Editor's Note: Free the Slaves is honored this month to highlight the investigative reporting of journalist Ian Urbina of the New York Times, creator of The Outlaw Ocean Project. His award-winning series first appeared in the Times in 2015. For the past four years,...
This statement originally appeared on the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) website. Free the Slaves serves as ATEST co-chair. WASHINGTON — Four key pieces of legislation that form the architecture of America’s federal response to human trafficking and...
We are deeply concerned by accelerated efforts to deport black Mauritanians living in the United States who run the serious risk of enslavement upon return to their home country. This campaign is particularly focused on Columbus, Ohio, which, according to the Columbus...
Great news this week. Our colleague at the Human Trafficking Institute, John Cotton Richmond, is being nominated to become America’s next human trafficking ambassador (White House announcement here). Once confirmed by the Senate, Richmond will run the State...
The U.S. State Department says many African governments are doing a better job combating modern slavery. More than a dozen African nations received upgrades in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP). The upgrades include Ghana, where Free the Slaves has helped...
February marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Douglass, one of history’s great abolitionists. At Free the Slaves, we’re proud to follow his footsteps and finish the work he helped start generations ago. Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland – the...
Free the Slaves believes in stopping slavery at its source by changing the conditions that allow slavery to exist. You can read about this important strategic focus today in a CNN.com op-ed from FTS Executive Director Maurice Middleberg. “How to Stop the Slave Trade...
This week’s release of new estimates on the scope of slavery worldwide are both shocking and encouraging. Shocking because the figures are worse than many experts had believed. But encouraging because the report’s release at the United Nations General Assembly has...
As the United Nations General Assembly convenes this week in New York, an important announcement is coming about modern slavery worldwide. The International Labor Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the group Walk Free will be...
President Trump in February promised America would “do more” to fight human trafficking. Last month, presidential adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump pledged to make this fight a “major priority.” But last week, the Trump administration released a 2018 budget that...
Overcoming fear is essential to freedom, and in eastern Congo there is plenty to be frightened about. Millions have died in conflict over the region’s vast mineral wealth. Control of mines and the slaves who work them has turned the region into one of the world’s most...
With the divisive 2016 election now behind us, and calls for healing and unity coming from political leaders, it’s important to note that the fight against modern slavery is a bipartisan cause with widespread public support. When the new Congress convenes and...
Last Friday, I flew from my home in Miami to Washington to attend the quarterly board meeting of Free the Slaves, one of the most important anti-slavery organizations in the world today. Coincidently, my parents, who reside in Williamsburg, Virginia, were in...
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the magnitude of human trafficking is “stunning” and “outrageous.”“This is the 21st century,” he said, “we know that human civilization has had thousands of years to develop and make progress and establish rules, discern the...
We need your help to make modern slavery a presidential campaign issue. With tens of millions enslaved worldwide, it’s critical that the next U.S. president make fighting slavery a priority.Today, the anti-slavery movement is launching the Generation Freedom campaign....
The United Nations General Assembly begins a three-day summit Friday in New York to shape the world’s agenda for international development over the next 15 years. The elimination of slavery is one of the U.N.’s key objectives.“The sustainable development goals (SDGs)...
Pope Francis drew thunderous bipartisan applause this morning as he spoke to a deeply divided Congress about the need for unity to promote “the transcendent dignity of the human being.”“Cooperation is a powerful resource in the battle to eliminate new global forms of...
Economic and political leaders need to step up their game if global slavery is to be successfully overcome. That’s the message that Free the Slaves Executive Director Maurice Middleberg shared with millions of BBC World Service radio listeners overnight on the...
European companies may soon have to ensure that their products do not contain so-called “conflict minerals” that are often mined by slaves. The European Parliament “made history” yesterday, according to a statement by Amnesty International and Global Witness, by...
The U.S. Senate is poised to vote this week on a fast-track trade deal among 12 Asia-Pacific countries.However, one of those countries–Malaysia–has been identified by the U.S. State Dept. as a persistent slavery hot spot, and anti-trafficking organizations are urging...
Congress has approved tougher penalties for traffickers and increased funding for slavery survivors.The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act deadlocked the Senate for weeks earlier this year, and even delayed Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s confirmation...
It’s been two weeks since a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal, and we are learning more details about the severity of the impact on our staff and partners.Free the Slaves Nepal Director Neelam Sharma and members of our front-line partner organizations have been...
One of the biggest challenges facing the anti-slavery movement is a lack of funding. The amount of money dedicated by governments worldwide to enforcing anti-slavery laws and protecting those at risk of enslavement is just a small fraction of the billions in annual...
January 31st marks a monumental moment in the history of slavery in the United States. On that date 150 years ago, the House of Representatives passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. It abolished legal slavery in the United States. Within eight months, the...
Political candidates are often asked to take pledges to win votes. In the U.S., many candidates pledge to never raise taxes or to safeguard reproductive rights for women. In Brazil, our front-line partner organization has been asking politicians to promise that...
New research from the group Walk Free and FTS Co-founder Kevin Bales estimates there are more people in slavery today than previously thought. The 2014 edition of the Walk Free Global Slavery Index reports that 35.8 million people are enslaved, a 23 percent increase...
Great news from our friend Maria Suarez in Los Angeles. She’s launching her own foundation to prevent child slavery in the U.S. The Maria Suarez Foundation’s official launch celebration will be on Wednesday, October 22 at 6 p.m. at Burns Lounge, Fritz B. Burns...
With millions of people on the move globally looking for jobs, especially from poorer countries to wealthier ones, it’s easy for traffickers to pose as legitimate labor recruiters. It's a risk for international job seekers everywhere, including those coming to...
Free the Slaves is spreading the word about global trafficking on global TV and radio. FTS Executive Director Maurice Middleberg was a guest on the most recent edition of "On the Line," broadcast worldwide by the Voice of America. Even though slavery was abolished,...
This week may bring key votes in Congress responding to the increase in child refugees entering the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Some of these children are fleeing widespread slavery in their home countries. But one of the policy revisions...
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says "no government, anywhere yet, is doing enough" to eradicate slavery, and "zones of impunity" exist around the world that allow trafficking to flourish. Kerry’s comments came as he unveiled the State Department’s 2014 Trafficking...
No consumer wants to buy products made by slaves. And no investor wants to support companies that use slave labor. But it’s extraordinarily difficult for shoppers or stockbrokers to know which products or companies may be tainted by trafficking. U.S. Rep. Carolyn...
One of the most important challenges for the anti-slavery movement is to ensure that survivors receive the support they need to reclaim their dignity and restart their lives. And to do that, it’s vital that the people who know slavery best – trafficking survivors...
The House of Representatives approved a range of proposals Tuesday to combat sex slavery in the U.S., including training for police to recognize trafficking cases and treat victims appropriately, a ban on advertising sex for sale with children, and an initiative for...
A new report underscores how profitable and widespread modern-day slavery has become. The U.N. International Labor Organization (ILO) this morning estimates that trafficking generates $150 billion in illicit profits each year. The figure is three times more than...
Many U.S. companies must soon disclose if their products are tainted by minerals often mined by slaves in central Africa. A federal appeals court panel has upheld most elements of the “conflict minerals rule,” which is a new corporate transparency regulation that can...
If the battle against slavery hasn't reached your faith community yet, it may be coming soon. A major global faith initiative to end modern-day slavery is taking root. Leading religious representatives and the Walk Free Foundation signed a groundbreaking agreement...
It isn't every day that a child slavery survivor from Africa is a featured speaker at a congressional briefing. But this week, Capitol Hill witnessed the award-winning advocate and child trafficking survivor, James Kofi Annan, speaking alongside long time anti-slavery...
Free the Slaves is excited to announce the opening of an exclusive auction that benefits FTS frontline work! Gillian Anderson, who appeared most notably in X-Files and Last King of Scotland, is generously auctioning off the chance to meet her on the set of THE FALL in...
Not many people would consider the pope to be a fighter, but if it is against human trafficking, then you can count Pope Francis in. The National Catholic Bishops Conference of Brazil this week launched their 51st annual Brotherhood Campaign. This year, the 2014...
Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Ridley is concerned that moviegoers might miss a key lesson from the poignant script he wrote for the hit movie 12 Years a Slave. “As beautiful as this film is, one of the dangers is people will go in and say thank God we’re not like...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) opened today's Free the Slaves and Broward College human trafficking conference this morning with a call to action. In a video message, Rubio called on the public to pressure Congress to pass The Strengthening the Child Welfare Response...
Haiti’s devastating earthquake hit on January 12, 2010. It affected everyone in Haiti, and continues to affect those who lost friends and family as well as homes and businesses. While significant money and effort have been marshaled to rebuild, much remains to be...
This year brings a remarkable opportunity to a country that has been gripped by conflict for decades. With the M23 rebels vanquished, slavery can become a new focus for building lasting peace and prosperity for all in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...
Our thoughts are with the people of South Africa, who’ve lost the man who led their nation from one of history’s most notorious forms of oppression. Nelson Mandela’s triumph over apartheid is a beacon of hope to those who still yearn for freedom and dignity around the...
Congratulations to Lisa Kristine, who was honored last night at Carnegie Hall in New York as the 2013 Humanitarian Photographer of the Year! The awards are presented by the Lucie Foundation, honoring the world’s top photographers in a range of categories, including...
A new estimate of global slavery calculates that 29.8 million men, women and children are enslaved worldwide. The Global Slavery Index, released today by the Australian-based anti-trafficking group Walk Free, provides a first-of-its-kind country-by-country measure of...
A U.S. federal court judge has rejected efforts by three leading business associations to block new rules that require American manufacturers to disclose if their products contain slavery-tainted minerals from central Africa. Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. District...
Tomorrow brings a great opportunity to lean about the scope and impact of a hidden form of modern-day slavery: domestic servitude. The Organization of American States (OAS) is conducting a policy roundtable to raise awareness and promote solutions. The policy...
Two economic powerhouses were downgraded today in the U.S. State Department’s country-by-country annual review of global efforts to reduce trafficking and modern-day slavery. Russia and China – as well as Uzbekistan -- were given “Tier 3” status in the 2013...