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

Keep up to date by following us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, where we will share the Slavery News Weekly every Thursday.

Thai court dismisses charges against Myanmar workers in landmark case
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 11 July 2018
A court in Bangkok dismissed criminal defamation charges against workers from Myanmar who had accused a chicken farm of abuses, in a landmark ruling seen as a rare victory for migrant workers’ rights in Thailand.

Malaysian man who married 11-year-old Thai girl fined $450 by sharia court
The Guardian, 10 July 2018
A Malaysian man who married an 11-year-old Thai girl has been fined $450 after pleading guilty in a sharia court. The case has caused outrage in Malaysia, reinvigorating debate about the need for legal reform to stop child brides.

‘Our fingers bleed’: India’s female miners toil over sandstone for the UK
The Guardian, 4 July 2018
An investigation revealed that women are highly exploited in India to produce sandstone for UK streets, earning a third less than men’s already paltry wages. Discrimination confines women in Rajasthan’s mines to menial tasks, lugging rocks in “super-exploitative conditions”.

Forced labour is the backbone of the world’s electronics industry
The Atlantic, 28 June 2018
Poor people around the world are streaming into Malaysia in search of factory work. Once they arrive, they often find only hardship. The country provides a window into a troubling part of the global economy that is built on the availability of a massive, inexpensive, and flexible labour supply.

All underage marriage is child labour – campaigner
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 27 June 2018
All underage marriage should be considered a form of child labour as young brides face abuse and are made to perform domestic work, a campaigner said last month at a conference on child marriage in Kuala Lumpur hosted by advocacy group Girls Not Brides.

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: Brent Lewin/Freedom Fund