Free the Slaves

Free the Slaves Together we can end the conditions that allow modern slavery to exist.

Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 committed the world to ending forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking, and ...
09/03/2026

Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 committed the world to ending forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking, and to eliminating child labor in all its forms. Alliance 8.7 was launched in 2016 to turn that commitment into coordinated action, bringing together governments, UN agencies including the ILO and IOM, and civil society organizations.

At the center of that work are Pathfinder Countries. These are governments that make a public commitment to accelerate progress at home and develop a national roadmap to get there.

Free the Slaves works is a member of the Global Coordinating Group of Alliance 8.7. We alongside Pathfinder Countries across every phase of the roadmap process, from a government's first expression of interest through roadmap development, implementation, monitoring, and review. That work is underway now in Nepal, where we have been meeting with government and civil society partners in Kathmandu ahead of a stakeholder workshop this September, and in Guatemala, where we are supporting the update of the national roadmap for 2026 to 2030 alongside the Ministry of Labor and Fundación Sobrevivientes.

Our focus throughout is making sure survivors, communities facing the highest risk, and local civil society organizations have a real place in how those roadmaps are written and how progress is measured. Learn how Alliance 8.7 works and where we fit: https://freetheslaves.net/fts-with-alliance-8_7/

09/01/2026

“I went back three times before I knew who to call.”

Vidya is a survivor of bonded labor and a community organizer with Azad Shakti Abhiyan (ASA) in Varanasi district, India. When she learned that five people from her own village, including a five-year-old child, were trapped in forced labor in Punjab, she filed a police complaint. Nothing happened. She went back again. For three years, the family stayed trapped.

After participating in the series of trainings conducted by FTS for the ASA members she was clear on the right path to act, she connected with partner organization MSEMVS to file a formal complaint with the District Magistrate’s office.

In January, after more than three years in captivity, that family came home.
Recognizing exploitation is only the first step. Knowing who to call is what gets a family home in months instead of years.

Stand with organizers like Vidya. Help us keep this training going. https://freetheslaves.net/donate/

08/27/2026

Join us in Nairobi for the 2026 Freedom from Slavery Global Forum.

Bukeni Waruzi, Executive Director of Free the Slaves, calls on stakeholders from across the anti-modern slavery movement to come together in Kenya to exchange perspectives, strengthen collaboration, and advance concrete action.

📍 Nairobi, Kenya
📅 October 5–6, 2026

The Forum will bring together civil society, survivor leaders, policymakers, businesses, researchers, funders, and other stakeholders working toward a world free from modern slavery.

👉 Confirm your participation here:
Freedom from Slavery Global Forum 2026 - Freedom From Slavery Forum

Survivors in Nepal were asked what the government should do to keep people from falling back into exploitation. Their an...
08/26/2026

Survivors in Nepal were asked what the government should do to keep people from falling back into exploitation. Their answer reached well past removal from harm.

They described sustainable freedom as economic self-reliance combined with genuine social acceptance, and asked the state to prioritize comprehensive care, durable livelihood support, and dignified reintegration into community life.

That came out of two stakeholder meetings we convened in Kathmandu on July 31, one with survivor-led organizations and one with civil society organizations. Civil society raised a parallel concern. School dropout and child labor are normalized where households have no viable livelihood alternatives, and domestic work stays hidden because social workers cannot reach inside private homes.

Nepal's 2026–2030 roadmap is being drafted now. Both assessments locate the work at the local and provincial level.

https://freetheslaves.net/building-momentum-for-nepals-alliance-8-7-roadmap-fts-engages-civil-society-and-survivor-networks/

Debt bo***ge, forced labor, and human trafficking each have distinct definitions under international law, and using them...
08/25/2026

Debt bo***ge, forced labor, and human trafficking each have distinct definitions under international law, and using them interchangeably can weaken a policy argument or misdirect a protection response.

Our Modern Slavery Glossary defines the terms that shape the global response to exploitation. Every entry is grounded in international conventions and treaties, from the indicators of forced labor to descent-based slavery, migrant smuggling, hazardous child labor, and reparation.

We built it for policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and advocates who need shared reference points across sectors and borders.

Read it here: https://freetheslaves.net/the-modern-slavery-glossary-standardizing-the-language-of-freedom/

National commitments under Alliance 8.7 become protection when the officials responsible for implementation have the tra...
08/21/2026

National commitments under Alliance 8.7 become protection when the officials responsible for implementation have the training and tools to act on them.

That was the substance of our meeting in Kathmandu with leadership at Nepal's Ministry of Youth, Labor and Employment. Nepal's National Roadmap sets the direction. Delivery happens at the provincial and local level, where officials told us guidance and data systems are both thin.

The stakeholder workshop we are organizing for September is being built around those gaps.

https://freetheslaves.net/building-momentum-for-nepals-alliance-8-7-roadmap/

08/18/2026

On August 7, 2026, Free the Slaves held a sensitization meeting with farmers’ cooperatives, community vigilance committees, traditional leaders, and local authorities in the Mbam and Kim Division of Cameroon’s Center Region. Chaired by the Assistant Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) of Mbam and Kim, Bikoko Simon Joël, the meeting aimed to raise awareness and strengthen collective efforts to combat forced labor in the cocoa supply chain.

Video coverage of the event courtesy of Canal 2 International News, Cameroon

In Tbong Khmum Province, Cambodia, a community-led prevention model has drawn public support from the country's top coun...
08/13/2026

In Tbong Khmum Province, Cambodia, a community-led prevention model has drawn public support from the country's top counter-trafficking body.

At the official launch of the newly formed Community Hero groups, H.E. Lieutenant General Dr. Ponn Samkhan, Secretary General of Cambodia's National Committee for Counter Trafficking, spoke in support of the model, noting that it aligns with the national strategy of preventing trafficking before harm occurs.

The Deputy Governor of Tbong Khmum Province also attended, welcoming the continuation of the training, coordination, and community support the program provides in her province.

Neighbors trained to spot risk early have earned formal recognition from district and national authorities, and Cambodia's counter-trafficking leadership is now backing the model they helped build.

We are glad to support the Chab Dai Coalition as they carry this work forward.

One in eight children in the Caribbean is affected by child labor. Most are between five and eleven years old. In Episod...
08/12/2026

One in eight children in the Caribbean is affected by child labor. Most are between five and eleven years old.

In Episode 23 of Conversations on Modern Slavery, a conversation originally recorded for Freedom Matters, our Caribbean Regional Coordinator Adrian Alexander and Senior Program Manager for Research Dr. Marta Furlan talk with host Mikey Hutchinson about what drives child labor across the region, how it differs from children simply helping at home, and what a new fact sheet developed with the Caribbean Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons offers families, educators, and children themselves.

Listen to the full episode: https://links.freetheslaves.net/podcast

Legal protections for children only matter if the people enforcing them understand how to use them.That's the idea behin...
08/06/2026

Legal protections for children only matter if the people enforcing them understand how to use them.

That's the idea behind a training we held with SOS Esclaves in Nouakchott, Mauritania, bringing together thirty civil society actors to work through the national and international laws that govern child labor. It's one piece of a program that also supports paralegals helping families secure civic documentation, journalists reporting on modern slavery, and Mauritania's progress as an Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Country.

Read more on our blog: https://freetheslaves.net/building-legal-literacy-to-protect-children-in-mauritania/

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