Walk Free

We're looking for volunteers who understand English, German, Norwegian or French and are passionate about advancing regulatory compliance. 📣 🌏 Make a real impact by contributing to understanding how companies comply with mandatory human rights due diligence (mHRDD) laws in Germany, Norway, and France. You’ll also gain experience analysing company disclosures, understanding regulatory frameworks, and contributing to a global database supporting advocacy and research. 📩 If you’re interested, please email [email protected]

📣TODAY: 12pm ET/ 4pm UTC we're hosting the event— U.S. elections 2024: confronting the legacy of slavery. We’re inviting you to join the discussion exploring the truth of just how real the legacy of historical slavery deeply impacts many people alive in the U.S. today. Meet our expert panelists: Katharine Bryant is an anti-slavery advocate with over 15 years of experience in the sector and the Director of Operations at Walk Free. Katharine is also co-author of the Global Slavery Index, the world’s most comprehensive dataset on modern slavery, and numerous research publications. Jeronimo Aguilar is the Policy Analyst for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. Jeronimo helped found the Abolish Bondage collectively campaign (ABC) which has led to LSPC’s co-sponsorship of ACA 8/Prop 6 The End Slavery in CA Act. We are just weeks away from an exciting opportunity for voters in California and Nevada to decide whether slavery should be abolished with no exceptions. Join us at this critical moment as we sit down with experts to explain these often-ignored legacies and to discuss the implications of this election for the broader national movement to abolish slavery in the U.S. once and for all. 🗓️Wednesday, October 30th 🕰️12pm EST / 4pm UCT Register today: https://ow.ly/v2kV50TRMpZ #AntiSlaveryDay #USElections #USElections2024 #AmendThe13th #PrisonSlavery

The precarious economic conditions and the bureaucratic and abusive environments migrant workers encounter in host countries make them vulnerable to exploitation.    Modern slavery risks are rising with the world experiencing the highest number of global conflicts since WWII.     More needs to be done to prevent modern slavery in conflict-affected areas. Walk Free is calling for urgent action to prevent modern slavery in communities affected by conflict and to protect all people seeking safety. We call on leaders to prioritise human rights protections and work towards a peaceful resolution.

The UK government has announced an important update to its Temporary Permission to Stay (VTS) policy for survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery. This update follows calls from civil society organisations, including Walk Free, to strengthen support for survivors. The updated guidance will include considerations for granting a stay based on a survivor's need to recover from physical or psychological harm. Crucially, each case will be assessed individually, with decisions factoring in whether the necessary treatment is both available and accessible in the country of return. This update is encouraging; it marks a positive step towards prioritising the health, well-being, and justice of survivors. We will continue to advocate for policies that fully support those affected by exploitation.

Investors have a responsibility to respect human rights across their investment portfolios. This includes identifying and addressing modern slavery risks in investee companies and their supply chains. What role should investors play when a case of forced labour has been identified? How can they provide or enable remediation to workers who have been impacted? 📖 A new report by the First Sentier MUFG Sustainable Investment Institute and Walk Free, highlights the role of investors in remediating modern slavery. The report shares practical examples of remediation in action. 🌏 Forced labour is a serious human rights violation. It affects 27.6 million people. No country or supply chain is immune, with higher risks identified in sectors like manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and domestic work. ⚖️ Businesses that fail to address modern slavery face legal, reputational, and financial risks. This includes compliance risks and potential penalties from human rights due diligence laws in France, Germany and Norway. 🇪🇺 This will soon include incoming national laws in all EU member states under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Australia and the UK also have modern slavery laws that require businesses, including investors, to disclose the steps they are taking to identify and address modern slavery risk. This report suggests remediation actions that investors can pursue before, during and after investee companies identify modern slavery harms, including: 🔶 Ensuring investee companies have grievance mechanisms and identify their human rights impacts 🔶 Monitoring remediation commitments 🔶 Recommending corrective action plans 🔶 Appointing investigative teams for serious cases 🔶 Developing modern slavery reporting and tracking systems 👉 Read the report to learn more about what you can do. 

The farming and harvesting of cocoa beans are particularly vulnerable to forced labour, trafficking, and the worst forms of child labour. Structural inequalities lead cocoa farming operations to recruit vulnerable workers. This. includes their own children and migrants. As the industry grows, risks of exploitation increase. We must continue to demand transparency. 

50 million people are living in modern slavery globally, according to Walk Free’s Global Slavery Index.    From migrant workers experiencing forced labour in global supply chains to people who are trafficked and forced to work - modern slavery risks can look very different in each country.    👉 Read the full report by visiting this website and selecting ‘Download’ and then the ‘Spanish’ button at the top of the pop-up box: https://lnkd.in/gDFsqcgF   * 50 millones de personas viven en esclavitud moderna a nivel mundial, según el índice Global de Esclavitud de Walk Free.   Desde los trabajadores migrantes que son forzados a trabajar en cadenas de suministro globales, hasta personas que son traficadas y forzadas a trabajar- los riesgos de esclavitud moderna pueden variar significativamente en cada país.   👉 Lee el informe completo visitando el siguiente link y seleccionando descargar seguido del botón español en la parte superior de la ventana.  https://lnkd.in/gDFsqcgF

Investors play a crucial role in promoting transparent business practices and holding companies accountable for respecting human rights in their operations and supply chains. Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking Asia Pacific (IAST APAC) has won the ‘Recognition for Action – Human Rights’ award. The award was presented at the Principles for Responsible Investment Awards in Toronto this week. Congratulations to all IAST APAC members. This award highlights IAST APAC’s investor-led, multi-stakeholder approach to finding, fixing, and preventing modern slavery in operations and supply chains across the Asia-Pacific region. Principles for Responsible Investment works to: 🔶 understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors; 🔶 support its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. Established in 2020, IAST APAC brings together over 50 investors managing AU$12 trillion in assets. With support from Walk Free and FAST, the initiative focuses on tackling modern slavery risks. Walk Free is proud to continue as IAST APAC's knowledge partner, and to break more ground in responsible investment, especially when it comes to human rights.

A proposed law in Australia could force vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers out of the country, putting them at risk of exploitation. This Bill increases modern slavery risks, lacks evidence-based policy, breaks international law, and silences victims seeking help. We’re calling for crucial amendments: allow administrative review of the Minister’s decisions and set clear criteria, including assessing modern slavery risks. If you're in Australia, contact your Senator today. Demand they oppose this harmful Bill or push for these vital changes to prioritise protection over deportation.

1 in 4 people living in modern slavery is a child. An estimated 50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021, which is an increase of 10 million people since 2016. The most vulnerable – women, children, and migrants – remain disproportionately affected.