South Korea hints at compensating victims of Japan’s colonial forced labour
Seoul, South KoreaReuters The South Korean Government unveiled a plan on Thursday to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labour through its own public foundation – instead of using funds from Japanese companies – prompting backlash from victims and their families. South Korea’s Supreme Court in 2018 ordered Japanese firms to pay reparations to former […]
Essay: Slavery and war are tightly connected – but we had no idea just how much until we crunched the data
Scholar of modern slavery – MONTI DATTA, ANGHARAD SMITH, and KEVIN BALES – look, in an article first published on The Conversation, about what their research shows about the connection between slavery and conflict…
Allies seek to follow US lead on Xinjiang forced labour ban – US official
Washington DC, USReuters US allies appear committed to following Washington’s lead banning forced labour goods from China’s Xinjiang region, a senior US official told Reuters on Monday, warning companies they could not maintain “deliberate ignorance” about their supply chains. The United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) took effect last month to cut US imports […]
Brazil: How the charcoal industry fuels illegal deforestation and slavery
FABIO TEIXEIRA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the plight of those working in Brazil’s illegal charcoal industry…
Activists urge Tesla to close new Xinjiang showroom
Beijing, ChinaAP American activists are appealing to Tesla Inc to close a new showroom in China’s north-western region of Xinjiang, where officials are accused of abuses against mostly Muslim ethnic minorities. Tesla on Friday announced the opening of its showroom in Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital, and said on its Chinese social media account, “Let’s start […]
US Congress approves import ban targeting forced labour in China
Washington DC, US AP US Senators gave final congressional approval Thursday to a bill barring imports from China’s Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were produced without forced labour, overcoming initial hesitation from the White House and what supporters said was opposition from corporations. The measure is the latest in a series intensifying US […]
Thailand enlists industry groups in slavery blacklist effort
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation Thailand stepped up efforts to tackle modern slavery on Monday, with a dozen industry associations signing pacts to rid their supply chains of child and forced labour as part of a government drive to get several key exports taken off a US blacklist. The businesses pledged to publicise their policies on […]
UN forced labour drive hits target with backing of 50 nations
Thomson Reuters Foundation The world has reached a “major milestone” in the drive to combat modern slavery after Sudan became the fiftieth country to back a United Nations treaty against forced labour, the UN International Labour Organization said on Wednesday. The legally binding 2014 pact – a protocol to the 1930 ILO Forced Labour Convention […]
US struggling to combat forced labour, ex anti-trafficking tsar warns
Thomson Reuters Foundation The United States must get better at tackling forced labour and fund specialist investigators to boost probes and prosecutions, the nation’s former anti-trafficking tsar said in an interview. Successive US governments have been “consistently weak” on labour trafficking with most investigations and criminal charges instead focusing on sexual slavery, said John Richmond, […]
Human trafficking cases in Thailand hit decade low due to COVID-19
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation Police in Thailand last year launched the lowest number of human trafficking investigations in a decade as coronavirus restrictions on businesses and borders hindered criminal networks, according to a soon-to-be released government report. A total of 131 cases were filed last year – down from 288 in 2019 – showed the […]