A/HRC/42/44 corporate leverage – to promote the right to be free from slavery and to remedy harm. There is a growing effort to use strategic litigation to this effect. 94 Such creative approaches will be increasingly important in contexts where the reach of the State and the rule of law is weak, which is likely to include numerous conflict-affected and climate-change-affected areas in coming years. 41. At the same time, the central role of States in addressing impunity must not be overlooked. A relevant initiative in this regard is the appointment by Alliance 8.7 of Pathfinder countries that have committed to work more intensely to achieve target 8.7.95 With technical and financial support from the Alliance, those States are expected to advance their efforts to tackle contemporary forms of slavery. This initiative offers an important opportunity to accelerate progress towards target 8.7, but it will also be important to ensure that States volunteering to be Pathfinders use the resources to which they gain access effectively. 42. It will require greater efforts by States to hold each other accountable for violations of the right to be free from slavery and servitude, especially in the most egregious cases where forced labour or other prohibited conduct results from public policy. 96 According to Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, 4.1 million people were in forced labour imposed by State authorities. 97 The scale of such violations, if demonstrated, should cause serious concern and generate far more frequent and rigorous efforts by States to hold each other to account. Recent research has pointed to a variety of ways in which State responsibility may be activated, from the actions of corrupt border officials participating in slavery networks 98 to diplomats enslaving domestic workers 99 to States providing export credit for companies that rely on enslaved workers.100 Data 43. While there have been important recent developments, including the adoption of standardized survey methodologies by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians, baseline data on prevalence of slavery need further strengthening. 101 Data collection and analysis is hampered by the clandestine nature of contemporary forms of slavery, by limited resources, by the lack of shared typologies and collection methodologies and by necessary restrictions on data sharing.102 Existing prevalence estimation approaches are blunt, as they operate at a high level of generality and may overlook significant differences in vulnerability at the subnational level. 103 Some regions are not well covered by existing estimates. 104 Cost and replicability are also major concerns. Standard methodological 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 “Turning outrage into action: using strategic litigation to combat modern slavery”, Freedom Fund, 15 December 2015. See www.alliance87.org/pathfinder-countries/. Philippa Webb and Rosana Garciandia, “State responsibility for modern slavery: uncovering and bridging the gap”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 68, Issue 3 (July 2019). See also Monash Trafficking and Slavery Research Group submission, p. 2. ILO, Walk Free Foundation and IOM, Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, p. 10. See, e.g., “Fact-finding mission on Myanmar: concrete and overwhelming information points to international crimes”, Human Rights Council News, 12 March 2018. See also Webb and Garciandia, “State responsibility for modern slavery”. Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Benkharbouche (Respondent) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Appellant) and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Libya (Appellants) v. Janah (Respondent), Judgment of 18 October 2017; and Reyes (Appellant/Cross-Respondent) v. Al-Malki and another (Respondents/Cross-Appellants), Judgment of 18 October 2017. Webb and Garciandia, “State responsibility for modern slavery”. See UNU-CS submission and Government of Poland submission, p. 2. See also R. Weitzer, “New directions in research on human trafficking”, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 653, No. 1, pp. 6–24 (May 2014). Rights Lab, Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, UNU-CS, Tech Against Trafficking and Monash Trafficking and Slavery Research Group submissions. National Survivor Network submission. Walk Free submission, p. 1. 13