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.

Unscrupulous recruitment firms exploit Nepal’s migrant workers: Amnesty
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 6 June 2017
Millions of Nepalis have been duped by recruitment agencies that send them overseas where they may be pushed into forced labour and crippling debt, Amnesty International said, accusing authorities of failing to protect migrant workers. Around 20 percent of Nepal’s population are migrant workers in the Middle East.

50 major companies band together to stamp out illegal tuna, forced labour
Sustainable Brands, 6 June 2017
Fifty of the world’s largest businesses from across the tuna supply chain have banded together to stamp out illegal fishing and eliminate forced labour from fishing vessels. Launched at the United Nation’s first global Ocean Conference, the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration aims to stop illegal tuna from coming to market.

Supermarket company pulls meat off shelves after allegations of slavery
The Guardian, 6 June 2017
Documents show that one of the world’s largest meat processing companies, JBS, which supplies beef to retailers in the UK, previously bought cattle from a Brazilian farm now being investigated for labour abuse. Supermarket company Waitrose is taking its corned beef from Brazil off its shelves.

Big business backs Labor call for new anti-slavery legislation
The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 June 2017
Big business has backed Australia’s Labor Party push for a Modern Slavery Act, which would require Australian companies to report on modern slavery in their supply chains. The act includes the introduction of a publicly available list of companies that would be required to develop policies on and monitor any signs of the problem.

Child brides are on the rise in India’s towns and cities – report
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 2 June 2017
An increasing number of underage girls in India’s towns and cities are being married off, a study has revealed, challenging long-held assumptions that child marriage in the country is largely a rural phenomenon. Child marriage is illegal in India, but it remains widespread in parts of the country.

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