department of Political Science, University of Richmond
Kevin Bales
Rights Lab/Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham
Abstract
We introduce a new dataset, Contemporary Slavery in Armed Conflict (CSAC), coding instances and types of
enslavement in armed conflict from 1989 to 2016, building on Uppsala Confl ict Data Program data. CSAC
currently covers 171 armed conflicts from 1989 to 2016, with the unit of analysis being the conflict-year. We
identify different types of enslavement within these conflicts and find that 87% contained incidences of child
soldiers, 34% included sexual exploitation/forced marriage, 23% included forced labor, and 16% contained instances
of human trafficking. The use of enslavement in armed conflict to support strategic aims is also identified and found
in about 17% of cases. Next, drawing upon key variables from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, we present a
series of cross-tabulations looking at the presence of slavery and conflict broken down by conflict incompatibility,
intensity level, and type. We see the coding of slavery within conflict as a step toward generating greater under-
standing of when and how state and non-state actors use enslavement within conflict, with the goal of mitigating and
possibly eradicating slavery in warfare.
Keywords
armed conflict, child soldiers, contemporary slavery, enslavement, forced labor, forced marriage, human trafficking,
modern slavery, Uppsala conflict data program
Introduction
An estimated 40 million persons are enslaved globally
within many types of slavery, including debt bondage,
state-sponsored forced labor, enslavement into com-
mercial sexual exploitation, and forced marriage
(Alliance 8.7, 2021). Recent studies have illuminated
thebreadthandsizeofcontemporary slavery (e.g. Bales,
2012; Bales & Trodd, 2008; Global Slavery Index,
2016; Skinner, 2008), prompting action by public and
private stakeholders. In 2015, the United Nations
(UN) General Assembly adopted the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). Goal/Target 8.7 calls
nations to ‘take immediate and effective measures to
eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human
trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination
of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment
anduseofchildsoldiers,andby2025endchildlaborin
all its forms’ (UN Stats, 2021).
Goal 8.7 demonstrates the need for scholarship at the
intersection of modern slavery and armed conflict. While
child soldiers are known in conflict (e.g. Beber & Blatt-
man, 2013; Gates & Reich, 2010; Haer & Bo
¨hmelt,
2017; Hoiskar, 2001; Lasley & Thyne, 2015), less
Corresponding author:
mdatta@richmond.edu
Journal of Peace Research
2023, Vol. 60(2) 362–372
ªThe Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/00223433211065649
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