Each week the Freedom Fund compiles the most insightful and timely news stories about modern slavery. Check out what we’re reading among this week’s top slavery articles.

US State Department reprimands China over sex trafficking and forced labour
Washington Post, 27 June 2017
The US State Department’s 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report listed China as one of the countries with the worst records on sex trafficking and forced labour, a downgraded designation that Beijing labelled irresponsible.

Forced labour in Uzbek cotton fields linked to World Bank funds
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 27 June 2017
Children and adults were forced to pick cotton in at least one project funded by the World Bank in Uzbekistan, where the cotton industry has been tainted by widespread forced labour, rights groups said this week.

Child marriage set to cost developing countries billions of dollars by 2030
Devex, 27 June 2017
Ending child marriage could add billions of dollars to developing countries’ economies by slowing population growth, improving education outcomes for girls, reducing government budgets and boosting women’s earning potential, according to new research.

Modern slavery: the next social care scandal?
The Guardian, 26 June 2017
Foreign nationals working in social care in the UK could be victims of exploitation, trafficking and forced labour. Staff are being urged to speak out and report any instances of abuse in the adult social care sector.

UAE princesses guilty of servant abuse in Belgium
BBC News, 23 June 2017
Eight princesses from the UAE have been convicted of human trafficking and degrading treatment of their servants by a Brussels court. They were accused of holding more than 20 servants they brought with them on a 2008 visit in near slavery.

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Pictured: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the launch of the State Department’s 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report on 27 June 2017.

Photo credit: The Freedom Fund