Collaboration and knowledge sharing are the focus of anti-trafficking awards
An anti-trafficking awards ceremony highlights the importance of shared partnerships and collective action, China updates its women’s protection laws for the first time in 30 years, and Kenyan authorities warn citizens against southeast Asian job scams.
The importance of collaboration and collective action in the anti-trafficking sector was the focus of the first Data to Disrupt Trafficking Awards last week. Hosted in London by Stop The Traffik, it brought together organizations, projects and individuals who fight trafficking through the use of data and technology. Although the event took the form of an awards ceremony, the main takeaways were that transparency and trust are key to long-term change, and collaboration and knowledge sharing are crucial, say the organizers.
Stop The Traffik leverages the power of data and technology to prevent human trafficking through an intelligence-led approach, tackling the ways in which trafficking and modern slavery thrive as profits move unimpeded through financial institutions, businesses overlook exploitation in their supply chains, and vulnerable communities remain unaware of how and where traffickers operate.
The awards were designed to celebrate and recognize the pioneers and early adopters of change who are paving the way in this space, demonstrating how, through innovation, collaboration, data and technology, meaningful disruption of human trafficking is possible.
Among the winners were Romanian anti-trafficking organization eLiberare which received the Disruption of Recruitment award for its Kompass Model – an intervention tool developed in partnership with Ukrainian colleagues to tap into the power of data and technology for raising awareness and providing safe spaces for those escaping the war. Its aims are:
• Raising awareness about safety measures in key locations among Ukrainians and third-country nationals displaced by the war. This includes the distribution of safety measure cards across the country by various partners and volunteers, and the development of Kompass World, an online platform that collates information on rights and responsibilities, and access to services, across the region and in the rest of Europe.
• Capacity building, including information sessions on temporary protection, access to services, safety measures and human trafficking risks. Participants receive a backpack containing essential resources such as emergency contacts and options for further assistance.
• The creation of individual safety plans based on each person’s particular needs. This includes a set of tools to help map the compound vulnerabilities of individuals and assess the risks of exploitation.
• Assistance mid-term and long-term. Those traveling beyond Romania’s borders are supported with a check-in schedule along their route. If a check-in point is missed, the team can intervene through its partner network or through local authorities to ensure that everyone reaches their final destination safely. Those staying within the country are protected from exploitation and receive proper support and assistance.
Kompass has already supported more than a thousand refugees, two-thirds of whom were traveling with at least one child and the majority of whom had no savings, a low level of English, and a lack of connections and childcare support. Several had higher risks of vulnerability, and included victims of sexual abuse and those who had accepted jobs with no contract or had been offered accommodation by convicted traffickers.
The other winners were: IBM Tech 4 Good (Collaborative Disruption), University of Nottingham Rights Lab (Disruption of Supply), Bank of Ireland (Disruption of Money), Azadi Kenya (Lived Experience Led Disruption), and Neil Giles (Lifetime Achievement Award). We at Freedom Collaborative were delighted to be nominated in the Collaborative Disruption category.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
China has passed legislation aimed at giving women more protection against gender discrimination and sexual harassment – the first time in nearly 30 years that women’s protection laws have been updated. Employers will now be held to account if women’s labour and social security rights are violated; obstructing the rescue of trafficked and kidnapped women will be specified as an offense; and the responsibility of local authorities to rescue trafficked and abducted women will be set out.
Belarus has failed to prevent human trafficking on its borders, according to the second evaluation report from The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action Against Human Trafficking (GRETA), which assesses progress in the implementation of its Anti-trafficking Convention.
Humanity Research Consultancy’s latest report focuses on the increasing number of stateless children in Taiwan, detailing the difficulties faced by undocumented female migrant workers during pregnancy, and the ways in which these struggles are passed on to the child as they are born without citizenship or legal identity.
A new investigative series reveals how regulations and legislation make it difficult for Filipino migrant truck drivers in Europe to prove human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, leaving them unprotected and vulnerable.
A “secret” report shows that Malaysian officials could have prevented the torture and death of Rohingya and Bangladeshi trafficking victims, and that official negligence hindered the detection and proper investigation of a human trafficking syndicate responsible for atrocities committed against Rohingya people and others.
Kenyan authorities have yet again cautioned citizens against falling victim to job scams after it emerged that rogue agents from local recruitment agencies are luring people abroad with the promise of jobs in southeast Asia, but are instead delivering them to human traffickers who force them into criminal activities.
This presentation from the 11th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) in Vienna, Austria, discusses crime and insecurity as principal drivers of displacement and migration from nations around Latin America and the Caribbean. The Venezuela situation has created one of the world’s worst refugee crises and migrants are supremely vulnerable to exploitation and recruitment, with women and children disproportionately impacted.
The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) is looking for a Programme Officer: Alliance Strengthening to lead the engagement of the GAATW Secretariat with Alliance members, specifically in the areas of communications, capacity-strengthening, and peer learning, and to promote members’ work across GAATW’s audiences.
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