What can you do to end modern-day slavery? Take action in January by spreading the word that slavery can be overcome. Here are some ideas for how you can help: Tell your relatives, coworkers, classmates, colleagues and neighbors. Play a Free the Slaves video at your...
It’s been quite a year at Free the Slaves, especially for Executive Director Maurice Middleberg. He has spent much of 2013 on the road visiting our front line programs in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. His meetings with slavery survivors and activists have led to an...
They’re being billed as an “anti-trafficking trio” who “share a passion for freedom.” And they’ll be on the Web live today during a Google Hangout organized by Forbes magazine. The conversation begins at 3 p.m. ET. The trio is FTS Executive Director Maurice...
The team from Stillmotion has wrapped-up filming for their new documentary, #standwithme. The film’s preview is now available online. You can also sign up now to attend premiere screenings of the film in 30 U.S. cities coast to coast early next year! This...
FTS Associate Programs Director Ginny Baumann has never been one for the limelight. But she has always deserved it. She helped create Free the Slaves back in 2000 – a true co-founder. And over the past 13 years, Ginny has been the principal architect of the Free the...
I’d like to introduce you to five of the most passionate people I know. They are the Free the Slaves country directors – our key front line activists. They supervise our organization’s fieldwork in the world’s worst slavery hotspots. Why do these courageous staffers...
It is a familiar story: a child taken, a family frantic for help. But for 24 families in northern India, this time the story has a happy ending. Our inspiring new video shows the boys being rescued, and how spreading information about trafficking and slavery leads to...
Free the Slaves is proud to announce that Bob is back! Our former Board Chair Robert Boneberg will assist Free the Slaves in several key areas, including: Legal analysis to support our frontline country offices; Policy advocacy on business supply-chain transparency;...
Free the Slaves is excited to welcome three new members to our senior management team. Lori Fitzmaurice, Fatou Toure and Sujata Bijou each bring fresh, insightful perspectives to the organization. We asked each of them to tell us a bit about their background, and the...
Your ongoing support has helped Free the Slaves move people from slavery to freedom around the globe. I'm hoping that you might volunteer 10 minutes of your time to help us become even more effective. Your impressions about Free the Slaves are extraordinarily...
What do you get when you combine the world-class photography of Lisa Kristine, the innovative frontline anti-slavery projects of Free the Slaves, and a vivacious 9-year-old California girl who has decided she wants to help end child slavery? You get a powerful...
Boys as young as 12 are working with dangerous chemicals to extract gold dust from ore. Girls as young as 10 are prostituted in mining camps and are pushed into relationships with older men. These deeply moving stories of children losing their childhoods and freedom...
There are many words around the world for slaves and slavery. In Finland, the word is orjat. And it’s on the cover of the FTS book Ending Slavery, which is now available in Finnish. In Ending Slavery, FTS Co-founder Kevin Bales outlines what’s needed to eradicate...
There is great news to share with you today. I am pleased to announce that three remarkable individuals will be joining Free the Slaves. Two have been elected to our board of directors, Gary Gold-Moritz and Gregory Haile. The third, Mark Allen Trozzi, will assist the...
If you haven’t heard about the story of Solomon Northup, you will hear about it soon. It’s about to become a major motion picture featuring Brad Pitt, Alfre Woodard, Paul Giamatti and Chiwetel Ejiofor. If you’re not the movie-going type, you can experience Northup’s...
It isn’t often that all five FTS country directors are in the same place at the same time. But it happened last week in Washington, as our overseas staff briefed the U.S. State Department’s "J/TIP" anti-trafficking team. The presentation was called “Innovations on the...
Two new FTS field investigations are now available on our website in both French and English. The two reports break new ground in understanding the scope and impact of slavery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Congo’s Mining Slaves provides new evidence of...
We received terrific news today from our friends at the End It Movement, as they wrap up their campaign. From January 1 through April 9, young activists mobilized across the country to shine a light on modern-day slavery. They raised awareness on a large scale and...
Dear Friends, I recently completed my first 100 days as executive director of Free the Slaves. During my first weeks on the job, I spent most of my time reaching out to stakeholders: staff, board members, donors, peer organizations, policy makers and other FTS...
I’m writing to tell you about an extraordinary man and his remarkable legal clinic in India. The man is Roshan Lal. He was raised in a family of slaves. Now he is free and helping those still in slavery. Roshan’s clinic is a testament to his courage and dedication....
Great news from Hollywood this week: We’ve learned that the mtvU Against Our Will Campaign has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award! The campaign has been honored in the “New Approaches” category, in recognition of its innovative techniques to build awareness about...
One of our goals at FTS is to “mainstream” anti-slavery work. That means getting field workers for charities and development institutions, such as USAID and the United Nations, to recognize slavery when they see it, and take appropriate action.A recent article by FTS...
It's a three-peat! America's premiere charity evaluation organization has given its highest designation to Free the Slaves for the third straight year. The four-star rating indicates that Free the Slaves "adheres to good governance and other best practices," says...
As National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month draws to a close, we’re excited to share some important organizational news. We have selected a new Executive Director for Free the Slaves. His name is Maurice Middleberg. Maurice brings remarkable skills and...
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert in Myanmar this weekend to raise awareness about modern-day slavery and trafficking. His performance at the base of the Shwedagon pagoda in People’s Square in Yangon is believed to be the...
It isn’t on America’s front pages, but there’s a dangerous situation unfolding at this moment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Rebel troops have captured the regional capital of Goma – a city of roughly one million people and the regional base of operations...
If you live in the New York area, you know firsthand that climate change is affecting the intensity and frequency of severe storms. What you might not know is that slavery is part of the problem. You can learn about this connection, and other ways in which slavery...
President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak about slavery at noon ET today, at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. You can watch live here or here. Administration officials have been asking anti-slavery activists for several months if there is more that the...
Free the Slaves is thrilled to introduce two dynamic individuals who have recently joined us to form our action team for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Jack Kahorha is FTS’ new DRC Coordinator, working on the frontlines. He is based in Goma in eastern...
Katie Ford is no stranger to those in the fashion world, and is no stranger to Free the Slaves. Made famous by her family’s modeling agency, Ford Models, Katie made the transition from CEO to abolitionist after attending a U.N. human trafficking conference in 2008....
Last week, we announced the beginning of Free the Slaves’ annual 4th of July photo contest, now with the catchy new name of “Photos 4 Freedom.” These past two years, you’ve dazzled us with your creative ways of finding freedom in your daily lives. From food, to street...
Editor’s note: FTS South Asia Director Supriya Awasthi briefed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this month during Clinton’s trip to India. We thought you would enjoy Supriya’s reflections on her experience. It is not easy to get an invitation to meet the...
You may already have seen some of Lisa Kristine’s captivating photographs that feature work of Free the Slaves around the world. Now, you can see Lisa talk about her experiences capturing the reality of slavery in mine shafts, brick kilns and makeshift brothels....
Three amazing women will be honored this year as recipients of the Fourth Annual Free the Slaves Freedom Awards. Two are former slaves who have dedicated their lives to helping others to freedom. One is a former governmental official who has shown the world how to...
Terrific news from The Foundation for I AM (FFIA), formed by film director Tom Shadyac to distribute proceeds from his I AM documentary to support nonprofit organizations. FFIA has dedicated three years of financial support to Free the Slaves, with the goal of...
It happened in the middle of the night, two men slipping away quietly from a ranch. They walked 14 miles through forests and fields to escape. And what makes this rescue especially inspiring is this: a younger slavery survivor risked his life to help an elderly...
Editor's note: This is the fifth and final post from guest blogger Carol Metzker. Carol is a longtime supporter of Free the Slaves. She recently visited our frontline work in India. In this series of articles, she writes about the Punarnawa ashram, a shelter for girls...
There's some organizational news to share today. Free the Slaves would like to thank Chairman Stephen Maher and Board Member Bryn Freedman for their dedicated service as members of the board of directors. Maher and Freedman announced their departure from the board...
Editor’s note: This is the fourth part in a series of blog posts written by longtime Free the Slaves supporter Carol Metzker. Carol has been writing about her visit to Punarnawa ashram in India, where girls who have survived slavery heal and rehabilitate. (You can...
Editor's note: This is the third part in a series of blog posts written by longtime Free the Slaves supporter Carol Metzker. Carol has been writing about her visit to Punarnawa ashram in India, where girls who have survived slavery heal and rehabilitate. (You can read...
There is important news today involving a hero of the anti-slavery movement who has dedicated more than a decade of her life to create Free the Slaves and guide it from its infancy to the thought-leading organization that it is today. Our co-founder and communications...
Dear Colleagues and Friends along the Journey -- I had the luxury of swimming in wonderful memories this morning. Memories that are sweet; transcendent even. Memories of hard work and fear and triumph. Memories of being brought to my knees by the sheer grace and...
Friend of Free the Slaves, artist Ben Swatez will be having an art show this Sunday, February 12 at the Phantom Gallery in Long Beach, CA. Last year, Ben visited our frontline work in the village of Bahari in India. The community there had just recently come out of...
Free the Slaves co-founder Kevin Bales was on CNN last Friday. He was interviewed by Richard Quest about the state of slavery in the cocoa industry. Just over 10 years ago, in September 2001, Free the Slaves helped broker the historic Harkin-Engel Protocol. Otherwise...
The newest front in fighting slavery involves educating consumers that many everyday products are tainted by slavery. Sometimes it’s sweatshop slavery where products are made. Other times, slaves are forced to harvest or mine raw materials. America’s most influential...
Editor's note: We are thrilled to feature a series of blog posts from Carol Metzker. a longtime supporter of, and donor to Free the Slaves. Carol has traveled to India to see Free the Slaves' frontline partner work. Her most recent trip took her to the Punarnawa...
All eyes will be on London for the 2012 Olympic games. That's why our UK sister organization, Anti-Slavery International, has started a new campaign to make sure that the games are slavery-free. According to ASI, there are 5000 people trafficked into London or the UK...
For more than a decade, fighting slavery has been a unified effort by both the democrats and republicans in the U.S. government. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, considered to be the cornerstone of anti-slavery legislation, passed into law in 2000. It was a...
It’s the beginning of the New Year, so why not start a New Year’s resolution to help end Modern-Day Slavery? There are currently 27 million slaves in the world right now- more than any other time in history. Together, we can do something about it. Here are five simple...
Dear Friends, There’s a word that you don’t often hear at this time of year. But it’s a word that embodies how your concern for others is changing lives around the world. That word is TRIUMPH. When families in slavery break free and step into lives of fulfillment,...