ReThink Freedom

Recording from a live event.  As store aisles fill up with labels stamped with vaguely familiar certification logos, many of us have found ourselves asking: what does it all mean? Can I trust these certification bodies to tell me this product hasn’t been made with forced labor or deforestation or other social and environmental harms? And are companies sustainable if they source certified products? In this podcast, we ask these questions and more to experts on human rights and environmental protection in the cotton, seafood and cocoa sectors: Umida Nyizova, David Hammond, and Evelyn Bahn. 

Recording from online webinar - From fashion to food, workers are subjected to forced labor in the production of our everyday items. So, what can we do about it? As individuals, changing our shopping choices, even stopping buying certain products altogether can feel like the most effective response. Governments might choose to implement import bans to prevent products tainted with forced labor from reaching their shelves like the recent Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the U.S.   But are boycotts and import bans always best – and can we end slavery using these tools?   Tune in for a discussion breaking down this issue with Uyghur activist and forced labor expert Jewher Ilham, and labor rights expert Allison Gill.

Audio from Freedom Day webinar On February 1, 1865 Abraham Lincoln signed a joint House and Senate resolution that would later be ratified as the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  The Amendment which proclaimed, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” finally ended the legal practice of slavery in the United States. Or did it?   We're sitting down with Dorsey Nunn from Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Sean Kyler from the Vera Institute of Justice and Max Parthas from the Abolish Slavery National Network to find out!  This Freedom Day, join the conversation and help us unpack the current state of incarcerated workers’ labor and rights.

On this short episode, we discuss with the Freedom United community how orphanage trafficking occurs and why we are calling on volunteer tour operators to stop offering placements in orphanages.

On this episode, Eritrea Focus chairman Habte Hagos and former BBC World Africa editor, Martin Plaut, discuss the persistence of modern slavery in Eritrea through the government’s National Service and the importance of Freedom United’s campaign calling for foreign businesses and institutions to divest from the country.

On this episode, we explore how the Uyghur forced labor crisis links to the global fashion industry. Hear from: - Jewher Ilham, Program Associate at the Worker Rights Consortium and daughter of imprisoned Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti - Rahima Mahmut, UK project director at our partner organization World Uyghur Congress - Raphaël Glucksmann MEP, journalist, director, and a prominent voice on the Uyghur crisis in the European Parliament - Chloe Cranston, Business and Human Rights Manager at our partner organization Anti-Slavery International   Want to take action?  Sign the petition here: https://www.freedomunited.org/advocat... Write directly to brands: https://www.freedomunited.org/advocat... Read about the coalition https://enduyghurforcedlabour.org

As the 2022 Qatar World Cup draws nearer, systematic labor rights abuses in Qatar are under the spotlight. On this episode, hear from migrant workers’ rights activist and blogger Malcolm Bidali and human rights and migrant workers’ rights expert Nicholas McGeehan as we explore what still needs to change to ensure migrant workers are better protected from modern slavery.   Take action https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/qatar-kafala/

In the final part of this series, Brendan talks to Rachel Rein, an attorney and author of multiple law review articles as well as a student note on applying disability critical race studies to human trafficking in the U.S. All opinions expressed are Rachel Rein's.

In part two, Brendan talks to Dr. Chris Carrey, Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Portland State University.

In the first of a three-part series with Human Trafficking Search, Brendan talks to Dr. Andrea Nichols, professor of sociology at Forest Park College, and lecturer in Washington University in the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies department.

Freedom United host a special panel event discussing the decriminalization of sex work with our expert panel as an alternative to the Nordic Model and how the decriminalization of sex work can help build resilience to trafficking.

We sit down with children's rights advocates Mavuto Banda, a former child worker and University of Hull doctoral student, Jonathan Blagbrough, Co-director of Children Unite, and Faith Manyala National Project Coordinator at ILO Kenya to ask a crucial question: is child labor always exploitative?

Putting a spotlight on forced organ harvesting and organ trafficking - crimes that amount to underreported forms of modern slavery.  Join the discussion with:   - Susie Hughes, Executive Director of International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China - Tamara Barnett, Director of Human Trafficking Foundation - Lord Philip Hunt of Kings Heath - Dr. Trevor Stammers, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre of Bioethics and Emerging Technologies, St Mary's University. Editor in Chief, The New Bioethics  Freedom United is campaigning to tackle forced organ harvesting by urging national legislatures to pass legislation addressing this crucial issue.