Speak Free

Thursday January 18, 2018

Five Areas to Watch in 2018

Joanna Ewart-James

As we look forward to the year ahead, our Executive Director takes a moment to reflect on some key focus areas in the fight to end modern slavery in 2018, and considers where some of our greatest challenges lie. Rising Discrimination against Migrants Growing anti-migrant rhetoric leaves those who are poorly resourced, and have been unable to access increasingly restrictive legal migration routes, systematically discriminated against and so particularly vulnerable to exploitation. In the latter part of 2017 the world became aware of the existence of slave markets selling people who had m

Domestic Slavery

Friday October 13, 2017

Beyond Parachutes and Self-appointed Saviors: Grounding Campaigns in Lived Experiences

Jamison Liang

Originally published on Open Democracy, March 13, 2017. Anyone who works as an activist knows that campaigning is a messy job. That is the nature of our work. Are there human trafficking awareness campaigns that perpetuate harmful misinformation and stereotypes? Absolutely. But there are also campaigns grounded in the lived experiences of those directly affected, tied to tangible advocacy, and effective in changing public perception. The issue is not with campaigning as a medium for meaningful change, but instead with problematic representation, assumptions, and processes behind it. Many o

Activists

Wednesday September 6, 2017

Fighting Modern Slavery – ‘Ordinary People’ to the rescue

Joanna Ewart-James

It’s a fact. We do not know precisely how many people are held in modern slavery today. We do know that the number reaches into many millions - the newly released 2016 Global Slavery Index

Law & Policy

Tuesday August 29, 2017

Without knowledge there can be no progress in the fight against modern slavery

Joanna Ewart-James

We will never be able to combat modern forms of slavery if people aren’t aware that modern slavery exists. There are still too many people in the world today who incorrectly believe that slavery came to an end long ago. Public awareness campaigns are therefore essential, since if modern slavery is not acknowledged, there is little chance of making significant progress tackling this crime. A lack of awareness means neighbors will not recognize the circumstances of the domestic worker next door. Traffickers will make their profits right under the noses of authorities. Victims won’t recei

Law & Policy

Monday July 17, 2017

The highs and lows of the 2017 TIP Report

Abby McGill

Last week, the U.S. Department of State delivered its annual Trafficking in Persons report. Though the report is much anticipated each year by anti-trafficking advocates, this year drew extra attention as the first report released by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the Trump administration, and in the wake of two straight years of allegations that political considerations had weighted some country rankings. There is much in this report for which the State Department should be commended, in particular: Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan retain their Tier 3 ranking. Both Central Asian nations

Survivor Stories

Tuesday April 25, 2017

My Story, My Dignity – How representing modern slavery is crucial to success

Joanna Ewart-James

The power of shock value can be impressive. Slavery still exists? There are how many you say? But not here! Although the conversation moves on quickly from that opener, the techniques used to keep people informed and engaged on the subject, particularly in the public domain, continue to rely heavily on generating disbelief, outrage, shock or a similar psychological impact. Whilst organisations working in the fields of anti-trafficking and anti-slavery have not questioned whether generating such negative emotion is in fact most effective in securing action and building support, they have begun

Forced Marriage

Monday February 20, 2017

When is child marriage slavery?

Joanna Ewart-James

Child marriage is a formal union where one or both of the parties are under 18 years old. In many places around the world, marriage under the age of 18 is part of a culturally accepted norm, and about 10% of the global population has been married before their 18th birthday. Using media channels to raise awareness and highlight the negative consequences of child marriage and other advocacy and lobbying techniques. Freedom United is running a campaign to urge the Niger Government to raise the age of child marriage for girls to 18. By raising the age of marriage to 18, we want to allow girls