Blog
Modern Slavery in Malaysia
Did you know? An estimated 202,000 people in Malaysia are currently ensnared in these heinous practices
Survivor Advocacy Training in Democratic Republic of Congo
Bukeni Waruzi, Executive Director of Free the Slaves, recently conducted a critical training session with survivors of forced labor, modern slavery, sex trafficking, and child labor in Kinshasa, the national capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The...
Apply to Join the Alliance 8.7 Global Coordinating Group
Alliance 8.7, a global partnership aimed at achieving Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, is actively searching for a CSO to fill a vacant seat in its Global Coordinating Group (GCG) specifically to represent human trafficking issues.
Get Involved
Cutting the Long-term Costs of COVID-19: Building Resilience Against Exploitation in Senegal and Kenya
To date, the cost of the global COVID-19 pandemic has most frequently been measured in lives lost and the cost to domestic economies, while triumphs have often been charted in terms of vaccine roll-outs and partial or full returns to the ‘freedoms’ outside lockdown. ...
Kenya Runner’s Tips for Immigrants on Avoiding U.S. Traffickers
Editor’s note: With the Olympics focusing on track and field events last week, we are privileged to share a survivor’s story about how human trafficking can happen to anyone, even a professional athlete. My name is Moninda Marube and I am a Kenyan national currently...
Freedom from Slavery Forum Begins Regional Convenings
The Freedom from Slavery Forum is pioneering new ground this year as the anti-slavery movement’s premiere thought-leadership convening. For the past eight years, the Forum has been a collegial space for anti-slavery leaders from around the world to coalesce, create...
Our Work
Fighting Slavery by Starting a Community Led Savings and Loan
Poverty and the absence of legitimate sources of credit are two of the key conditions that allow modern slavery to exist. People without resources are vulnerable to offers of cash, food or livestock if they send a child away with a trafficker. People without credit...
Rebuilding Young Lives Scarred by Slavery
The Village of Life shelter is exactly what modern slavery survivors need. It’s a vibrant and supportive place – far from the hardships and exploitation that children experience when enslaved in remote fishing villages along Lake Volta in Ghana. My visit to this...
Child Rights Begin with Children
The village school in Kobiri Nsuoano is a beacon of hope. It’s a simple building down a bumpy narrow road. But what happens inside is revolutionary. Children are learning about their rights as part of a Free the Slaves program to prevent them from being trafficked...
News
Grassroots Advocacy Continues via Zoom
The COVID-19 global pandemic has disrupted anti-trafficking work around the world. But the Free the Saves India team has continued to press ahead with vital online advocacy training that builds bridges between communities and government officials. FTS work in India...
Situation Update: Dominican Republic
The COVID-19 state of emergency and curfew continues in the Dominican Republic as the contagion spreads. Hospitals are full. Government aid has not reached impoverished communities where Free the Slaves works because of discrimination toward residents of Haitian...
Everyone Deserves a Mask
As the country director for Free the Slaves in the Dominican Republic, I work in tandem with local partners against the conditions that perpetuate exploitation and trafficking in vulnerable communities. Many of the people we work directly with are undocumented Haitian...
Americas
Acceptance Leads to Freedom
It’s a simple concept, and a universal value: acceptance. “He who is different from me does not impoverish me — he enriches me,” wrote the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. But in the Dominican Republic, a lack of acceptance fuels modern slavery. Haitian...
Valuing Courage in Times of Crisis
There are few places on earth where it’s harder to stand up for human rights than Haiti. On this year’s Human Rights Day, we’d like to share an update about our courageous front-line activists there, who continue to fight child slavery even in times of national...
Bukeni Tete Waruzi Joins Free the Slaves as Executive Director
Free the Slaves is thrilled to announce that a courageous advocate for the rights of women and children has joined the organization as executive director. Bukeni Tete Waruzi has helped put a Congolese warlord behind bars, has helped women trafficked into domestic...
Asia
Using Graffiti to Prevent Modern Slavery
The writing’s on the wall – literally. Free the Slaves partner MSEMVS has been painting messages in Indian communities to educate people about the risks of leaving home to find work. Thousands of Indian laborers migrate each year to the Middle East. For many, it’s a...
Sophie’s Hope: A Renewed Chance after being Trafficked to China
Sophie* was encouraged in her twenties by her own mother to work in China because of the promise of earning a better salary. Her mom had migrated from Vietnam to China as a teen, and suggested that her daughter should make the same journey. Coming from a poor family...
Freedom from Slavery Forum Focuses on Asia
Anti-slavery movement leaders across Asia convened virtually via Zoom in August at the first-ever Freedom from Slavery Forum - Asia to discuss issues most pertinent to the continent and set priorities for next year around the theme of “Resilience and Resistance to...
Africa
Inaugural Elkes Impact Award Winners Announced
The Elkes Impact Awards were established in recognition of the tremendous work local advocate survivors and civil society organizations are doing in their communities. Local survivors and organizations too often do not receive widespread acknowledgment of their work,...
2021 Regional Forums Initiative Concludes
It’s been a busy past three months! The Freedom from Slavery Forum held three regional events focusing on Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and the combined regions of North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. This concluded the series of 2021 regional...
Four Letters that Spell Freedom
It takes organization to free a village from modern slavery. In Ghana, that organization has a long name with a short acronym: a Community Child Protection Committee, or CCPC. Helping villagers form these committees is a fundamental element of our community-based...