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Human Development

Jul 21, 2026 Kevin Hyland  and Robert D. Marin

While human trafficking is mostly framed as a macro phenomenon, this does not fully explain how these criminal networks operate. Recognizing that trafficking corridors link specific source and destination localities offers a stronger basis for policy than a purely national approach or isolated interventions.

LONDON—In 2016, then-Prime Minister Theresa May marked the first anniversary of the United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act with a commentary touting how our research in the UK and Romania had helped uncover “criminal gangs creating twinned towns of modern slavery.” What made our approach unique was the pairing of specific source and destination localities as a single unit of analysis.