The Economist: Death of a mockingbird: "Toshiro Igari, a former prosecutor who worked on cases against the yakuza, Japan's mafia, was found dead in August. His death was ruled a suicide. But Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who specialises on yakuza activities,...
The TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) has been called the most important anti-human trafficking legislation ever passed. It was signed into law in 2000 (the same year that Free the Slaves was founded), to comprehensively protect and rehabilitate victims of...
Yes! Magazine: This Halloween, a new breed of activists is coming to your door: They’re costumed, committed, and about four and a half feet tall: "Emilie, a seventh-grader from North Bend, Wash., was shocked when her best friend, Rachel Donka, told her that the...
This week, the Global Post published a great article about human trafficking in Ruili, a city on the Chinese side of the border with Myanmar. The article, written Kathleen E. McLaughlin, says that China's one child policy is fueling trafficking of women from poorer...
StoptheTraffik: Children found enslaved on Worcester, U.K. farm: "Following a police raid on a farm in Worcestershire last week, 7 Romanian children between the ages of 9 and 15 were found picking spring onions. These children were working daily from 7.30am until...
Representative Carolyn Maloney (D–New York) announced last week that she will introduce a federal bill modeled on the California Supply Chain Transparency Act (SB 657), recently signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger. SB 657 requires all businesses that trade in...
Some more press on Free the Slaves Global Ambassador Katie Ford's benefit event at Top of The Standard in New York last week. This round: InStyle and Tonic.com. via Tonic.com: Stars Mix, Mingle And Bid to Free the Slaves Michael Stipe, Helena...
Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, who heads the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking has been called America's "Human Trafficking Czar." As a federal prosecutor, CdeBaca was lead council in what was the biggest human trafficking case on U.S. soil....
Friend of Free the Slaves, journalist Christa Hillstrom (who is also the founder and editor of Human Goods, a magazine-style blog on modern day slavery) has just published an article on supply chain slavery. She focuses on the recent passage of California's SB 675,...
FOX News: Women for Sale in Tel Aviv: At a shopping mall in Tel Aviv, Israel, anti-slavery activists stage a fake slave auction: "She's blonde. Petite. Blue-eyed with delicate features.'Sophia,' 30, was just one of fifteen women up for sale in a Tel Aviv shopping mall...
Last night the entire hour of Larry King Live was given over to modern day slavery. And we were excited to see that in his interviews, King quoted generously from Free the Slaves research. He used our website (FreetheSlaves.net) as the source for some of the facts and...
Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales has been doing the media rounds recently! As well as his video interview with Big Think, Mr. Bales did some blog interviews. Here they are: Rick Apperson, a missionary based in British Columbia, Canada, runs a blog called "Just a...
Energy Publisher: Human trafficking begins to eclipse drug trade in Mexico: "Unfortunately, [Mexico's President] Calderón’s attack on drug cartels has left few resources to combat human trafficking. Mexico has tried to address the issue through legal changes to combat...
During the days of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Caribbean islands were used as a major port of trade. The islands were also home to "seasoning camps" where newly arrived slaves were "broken in"—tortured into obedience, and taught skills and customs to make them...
Free the Slaves' Global Ambassador, Katie Ford is featured in the New York Daily News today. Ford is the former CEO of Ford Models—the prestigious agency was founded by her parents, and Katie helmed the company from 1995 to 2007. This article follows Ford's journey...
Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Greece's Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas' speech at yesterday's "EU Policy and the National Action Plan for Combating Human Trafficking" conference: "Today’s meeting is timely because in 6 days, on 18 October, countries will be...
We recently reported on the first ever permanent museum exhibit on modern slavery. The exhibition is at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. And Free the Slaves is proud to say we are part of this groundbreaking show. Along with a...
Last year, the University of Michigan Law School opened the country's first legal clinic dealing exclusively in human trafficking. The clinic is run by professor Bridgette Carr—who, earlier this year, helped open a similar legal clinic at Alexandria University in...
This weekend, actress Eva Longoria received a Freedom Award. No, it was not a Free the Slaves Freedom Award, but an award from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, honoring contemporary humanitarians. (The Free the Slaves Freedom Awards are taking...
Today is Columbus Day. It's an official federal holiday in the U.S. But many question the wisdom of celebrating Christopher Columbus' arrival to the new land. Stories of his sea faring explorations are shrouded in myth and misinformation (contrary to popular belief,...
United Nations affiliated non-profit organization, Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) has teamed up with anti-child slavery organization Innocents at Risk to create a training program to educate airline professionals to spot signs of human trafficking. AAI...
Recently, a new website has launched, focusing on modern day slavery. Human Goods, run by Seattle-based journalist Christa Hillstrom, takes a "big picture" look at slavery, putting it into global, economic, social and cultural context. We've been avidly reading Human...
The Unchosen film festival in Bristol, UK, now in its third year, is opening next Monday, and will run through November 16. The event touts itself as the only film festival in the UK that concentrates exclusively on the topic of slavery. The festival has partnered...
Another modern day slavery case has happened just stones throw away from the Free the Slaves west coast office. Hawthorne, CA man Leroy Bragg, 34 was arrested last week and charged with human trafficking, soliciting a minor, and pandering and procuring of a minor,...
New York Post: Accused St. John's embezzler allegedly used students as slaves. Cecilia Chang, former Dean of Asian Studies at St. John's University in New York is "accused of using scholarship students as domestic servants. Chang, 57, allegedly forced students to do...
A Sunday article in the Guardian, connecting globalization to slavery, sourced two Free the Slaves representatives: our President Kevin Bales, and our board member and 2008 Freedom Award winner Xavier Plassat. Journalist Felicity Lawrence specializes in exposing...
It's exciting to see anti-slavery activism highlighted in this year's CNN Heroes. Mira Sorvino, who was named UN Goodwill Ambassador for Human Trafficking last year is presenting and promoting the campaign. And one of the 10 runners up is Anuradha Koirala, founder of...
Here is another person to add to the growing list of celebrity, anti-slavery activists: British singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield. She is a supporter for the U.K. anti-slavery organization Stop the Traffik, and appeared in the 2008 "rockumentary" "Call+Response,"...
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that he has signed the California Supply Chain Transparency Act (SB 657). With our partners at the non-partisan coalition of U.S.-based anti-slavery organizations, Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for the eradication of coal power at the 2010 Annual Thomas W. Ewing Lecture at Millikin University in Illinois last week. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and son of assassinated 1968 presidential hopeful Bobby Kennedy, said that "clean"...
FRANCE FORCIBLY REMOVES THOUSANDS OF ROMA PEOPLE, SAYS ROMA COMMUNITIES ARE 'BREEDING GROUNDS' FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING. EU THREATENS LEGAL ACTION ABC News: EU taking France to court over Roma expulsions: France's "controversial expulsions of thousands of Roma [or gypsy...
Gloria Allred called a press conference today to announce that California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman knowingly hired an illegal immigrant for nine years. Nicky Diaz Santillan, also present at the press conference, was hired in 2000 to work as a nanny and...
Craigslist's take down of their "Adult Services" ads has had a domino effect on other major classified ad outlets. The most recent ad site to remove erotic ads? The Washington Post, who announced this week they will voluntarily remove all massage parlor ads, which,...
Global Nations Inquirer: Indie film tackles human trafficking to Sabah: "The issue on human trafficking is like a song whose lyrics and melody everyone knows but which still remains unsung. Unknown to most city dwellers, even in the Philippines, human trafficking is...
The New York Times recently published a profile on boxing champion and newly-minted Philippine congressman, Manny Pacquiao. Back in August, we wrote about Mr. Pacquiao's dedication to eradicating modern day slavery. He gave a stirring speech at an anti-trafficking...
There are more slaves today than ever in history. Yet, the issue of modern day slavery has not yet cracked mainstream discourse the way we'd like. So we are always heartened to see when intelligent, creative people use innovative ways to raise awareness about what we...
Kuwait government officials have announced they will scrap the kafeel labor law, which, many argue is nothing more than legalized modern day slavery. The change will occur next February, to coincide with Kuwait's Liberation Day, the country's Labour Minister Mohammad...
Halogen TV: Jason Mraz crusades for Free the Slaves: "Mraz wept as children sang Luc Reynauld’s 'Freedom Song.' He texted Reynauld, telling him about it. Reynauld texted back, saying, 'It’s their song.'" Jason visited Free the Slaves partner in Ghana Challenging...
Yesterday, Free the Slaves Policy and Research Associate Jody Sarich and I attended a congressional hearing on North Korean human rights violations, in which several NK defectors described being trafficked into forced marriages in China, and repatriated back to NK,...
The 2010 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) wrapped up yesterday. Free the Slaves president Kevin Bales was there. But, unlike in previous years, he did not take part in any panels or presentations—this time, he was just an attendee. But, it seems that the legacy of...
Wyclef Jean says if he were President of Haiti, the eradication of slavery would be one of his top priorities. But the rapper's bid for presidency was recently denied by Haitian officials. Jean blamed the current Haitian President René Préval for ousting him from the...
Emma Thompson is an outspoken anti-slavery activist. She is the chairman of the Helen Bamber Foundation's trustees, and when it comes to combatting slavery, her weapon of choice is art. "Sex trafficking is a hugely important subject," she has said, "and I believe we...
Can Twitter end modern day slavery? Ashton Kutcher says Twitter has the power to give traditionally under-represented voices a major platform. And in the process, bring the issue of slavery to the masses. At the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative today, Ashton Kutcher...
We've written a lot about the biggest human trafficking bust in U.S. history, involving the enslavement of at last 400 Thai laborers on American farms. Global Horizons Manpower Inc., the recruitment agency responsible for luring the workers into slavery has its...
Rugby star Finau Maka is known as a "nice guy," and for his flamboyant hairdos. A Tonga national, he played in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and until recently, was a member of the first division French team, Stade Toulousain. Today, he stands before a French judge,...
Asia One News: China's gender gap fueling trafficking: "The gender gap has created a situation where there are not enough women of marrying-age for China's single men...Chinese police have so far freed 10,621 kidnapped women and 5,896 kidnapped children... Among the...
... And it launched! We're a bit late with this, but the third installment of the MTV EXIT campaign's modern day slavery awareness-raising music videos is live. Following in the footsteps of Radiohead and The Killers, British rock band Muse collaborated with MTV to...
The California Supply Chain Transparency Act is just one step away from becoming law. SB 657 recently passed both the California Senate and Assembly, and is now awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger's signature—or veto. If the governor takes no action, SB 657 will become...
There was a great piece in the New York Times Op Ed section yesterday that illustrates how modern day slavery can become an entrenched part of a community. The piece decries the apathy of the Hawaiian public, over a recent, massive, human trafficking bust that...
We're always happy when the issue of modern day slavery creeps into the main stream media. While we can't always back the way the topic is portrayed, it is important to keep the dialogue going. Case in point: the new season of NCIS: Los Angeles. The season premier...