Inside the United Nations

In 2019 and 2020, Victor Kiani was invited to the launch of two landmark resources at United Nations Headquarters in New York: the Armed Conflict Survey and the United Nations University's Antislavery Legislation Database.

The Armed Conflict Survey

The Armed Conflict Survey is the comprehensive annual reference on armed conflict worldwide, an evidence-based account of the political, military, and humanitarian developments shaping each war. Its 2019 edition assessed 33 conflicts across six regions, with essays on the security impact of climate change, the manipulation of humanitarian aid by warring parties, the link between forced displacement and war, and the distinct dynamics of conflict in cities, alongside 70 maps, infographics, and tables.

The Antislavery Legislation Database

Compiled by Professor Jean Allain and Dr Katarina Schwarz, the Antislavery Legislation Database maps every UN member state's domestic law against its international commitments across slavery, the slave trade, servitude, forced labour, and human trafficking. Interactive and global, it gives policy actors, researchers, and advocates a single benchmark for the world's commitment to end modern slavery by 2030 under Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.

At the launch, its authors were joined by:

• Luis deBaca, former US Ambassador-at-large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
• Laura Gauer Bermudez, Director of Evidence and Learning, Global Fund to End Modern Slavery
• James Cockayne, Director, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research