UK officials struggle to persuade suspected modern slaves to accept help
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Britain’s anti-labour exploitation agency is ramping up investigations into worker abuses and uncovering more suspected victims of modern slavery, but few are choosing to receive support from the government, a report showed on Thursday. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority – which has police-style powers and inspects sites from factories to […]
Laws to leaders: three aims for the anti-slavery movement in 2021
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation With less than a decade for the world to meet a United Nations target of ending modern slavery, experts say gains in tackling human trafficking risk being undone by the COVID-19 pandemic. About 40 million people globally are estimated to be enslaved – in forced labour and forced marriages – in […]
Satellites used to expose risks of forced labour in global fishing
Bangkok, ThailandThomson Reuters Foundation Fishing vessels with crews of forced labourers behave in systematically different ways to the rest of the global fleet, according to a study purporting to be the first to remotely identify vessels potentially engaged in modern slavery. Using satellite data, machine learning and on-the-ground expertise from human rights practitioners, US researchers found up […]
Australia warns of modern slavery risks in government supply chains
Thomson Reuters Foundation Australia said this week that construction and textiles were among the riskiest industries for slave labour in the public sector, in its first report on government efforts to clean up its supply chains. The government’s inaugural modern slavery statement, required by a 2018 law, outlined efforts to train officials on the topic, inform […]
Traffickers profiting as pandemic makes crime harder to crack, UN warns
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Human traffickers are capitalising on the coronavirus pandemic to target people ranging from jobless migrants to out-of-school children, two United Nations specialists said, warning that the fallout from COVID-19 had driven the crime further underground. The global economic slowdown has left countless people jobless, desperate and at risk of exploitation, while […]
Aid watchdog ranks UK efforts to end modern slavery as unsatisfactory
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Britain’s multi-million aid programs to tackle modern slavery worldwide are not underpinned by a clear strategy and have produced little evidence of long-term impacts to reduce such abuses, said an independent aid watchdog on Wednesday. Officials have launched “innovative” schemes to tackle the issue but must do more to ensure they […]
UK orders public sector to tackle modern slavery in supply chains
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Government departments and other public bodies in Britain will have to take action to ensure their suppliers do not engage in modern slavery under measures announced on Tuesday. Britain said public-sector organisations with a budget of more than £36 million, including local authorities, would have to file an annual statement outlining […]
Brazil court rules in favor of anti-slavery ‘dirty list’
Rio de Janeiro, BrazilThomson Reuters Foundation Brazil’s so-called dirty list, one of the nation’s most powerful weapons against slave labour, is legal and can proceed, the Supreme Court ruled this week. With the ruling, the list of companies and individuals found by labour inspectors to have engaged in slave labour overcame a legal challenge by […]
Coronavirus fuels modern slavery threat for Asian garment workers
Dhaka, BangladeshThomson Reuters Foundation The risk of modern slavery in Asian manufacturing hubs has surged and is set to worsen with the economic impact of the new coronavirus, increased labour rights violations and poor law enforcement, a global index found on Friday. For the first time, India and Bangladesh were in the “extreme risk” category, […]
India asks local leaders to boost anti-trafficking drive amid virus threat
Chennai, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation Village councils and community groups in India have been asked to protect children from traffickers and help authorities identify and rescue missing residents, amid concerns that the coronavirus pandemic is pushing more people into modern slavery. India’s home affairs ministry this month issued an advisory urging state governments to set up […]