SlaveFree Today Podcast

In consideration of the UN's World Day Against Child Labour this month, our special episode welcomes Purva Gupta,  the Global Coordinator for the Global March Against Child Labour, and Victor Ochen, the Founder and Executive Director of African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET) to talk about about challenges to the work of ending child labour, about focusing on local needs, and suggestions for solutions. 

Dr. Tina Davis and Giulia Laganà discuss the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers and forced laborers. Giulia leads the Open Society European Policy Institute’s analysis and advocacy on EU policies on migration and asylum. A migration expert with 15 years of experience, Laganà was a senior adviser on migration, human rights, EU and international affairs to the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome from 2013 to 2016. Previously, she spent four years with the United Nations, working for UNHCR and UNDP in Italy and Brussels, respectively. While she was with the United Nations Development Programme, Laganà oversaw migration and development projects in Western and North Africa. Her work experience also includes stints with NGOs such as SOLIDAR and with the European Commission.

Dr. Tina Davis and Tomoya Obokata discuss the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on human trafficking and modern slavery. Mr. Obokata is a Japanese scholar of international law and human rights, specialising in transnational organised crime, human trafficking and modern slavery. He was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences in March 2020.

Dr. Tina Davis and Brynn O’Brien discuss climate change, and how climate change is linked to human rights issues, such as modern forms of slavery and severe exploitation, and what shareholder activism is, and how this can influence better performance on environmental, social and governance issues. Brynn is a lawyer and strategist, and the Executive Director of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR). ACCR promotes better performance of Australian and global companies on climate, environmental and governance issues. As an ‘activist shareholder’ organisation, ACCR engages with companies and their investors on these issues, including through filing shareholder resolutions.

Terry Collingsworth is the founder and Executive Director of the International Rights Advocates. He has been practicing law in the United States for over 35 years, and for the last 25, has specialized in international human rights litigation. He has worked all over the world, from India and West Africa to most countries in South America, addressing a wide range of human rights issues. He has recently focussed on cases preventing multinational companies from violating the human rights of children who are forced by poverty and other factors to work in global supply chains.

Cindy Berman is a freelance senior consultant. At the time of the interview she served as Head of Modern Slavery Strategy at the Ethical Trading Initiative and she speaks on their behalf. In her former role, she lead ETI’s efforts to tackle forced labour, child labour, human trafficking and modern slavery – working with companies, trade unions, civil society and governments. As she has transitioned to her new role as freelance Senior Consultant, Cindy continues to provide strategic advice and thought leadership on human rights due diligence to companies and governments, engages in policy influencing and advocacy and leads complex multi-stakeholder programmes in high risk countries and sectors.

Kieran Guilbert is the London-based Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Editor for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, leading a global team of nine journalists reporting on the topics. He has written several exclusives on the UK deporting survivors of modern slavery despite fears over re-trafficking, a rising numbers of former child slaves being denied refugee status in Britain, and labour exploitation on Indian tea plantations stamped slavery free by ethical certification schemes.

Leonardo Sakamoto is a Brazilian journalist with an unwavering commitment to the protection of fundamental freedoms in Brazil. In 2001, he established Repórter Brasil, an NGO dedicated to monitoring and combating forced labor in Brazil. In this Episode, Leonardo discusses Brazil’s current system to fight contemporary slavery, and the challenges they face protecting it; slavery in the Brazilian Amazons and the linkage with other issues like environmental destruction, human rights and crime; and the need for an international treaty that tackles contemporary slavery in supply chains on a global scale.

Urmila Bhoola is UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, including its Causes and Consequences, and Patron for the Journal of Modern Slavery, Ms. Urmila Bhoola joins Dr. Tina Davis in our first podcast episode of 2020. At the start of a new year and decade they do a stocktaking of where we are today with the global anti-slavery efforts, and points to what responses are needed to more effectively tackle the global modern slavery slavery challenges of the new decade to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.

Chloe Setter, Senior Advisor: Anti-Trafficking, Modern Slavery & Voluntourism at Lumos, talks with Dr. Tina Davis about the harms of institutional care for children. She discusses the complex interplay between orphanages and child trafficking and shares Lumos’ new campaign helpingnothelping.com (#helpingnothelping) to end orphanage tourism and voluntourism. Learn what you can do to help!

Jessica Hubley, CEO of AnnieCannons, an NGO and software development company that trains and employs survivors of human trafficking and gender based violence, talks with Dr. Tina Davis about AnnieCannons' unique and innovative model to empower and educate marginalized women and arm them for success.

Heather Moore, Managing Director for the Monash University Trafficking and Slavery Research Group and Member of the Journal of Modern Slavery Advisory Board,  talks with Dr. Tina Davis about Australia’s Modern Slavery legislation — its strengths and challenges — and contextualizes it among other global legislation to address modern slavery.

In this episode, Dr. Tina Davis interviews Kevin Hyland, former UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and current Chair of the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment with the Institute for Human Rights and Business. Mr. Hyland authored SDG 8.7 and led efforts for its inclusion in the UN’s 15-year global goals for sustainable development. In 2018, Mr Hyland was elected as Ireland’s representative to the Council of Europe Independent Group of Experts for Trafficking.  He is currently a senior advisor for the Santa Marta Group.

In Episode 3, Dr. Tina Davis interviews Dr. Ina Hut. Dr. Hut discusses “Open Your Eyes”, an exhibition that is an initiative of CoMensha, which is the national coordination centre against human trafficking in the Netherlands that works to improve the lives of victims of human trafficking. Applying the utmost care and attention, CoMensha, together with the Open Mind foundation, found 30 people who were willing to tell their stories and allow a look into their eyes. These are 30 people whose trust and faith got them trapped into slavery, now sharing their moving stories. Stories of being forced into prostitution, of being forced into crime, of being subjected to harrowing types of threats and violence, about unrelenting cruelty, about rape resulting in pregnancy, and about not wanting to go on anymore. These are 30 compelling and courageous individuals crossing the barriers of fear and shame to claim recognition, both for themselves as human beings and for the issue of human trafficking.

Victor Ochen is the Director and Founder of African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET), a victims-led peace movement that he established in 2005 in Northern Uganda. Victor founded AYINET in the trail of destruction experienced by victims of mass atrocities during the 20-years armed conflict in Uganda. His organization has developed an approach to peacebuilding where notions of peace and justice are not just by proxy, but have been applied practically, tangibly, and meaningfully to restore the dignity of thousands of war victims. Through his leadership, over 21,000 victims have been provided intensive reconstructive medical/surgical rehabilitation, tens of thousands provided trauma healing and communities resettled and reconciled.

Journal of Modern Slavery Assistant Editor Dr. Tina Davis interviews Fiona Reynolds. Fiona is Chair of the Liechtenstein Initiative’s Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. The Commission has just presented their final report to the UN: A Blueprint for Mobilizing Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking. In this episode, Fiona elaborates on the role of the financial sector in the ongoing battle against human trafficking and modern slavery.