Modern slavery cases in Britain reach record high
London, UK Reuters The number of potential modern slavery victims in Britain rose to a record last year, official statistics showed on Thursday, highlighting a growing crime that experts say requires the government to undertake urgent policy reforms. Home Office figures showed there were 19,125 referrals of potential victims into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) […]
Pope lists tragedies of children in war and trafficking at a rights summit
Rome, Italy AP Pope Francis convened a high-level summit Monday to demand that children be protected from war, forced labour, trafficking and exploitation, throwing his moral authority behind a global initiative to uphold children’s fundamental rights despite the Catholic Church’s own poor record in protecting them from sexual abuse. Queen Rania of Jordan opened the […]
Human trafficking rises sharply after dropping during pandemic, UN says
Vienna, Austria Reuters Human trafficking has risen sharply due to conflicts, climate-induced disasters and global crises, according to a United Nations report published on Wednesday. In 2022, the latest year for which data is widely available, the number of known victims worldwide rose to 25 per cent above 2019’s pre-pandemic levels, the United Nations Office […]
Indonesian court acquits former official in grisly palm oil slavery case
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters An Indonesian court has acquitted a former government official accused of human trafficking after people were found in cages near his palm oil plantation, a ruling the country’s rights body said on Tuesday signalled impunity for state actors. Prosecutors have vowed to appeal Monday’s decision by judges of a North Sumatra court […]
Blinken says genocide in Xinjiang is ongoing in report ahead of China visit
Washington DC, US Reuters Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which […]
Essay: Many global corporations will soon have to police up and down their supply chains as EU human rights “due diligence” law nears enactment
RACHEL CHAMBER and DAVID BIRCHALL, in an article first published on The Conversation, look at what the new law means…
Nearly a third of domestic workers in Malaysia in forced labour conditions – UN agency
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaReuters Nearly a third of migrant workers employed in domestic households in Malaysia are working under forced labour conditions, according to a survey released by the United Nations’ labour agency on Thursday. The International Labour Organisation identified conditions such as excessive working hours, unpaid overtime, low wages, restricted movement, and being unable to […]
Essay: Canada’s Modern Slavery Act is the start – not the end – of efforts to address the issue in supply chains
In an article first published on The Conversation, KAM PHUNG and GENEVIEVE LEBARON say the enactment of what many are calling Canada’s Modern Slavery Act is an important milestone, yet it should only be viewed as the beginning of efforts to address modern slavery in supply chains…
Essay: 10 years after the Rana Plaza factory collapse, we are no closer to fixing modern slavery
MUHAMMAD AZIZUL ISLAM, of the University of Aberdeen, looks – in an article first published on The Conversation – at what progress has been made since the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013…
UN committee urges China to dismantle forced labour systems
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters A UN committee said on Monday it was concerned about China’s treatment of its Muslim minority, including the use of forced labour against Uyghurs, in a sweeping report that adds pressure on Beijing to improve its human rights record. The findings by the group of UN-appointed independent experts follow a series of […]