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Slavery News Weekly: 26 January 2017

January 26, 2017 / Media, Slavery News Weekly The Freedom Fund / @freedom_fund

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

New guidance to improve transparency in palm oil sector
Global Trade Review, 24 January 2017
Eighteen organisations have come together to improve transparency in the palm oil sector, releasing a set of best-practice reporting guidelines for companies engaged in sustainable sourcing and production. The guidelines’ release follows a Greenpeace report accusing banks of financing companies engaged in unsustainable behaviour.

Indonesia cracks down on brutal conditions on foreign fishing boats
The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 January 2017
A recent report by the International Organization for Migration details how more than 1,300 fishermen from Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos were rescued after an Associated Press investigation revealed the brutal conditions aboard many foreign vessels reflagged to operate in Indonesian waters.

Crackdown and vigilance drive down number of child workers in Mumbai
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 24 January 2017
The number of children working in Mumbai’s roadside food stalls has plummeted in recent years, activists and police said, attributing the decrease to a crackdown and heightened vigilance in train stations where children are trafficked into the city. Children are commonly trafficked to Mumbai from other parts of India to work in factories, roadside tea stalls and grocery stores.

Syrian child refugees struggle to get an education: U.N.
Reuters, 23 January 2017
Syrian refugee children in Lebanon are struggling to get an education and many are being pushed into work or early marriage instead, according to the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF. Around 187,000 youngsters – roughly half the school-age Syrian children in the country – are not going to classes.

Labor group seeks abolition of placement fees
Business World, 23 January 2017
A group in the Philippines representing trade unions, migrant workers groups, civil society organizations, recruiters and governments has signed a manifesto calling for the abolition of recruitment fees for migrant workers.

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For more news and updates about the Freedom Fund, visit our Newsroom. You can also view issues of our monthly slavery research bulletin here.

Do you have a story you’d like to see featured in our roundup? Submit articles at [email protected].

Photo credit: iStock