FreedomUnited.org

Wednesday July 30, 2025

No child should endure what I endured

Brooke Axtell

Image: Me aged 7, just before I was trafficked. I want to share something vulnerable with you. When I was seven years old, I was forced into sex trafficking by someone who was supposed to take care of me. Part of my healing journey has been fighting for the freedom and recovery of others who have experienced human trafficking. For over 15 years, I’ve supported survivors and advocated for justice. But as the years have passed, I’ve become more and more committed to prevention because I can’t bear the thought of one more child being exploited or abused. I’m asking you

Children held captive and forced into sex in underground bunker in Alabama

Other slavery

Friday July 25, 2025

Child sex trafficking reveals the need for action

Joanna Ewart-James

Faced with the horrific news of child sex trafficking ahead of World Day Against Human Trafficking this Wednesday, I am reflecting on the desperate need for change. This week police in Bibb County, Alabama arrested three more people in connection to a child sex trafficking ring discovered earlier this year, bringing the total arrested to seven. Police warn of “more suspects and more victims” to be found. The power of awareness Prosecutions of the perpetrators and strong penalties are an essential part of justice for survivors of all forms of trafficking. But it is not the only

Rebuilding in Uncertainty Survivor Leadership as our New Foundation

Other slavery

Thursday July 24, 2025

Rebuilding in Uncertainty: Survivor Leadership as our New Foundation

Written by Minh Dang, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Survivor Alliance, and Lena Sinha, inaugural Director of The Life Story Introduction The progress we have made toward institutionalizing survivor leadership is at risk. For decades, a robust, multidisciplinary community worked to build organizations and systems that respond to human trafficking and exploitation—creating pathways to safety, stability, and healing. Although we may not always recognize it, survivors have driven this progress, challenging systems to be more just, more effective, and more compassionate. Survivors

Law & Policy

Thursday June 19, 2025

“Exploitation is no picnic”: Delivering your ask for corporate accountability to the UK government

Ellie Finkelstein

As families across the UK dig out their blankets and baskets during National Picnic Week, Freedom United with the Corporate Justice Coalition is serving a different kind of meal to 10 Downing Street and the Department of Business and Trade: a symbolic “hamper of harms”. Why? Because exploitation is no picnic. From exploitative child labor in cobalt mines powering electric cars, to Uyghur forced labor in the cotton woven into our clothes, to the poverty wages behind the tea in our mugs and the berries on our plates—harm to people and the planet is embedded within everyday goods

Other slavery

Tuesday May 27, 2025

Addressing modern slavery through the rescue model

Joanna Ewart-James

“When someone is in trouble, the hope is that they will be rescued.” Right? When academic Dr Pankhuri Agarwal wrote this statement in The Conversation, she was in fact exposing that her modern slavery research contradicts this long-held belief.[1] A quick search will show countless nonprofits around the world leading with a rescue model. That’s to say their approach is to find people living in conditions of modern slavery and pay their “slave-holder” for their release, often appealing for donations in the process. Examples of rescue model nonprofits include the controversial

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Speak free