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Friday November 20, 2020

INTERVIEW: Why does Freedom United use the term ‘modern slavery’?

This interview with Freedom United's Executive Director, Joanna Ewart James, was originally published in openDemocracy. Joanna Ewart-James is the executive director at Freedom United, an international organisation working to end modern slavery. Beyond Trafficking and Slavery spoke with her on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the UN Trafficking Protocol to discuss whether or not it is better to be on the ‘inside’ of the anti-trafficking and anti-modern slavery project, or to defend a more radical viewpoint centred on labour rights from the fringe. Neil Howard (BTS):

Banner that reads "sex workers' rights are human rights"

Law & Policy

Thursday November 26, 2020

Freedom United responds to Scottish Government’s ‘Equally Safe: challenging men’s demand for prostitution’ consultation

Below are Freedom United's responses to the consultation's questions most relevant to our work regarding the Scottish Government's approach to sex work and preventing violence against women and girls. You can read the full consultation here and we invite you to leave your thoughts in the comments below! Question 1. Do you agree or disagree that the Scottish Government's approach to tackling prostitution, as outlined in this section, is sufficient to prevent violence against women and girls? As an anti-modern slavery organization, Freedom United’s experience from the sector makes

A migrant workers' shanty town in Apulia, southern Italy

Law & Policy

Friday November 6, 2020

Forced labor in Italy cannot be tackled without international law

Carlo Ladd

This article by our Advocacy Officer Carlo Ladd was originally published in Italian in Affari Italiani. The world’s most important international law against forced labor has yet to be ratified by Italy. And according to the academics and activists monitoring labor conditions in our country, it is urgently needed. Protocol no. 29 (2014), which supplements the Forced Labor Convention (1930) of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO), makes important changes to its source document and adapts it to a world that has changed considerably in 90 years. The Protocol focuses in

Activists

Friday October 23, 2020

How survivor recovery is hampered by racism

As we approach the end of October, Black History Month in the U.K., we are remembering and encouraging reflection on the enslaved people who resisted, campaigned, and strategized relentlessly to abolish historical slavery – and what lessons can the anti-modern slavery community take from history? The month exists because the role and contributions of Black people are often overlooked, facilitated in part by the fact that in the U.K. Black history is not embedded in the national educational curriculum. Just consider the prominence given to (white Member of

Imagine taken by the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations

Partner Spotlight

Friday October 16, 2020

Looking back on a year of partnership against modern slavery

This post by our Advocacy Officer, Carlo Ladd, was originally published by the United Nations Association of New York. The United Nations Association of New York has long maintained a special commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 8.7: to “eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor.” Last year’s UN Day Gala, indeed, was entirely dedicated to the issue, with guests including Nicholas Kristof and Mira Sorvino honored for their work against this most heinous form of exploitation.