• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Inventive abolitionists this summer found creative ways to say in a photo what we want all slaves to become: “FREE.” Our second annual FREE Photo Competition was a terrific success. You can see wonderful ways to visualize the word “free” in the gallery above, or visit the gallery on our Facebook page.

Facebook fans voted Jennelle and Leah Duerksen’s photo to be this year’s winner (check out the first photo in the gallery—that’s their work!) They’re from Saint Catherine’s, Ontario in Canada.

“We wanted to portray the 27 million victims that are hidden from experiencing freedom. The dark lenses represent the darkness they live with moment by moment,” Jenelle explains. “The white lettering is the light of awareness that we are helping to create around the cause. We were trying to capture their pain and our response.”

Jennelle worked with trafficking survivors in Thailand, and she’s now spreading the word about slavery in Canada. “Every human being that walks, did walk or will walk on the face of the earth is entitled to freedom,” she says.

Great work, Jennelle and Leah!

Shamere McKenzie is an American survivor of modern-day slavery. She gave a stirring speech at the 2010 Freedom Awards, in support of her friend and mentor Tina Frundt (a survivor of child sex trafficking, who won the Fredrick Douglass award for her tireless activism against slavery).

If you’re in the New Orleans area, you’ll get a chance to see Shamere, because she’ll be speaking at Loyola University New Orleans! The event is open to the public. If you’re interested in attending, contact Dr. Laura Murphy—who happens to be an English professor, anti-slavery activist, and Free the Slaves’ student chapter coordinator.

Here are the details about the event, titled “Human Trafficking in the U.S.”

In this week’s news, several organizations have made attempts to not only aid the victims of human trafficking, but also to introduce new resolutions to combat slavery. Both New York’s Legal Aid Society and the U.N. Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human trafficking launched projects to assist formerly trafficked humans through financial, humanitarian, and legal aid. Other efforts include global partnerships working to strengthen systems of justice internationally. Read below about these inspiring initiatives!

• Latimes.com: New sex-trafficking law in New York clears prostitute’s record: “A new New York law that recognizes minors forced into the sex trade as victims not criminals was used Wednesday to cleanse the record of a former Bronx prostitute.”  After eight years under the control of pimps, twenty-two year-old Leni Johnson has shed her former convictions. In addition, New York’s Legal Aid Society “launched a pilot project focused on the comprehensive needs of women who are victimized at a young age.”

• Trend: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and USAID join forces to combat modern-slavery in Azerbaijan: The United States Agency for International Development has signed a grant agreement with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to combat human trafficking. “The grant will also strengthen access to justice, fund legal resource centers in Sheki and Lankaran, and provide free legal assistance and information to the public.” U.S. Ambassador to Baku, Mathew Bryza, explained, “There is already strong cooperation between the U.S. and Azerbaijani governments in fighting this form of personal slavery.”

• Examiner.com: Fight against sex trafficking linked to immigration reform: National Immigration Reform has been deemed essential in fighting human trafficking. “Those who are either victims or witnesses are reluctant to report criminals for fear of being arrested themselves or deported,” allowing Arizona to become a hub for human trafficking. In other news, Mexico’s two most important newspapers have agreed to stop publishing sex ads, “a staple of the papers’ advertising revenue.”

• U.N. News Centre: World must do better to tackle human trafficking, stresses Assembly President: In the second ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends United Against Human Trafficking, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser called “for redoubling efforts to ensure that the rights and freedoms of every person are upheld.” His proposed plan calls on the international community to adopt “good governance” and to provide debt relief, measures that should help limit the supply and demand for trafficking. The U.N. Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking launched a project to aid the victims of human trafficking.

Every year an all-volunteer group called DC Stop Modern Slavery organizes an event on the National Mall for Washington-area abolitionists to show the country that we want to live in a world without slavery. This year’s gathering is set for Saturday, October 22.

Free the Slaves has a goal of 25 people for our team this year. We’re inviting you to join us. It’s a fun day, with a 5k walk, concerts, speakers, food, and everything you’d expect. It’s a great opportunity to meet thousands of people like you who also want to end slavery.

Check out the event website to learn more and to register for the Free the Slaves team. See you soon on the Mall!

You know that fighting slavery is catching on with students when it’s getting attention from MTV! The network’s college channel, mtvU, has launched a new campaign this semester to tap into the growing student movement to end slavery. The goal: make it easy for young people to take action.

The mtvU Against Our Will Campaign will spotlight student actions and connect students with ways to get involved. Free the Slaves is one of three organizations that advised mtvU on crafting the campaign.

“Students are a powerful engine for social change,” says MTV President Stephen Friedman, “and mtvU is proud to give them a national megaphone.” The campaign was launched at the Clinton Global Initiative annual conference in New York today.

The mtvU channel broadcasts to dining areas, fitness centers, student lounges and dorm rooms on more than 750 campuses, reaching nearly nine million U.S. college students. If you aren’t on campus, you can see campaign public service announcements and short video features online.

Dear abolitionists,

We need your help at the Capitol today.

In July, we asked you to tell your U.S. senators to take a stand against slavery by supporting the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. Many of you did just that, and 15 senators are now officially sponsoring the bill. Your action brought us one step closer to victory.

Now it’s time to mobilize the House of Representatives. We need them to move quickly, and to make the same improvements in their bill that we’ve already asked for in the Senate.

Let’s break our connection to slavery! We need to remove it from the products we buy, the clothes we wear and the cars we drive. There are thousands of slaves in America and millions more around the world.

What can you do? Call or e-mail your U.S. representative. Urge them to support the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (H.R.2830). It’s easy to find your representative’s contact info at the top right corner of the House of Representatives website.

Here’s what you can say to their receptionists, aides or voicemails:

“My name is ___ and I live in your district. I’m calling to ask the congressman / congresswoman to co-sponsor H.R.2830, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). I also want to ask him / her to strengthen the act, by requiring major companies to disclose on their websites and in annual reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission what they’re doing to end trafficking and slavery. The congressman / congresswoman can do this by including provisions of H.R.2759, the Business Transparency on Slavery and Trafficking Act, into the TVPRA.”

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act ensures the U.S. will remain a world leader in combating slavery. It directs authorities to raid brothels and sweatshops, freeing slaves and prosecuting slaveholders. It enables rescue shelters and rehabilitation programs to operate, inside the U.S. and overseas. The act helps Free the Slaves conduct programs that you support in India and Haiti.

This landmark anti-slavery initiative was created by Congress 10 years ago, but the act expires soon and must be renewed. Any delay could jeopardize the remarkable progress the U.S. has made.

This critical legislation is pending right now. Your voice could make the difference in ensuring the U.S. continues to fight trafficking and slavery. Your representative needs to hear from you today.

Thanks for your continued support.

Karen Stauss

Director of Programs

Free the Slaves

Mark your calendars! On Sunday, October 23, The New Hollywood Women’s Goal Group (TNH) will be hosting an event to raise money for Free the Slaves.

They are asking for a $27 donation in honor of the 27 million people enslaved in the world today.

TNH is a group of entertainment industry professionals—all women—who come together to do good, by providing a “safe environment” to help each other achieve “individual, personal and professional goals.” They also produce creative events and actions in support of non-profits. Last year, the created a beautiful, art nouveau-style calendar whose proceeds went to LA-based environmental non-profit Tree People (check out a video of the calendar photo shoot here!)

We’re thrilled that TNH will be supporting Free the Slaves! The event promises to be a showcase of the creative talents of the group. A 45-minute performance, featuring art, video, spoken word (lifted from actual survivors’ testimonials) and dance. TNH member and Broadway veteran (Wicked, Gypsy, Sweet Charity) Alexis Carra will be directing the show.

To buy tickets, go here!

Big thanks to the ladies of The New Hollywood! We’re looking forward to the October 23 event!

Free the Slaves board member Jane Covey is featured in an interview on the Huffington Post! The interview was conducted by Jennifer Hamady, a New York city-based creativity coach. Hamady’s specialty is creativity and art—and she brings this perspective to her conversation with Covey. Here are some highlights:

When asked how she became involved with Free the Slaves, Covey says: “A friend invited me to think about it. He’d been consulting with the organization and said he thought the board could use someone like me and the work I’d done, particularly given my international work. I had never heard of the organization, much less slavery in that particular frame. I had some meetings and was very impressed. Free the Slaves exits to end slavery worldwide; their work and contribution in the first 10 years has been tremendous. I went in rather ignorant and I am still in the early learning stages of what modern day slavery is and getting it integrated into my own experience.”

On the hidden nature of modern slavery: “The language of ‘labor’ implies somehow — even subconsciously — that it is on some level a choice people have made. Even the word ‘trafficking’ speaks more to the trade than the experience of the people trapped within it. And this is deliberate. Slavery, and the people it its clutches, are very hidden. They’re in every country around the world even though slavery is illegal everywhere. In the US, they’re nannies, agricultural workers, landscape workers, restaurant workers as well as sex workers. And perhaps 99% of those we see are indeed there by choice. But there are those that aren’t as well. Many are brought over from other countries with promises of jobs, education, and a better future for themselves and their children, only to become trapped by violence or the threat of violence. They have no options.”

On the “push factors” that can drive people into slavery: “In the US we have trouble understanding because we don’t see how vulnerable people are who are poor and without education, without any hopes that their children’s lives will be better than theirs have been. There are people around the world living marginalized lives. Not only for the lack of money, but because they do not have a place in their communities. They are on the fringes. They are essentially without value in their own societies. It’s that vulnerability that responds when someone comes to the village and says, ‘I can get your son a job so he can send money home to you.’ That child, sometimes as young as 5 or 6 ends up weaving rugs in a dimly lit, locked shanty for twelve hours a day, fed only enough to keep him alive.

Read the rest of the article here. Thanks, Jane, for your work with Free the Slaves! And thanks, Jennifer Hamady, for shedding light on modern-slavery!

The world map looks depressing when you flag it with the types of slavery that people endure in different countries. But it can look quite hopeful when you also flag it with the frontline projects that are combating slavery around the globe.

That’s what the new Action on the Ground map from End Slavery Now has done. They’re launching their new map this week. It shows where and how Free the Slaves and other groups are taking a stand for freedom. Leading anti-slavery organizations have uploaded their projects, photos and links so it’s easy to find out who’s doing what, where, and how.

Perhaps just as importantly, the map allows funders, activists, organizations and agencies to see the gaps, the places where work isn’t being done. As the abolition movement gains momentum this will help everyone focus resources wisely. 27 million people are counting on it!

Free the Slaves’ college chapter coordinator Laura Murphy has been doing an awesome job recruiting and maintaining the FTS presence in schools. (If you haven’t already, check out our new “students” page on our website to find out how you can make your own student chapter).

When she’s not managing FTS’ student chapters, Laura is a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans. And, she has told us, her favorite class to teach is a freshman seminar called “Slavery and Abolition in the 21st Century.” As part of this seminar, Laura has created a blog—called, appropriately, “Slavery in the 21st Century.”

The blog is updated with four new posts every Thursday. The articles will be used as discussion points in Laura’s seminar. But, you don’t have to attend her classes to be educated—and intrigued—by the information. A recent post tackled the issue of rehabilitation—once enslaved people find freedom, how do they move forward? How can society, the rule of law support their freedom?

It’s a good read. And we’ll do our best to keep you, the wider  FTS audience, up-to-date with the latest on the Loyola blog!

Also, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the Loyola New Orleans Free the Slaves chapter! You can check out their facebook page here. And, while you’re at it, join the Free the Slaves student Facebook page as well!

Here’s the latest from the “Slavery in the 21st Century” blog, written by Molly Alper:

It’s a Man’s World

China’s one-child policy was originally created to help minimize China’s already dense population. Created in 1979, it limited each family to only raising one son or daughter. Although successful in limiting the population, this policy has triggered an increase in the child sex trafficking industry. With government officials turning a blind eye, and the policy holding strong today, many female children are left without answers and looking for help.