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.

Sold into China for marriage
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 8 March 17
On International Women’s Day, Freedom Fund CEO Nick Grono wrote about the horrors faced by women and girls from Myanmar who are being trafficked to China and coerced into forced marriages. Much more remains to be done to end the very worst abuses against women, Grono said.

School brings hope to child slaves in India
CNN Freedom Project, 7 March 2017
Bonded labour is one of the most common forms of modern slavery in the world, according to the United Nations. Bonded labourers are often illiterate and not aware of their rights, and many are children. The CNN Freedom Project profiled a charity that sponsors schools in Indian villages affected by bonded labour.

Albanian and Welsh Governments unite to combat slavery
BBC News, 4 March 2017
More victims of modern slavery from Albania end up in the UK than from any other country, according to the Welsh government’s anti-slavery coordinator. Officials in Wales are now working with the Albanian authorities to tackle human trafficking. In 2015-2016, prosecutions for human trafficking nationwide were their highest ever.

Apple cracks down further on cobalt supplier in Congo as child labour persists
Washington Post, 3 March 2017
Apple said it has temporarily stopped buying cobalt mined by hand in Congo while it continues to deal with child labor and harsh work conditions in its supply chains. A Washington Post investigation last year detailed abuses in Congo’s artisanal cobalt supply chain, showing how miners — including children — labored in hazardous, even deadly, conditions.

Human rights groups condemn new Bangladesh child marriage law
CNN, 3 March 2017
Girls under the age of 18 can be married off by their parents in undefined special circumstances under a new Bangladesh law passed last week. Human rights groups are concerned the law could lead to rape victims or impregnated minors being married to their abusers.

Learn more

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: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe