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“Survivor-Led Anti-Slavery Work is Central”: The Impacts and Future of Survivor Alliance

In conversation with Executive Director, Minh Dang In the three years since its inception, Survivor Alliance has grown its membership base to 300 members in over 20 countries. The organisation, led by its Executive Director Minh Dang, unites and empowers survivors of slavery and human trafficking around the world, focusing its programs on meaningful survivor …

Free the Slaves and the Rights Lab Form New Partnership to Combat Modern Slavery

On this International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, two of the world’s leading antislavery institutions are proud to announce a new partnership to merge research, community activism and global advocacy. Free the Slaves, headquartered in the U.S., and the Rights Lab, based at the University of Nottingham in the U.K., will work together as …

Antislavery Usable Past eBook

Today we are engaged in a global antislavery movement. But there have been at least four large antislavery movements in human history. We are part of a long tradition of brilliant antislavery activists. By studying the history of the antislavery movement and the actions of our antislavery ancestors, we can find valuable, practical lessons. One …

‘Nothing about us, without us’ – New guidance for policy makers on working with survivors

Do you work in a government department, a public authority or business and does your work focus on addressing modern slavery? If so, to what extent can you say that your work is currently survivor-informed, or even survivor-led? The likelihood is that your work currently isn’t, or not to the extent that you would like …

Bricks: the building blocks for construction (but also for the Rights Lab’s flagship project: Slavery from Space)

Modern slavery is one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time. As such, target 8.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenges the international community to, by 2030, ‘Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking…’. It is therefore vital that today’s anti-slavery …

New Research: Compliance up but quality down – the concerning lack of engagement in modern slavery reporting from the UK agricultural sector

  A recent report from the Rights Lab at Nottingham has found that less than 50% of agricultural businesses in the UK are compliant with the terms of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act, and that the quality of the reporting is low. This is a cause for concern for a sector with the fourth highest …

From fast-fashion to ultra-fast fashion: it is time to reveal the true costs

By Sacha McGowan-Crewe, Rights Lab Intern The fashion industry is worth £32 billion to the UK economy, yet is the second highest at-risk sector for modern slavery. The International Labour Organisation defines modern slavery as a ‘situation of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, and abuse of power’. It …

The Rights Lab Modern Slavery Evidence Unit (MSEU)- research in the service of ending slavery  

  By Sarah Kerr, Rights Lab Deputy Director and Modern Slavery Evidence Unit (MSEU) Director, Tuesday 29th January 2019 The Rights Lab Modern Slavery Evidence Unit (MSEU) is the interface between the Lab’s research base and modern slavery change agents in government, business and civil society in the UK and internationally. Domain specialists from each of the Rights Lab’s four research …

Working together to tackle modern slavery

Victim and survivor care is an area which needs urgent improvement in the fight against modern slavery, say frontline staff working with perpetrators and survivors. This is just one of the findings from a series of workshops which brought together local agencies to help them better understand how they can fight modern slavery in their communities. Multi-agency …

Rights Lab research used in parliamentary report on hand car washes

By Dr Akilah Jardine Dr Akilah Jardine, a Research Associate in the Rights Lab has been carrying out research into labour exploitation in hand car washes (HCWs). This type of set-up has attracted a lot of attention in the UK over recent months as investigations by law enforcement bodies have unearthed numerous labour, employment, health …