United Against Slavery launches a national survey across the transportation industry in the United States
United Against Slavery calls for contributions to its global transportation survey, Liberty Shared publishes a comprehensive overview of forced labour on Malaysian palm oil plantations, and A21 hosts its first Global Freedom Summit.
United Against Slavery (UAS) is to launch the 2021 National Outreach Survey for Transportation, a comprehensive frontline survey across the transportation industry in the United States, including a sex and labour survivor survey designed to uncover how transportation was used in their exploitation and healing journeys. The data collected will be made available through a final report and open-source database.
The scope and scale of the transportation industry presents significant challenges to government regulation and law enforcement, which human traffickers exploit to hide their criminal activities in plain sight. There is therefore is a growing call for measures that obtain quality, up-to-date and comprehensive data to support current and future counter-trafficking efforts.
The staggering number of movements across the globe, whether within a country, across borders, or online, make the interception and prevention of trafficking nearly impossible without a system of data-driven predictive analysis to guide governments in the allocation of resources and energy in the anti-trafficking space. That analysis requires comprehensive frontline data collected from across the transportation industry, as well as from sex and labour trafficking survivors; data that, until now, has not been available to the counter-trafficking community.
During 2020, UAS became the first recipient of the USDOT Combating Human Trafficking in Transportation Impact Award.
Under its collaborative model, UAS is now seeking additional contributors to assist its research team and Survivor Leader Advisory Council for the 2021 National Outreach Survey for Transportation, including researchers and experts in transportation or anti-trafficking work who can join its working groups. They are positioning contributors to gain early access to data.
There are five ways to get involved in the 2021 National Outreach Survey for Transportation:
Distribute its global survey – reserved for entities in the transportation industry that have employee or member databases.
Submit topics/survey questions – anyone can suggest topics and questions to be included in the survey.
Contribute expertise – UAS is seeking established anti-trafficking experts, transportation institutes and researchers to assist with various roles in its working groups.
Take the survey – the NOS for Transportation survey is open to those in the transportation industry in addition to sex and labour trafficking survivors.
Become a sponsor – there are limited opportunities to become a financial sponsor to help cover the needs of survivors participating in this study.
For more information, please visit the UAS website.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
A high-ranking figure in Malaysia’s lucrative palm oil industry, which relies on migrant workers and has experienced a labour shortage as a result of the pandemic, has suggested using local incarcerated people in their place. This is concerning in an industry known for systemic exploitation – find out more about forced labour in the palm oil industry in Liberty Shared’s new publication Cruel Outcomes, which examines the historic roots of this practice and gives recommendations for reform.
Following on from our feature last week, we can now report that Migrant Forum Asia has released a fourth appeal in its campaign calling for an urgent justice mechanism for repatriated migrant workers during COVID-19, which is directed towards governments. While the call to justice has resonated with various stakeholders, states have done little to address the issue with the urgency it demands, or to recognize the situation as a major crisis in labour migration governance today.
Join the U.S. Department of State tomorrow, Wednesday 23 September, for an interactive discussion on the unique challenges and innovations in the global effort to identify victims of human trafficking, featuring U.S. and foreign government specialists.
Modern slavery prosecutions in the UK have fallen during the past year despite a rise in police operations to combat the crime, and there are concerns that the coronavirus pandemic is preventing many victims from being identified or seeking help, according to a new report by the UK’s anti-slavery commissioner. The report follows criticism that Britain’s world-first 2015 Modern Slavery Act is being under-used in efforts to jail traffickers, spur action from companies and help victims.
A new INTERPOL report presents the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on risks and trends in child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) offences around the world. Under-reporting of child sexual abuse and increased sharing of child exploitation material through peer-to-peer networks are among the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted in the report.
On 17 October, A21, which works to abolish modern slavery worldwide, will host its first ever Global Freedom Summit, a one-hour global broadcast and day of action against human trafficking in towns, cities and local communities all over the world. This is an opportunity to host an event for friends, families and communities, to help them learn about human trafficking, effective strategies to combat it, and opportunities for local action.
Centre for Social Change (CSC), in collaboration with Peace Without Limits (PWL) International, has recently produced a policy paper that highlights the economic, socio-cultural, civic, demographic, psychological, and environmental challenges and opportunities associated with the reintegration of Nepali migrant workers.
One of our community members is conducting an initial screening to determine the extent to which human trafficking and labour exploitation intersect / overlap with other environmental crimes in Southeast Asia. They are interested to hear from others if they and/or your contacts have encountered human trafficking cases around the informal logging / mining industries.
Terre Des Hommes is seeking applications for the role of Regional Quality and Accountability Advisor - Asia Region, to be based in one of their offices in the area (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Myanmar).
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