FreedomUnited.org

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

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

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

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 estimates a total of 45.8million. The term modern slavery has never been more frequently used by the media and within legislative and corporate spheres. Despite this, the pervasive low awareness within our largely globalised, modern society, allows this pernicious crime to thrive. Ten thousand new laws and audits will not make great change; we need society

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

Speak free