Speak Free

Wednesday October 2, 2019

Speak Free: EU must step up to end slavery in Libya

The world was shocked when news of slave markets in Libya broke two years ago, but since then cases of modern slavery in Libya have evolved considerably. And they are all linked back to migrant detention centers and the money and power fueling their existence. The European Union has a critical role to play in ending human trafficking and forced labor tied to Libya's migrant detention centers. It must stop supporting the Libyan Coastguard to intercept boats in the Mediterranean Sea and returning innocent migrants and asylum seekers to these horrendous facilities. We're backing the growing glo

Forced Labor

Friday September 27, 2019

Speak Free: Rallying against the private prison industry

The private prison industry is under fire. As the nationwide immigration crackdown continues, it is outrageous that the country's two largest for-profit prison companies — GEO Group and CoreCivic — have seen their profits balloon after receiving billions in ICE-awarded contracts. Now both companies face a slew of lawsuits for allegedly subjecting immigrants and asylum seekers to forced labor. Those who refuse say they've been threatened with solitary confinement or punished by having basic necessities denied. But the public and Freedom United supporters are fighting back, standing up for t

Forced Labor

Thursday May 16, 2019

Persisting (and Resisting) to Raise Awareness of Prison Slavery

Katina French

As social media manager at Freedom United, most of my work takes place online. It’s rare that I get to meet supporters and partners in real life and to hear why they chose to work against modern slavery. This week, I helped coordinate a Red Sand Project event in Nashville. We also received promotional support from Women’s March Tennessee. The event was highlighting our campaign calling on private prison company CoreCivic to address allegations of forced labor in their facilities. CoreCivic – one of the country’s largest private prison companies – issued a last-minute restrictive pe

Activists

Friday May 3, 2019

The scars of persecution: My personal journey

Fiori Giovanni was born in Eritrea and escaped an arranged childhood marriage at just 12 years old. At 15, she fled the Eritrean army and made a harrowing journey across Libya and the Mediterranean sea, alone. This is her story: Modern slavery is a 21st-century evil that is a daily reality for millions of people around the world. For those currently enslaved, it’s a life full of terror, pain, suffering and hopelessness. And those who escape, face a long internal struggle to heal from the grief and trauma that is always present in our lives. I say ‘our’ lives because I know this struggle

Domestic Slavery

Friday May 3, 2019

Fired for Having Cancer: Our Exclusive Interview with Baby Jane Allas and Jessica Cutrera

Imagine being fired for having cancer. It’s shocking, but it’s exactly what happened to Baby Jane Allas. The single mother came to Hong Kong to be a domestic worker in 2017, hoping to support her five children and mother back in the Philippines. Yet her employer acted like Baby Jane was her property, treating her like a servant she owned. Baby Jane was made to sleep in a cabinet under the stairs and was not given a weekly day off a required by Hong Kong law. On top of this, her employed rationed Baby Jane’s food, going so far as to count the individual slices of bread she could

Activists

Tuesday December 11, 2018

Crossing Paths and Calling for Change with Nadia Murad

This week the world has seen the amazing strength and courage of Nadia Murad as she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018. She works tirelessly to rouse the world to take action on behalf of thousands of Yazidi women and girls still being bought and sold every day. It has been my honor to have had my own journey as a modern abolitionist cross paths with someone as remarkable and inspiring as Nadia Murad. In 2016, our team at Freedom United began taking over the advocacy work begun by the Walk Free Foundation. I was proud to be partnering with organizations who truly represented a survi

Child Slavery

Friday November 2, 2018

Pioneering a Path to Slavery-Free Chocolate

Tate Johnston

Much of the work in the anti-slavery movement has been directed at convincing businesses fixated on profits to investigate (and address) abuses hidden in their supply chains. But some businesses are starting off on a much better foot, with a more pro-active approach to do social good. In fact, some are building their entire business model to prove that it can be done without exploitation and abuse. Social entrepreneurship is a growing trend. These start-ups combine a big heart with a head for business, using the engine of commerce to drive positive change. One company, Tony’s Chocolonely,

Activists

Tuesday August 28, 2018

Going the distance to raise awareness

Tate Johnston

Matt and Reece, both 26, are from the UK and are circumnavigating the globe on a scooter with a sidecar. They’re going to be the first people to ever do it and 10 months in they have already quadrupled the current Guinness World Record for the longest journey by scooter and sidecar. They’re doing it to raise awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking – we met up with them to find out why… Join Matt and Reece for live Facebook Q&A session on Friday, August 31 at 2:00 PM EDT. What inspired you to start this journey? Well, we started thinking about how the decisions we mad

Activists

Friday April 6, 2018

Freedom Fortnight: How It All Started

Tate Johnston

“The director’s been selling the orphans for sex.” Stunned silence. “Wait. What?!” Head shaking like I hadn’t heard right. Or out of disbelief. That was it. That was when my eyes were opened to the reality of sex trafficking. I literally had no idea. I was completely shocked. Heartbroken. Outraged. Here I was leading a youth service trip to an orphanage in Eastern Europe to help with some of the obvious needs, like tables for the dining area and unclogging the sewer. I wasn’t looking for it. Didn’t even know it was something to be looking for. People more experienced than I r

Sex trafficking

Thursday March 1, 2018

Trafficked but Thrown in Jail. Why you need to know Cyntoia Brown

Jamison Liang

Chances are you have seen Cyntoia Brown’s name on social media in recent weeks. But who exactly is she? And what’s getting celebrities from Rihanna to Kim Kardashian to speak out about her tragic case? Cytnoia Brown’s case isn’t actually new. She has been behind bars for ten years, sentenced to life in prison for killing a man in self defense when she was just 16 years-old. Brown had been trafficked for sexual exploitation by a pimp, and but when she shot a 43 year-old man she refused to have sex with she ended up being tried as an adult in the Tennessee courts, jailed for first-degre