Hillary Rodham Clinton calls for “Decade of Determination” at 8th Annual Freedom from Slavery Forum

Anti-trafficking experts commemorate 20th anniversary of landmark legislation and chart path forward for anti-slavery movement

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, October 30, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged hundreds of anti-trafficking activists around the globe to redouble their efforts to eradicate modern slavery. Calling for a “Decade of Determination,” she recalled the formative days of the modern anti-slavery movement but said much work remains undone.

“We’ve come a long way since International Women’s Day in in 1998, when we challenged the world to adopt the 3P Paradigm of prevention, protection and prosecution” to combat trafficking, Clinton said. “The Decade of Development that followed saw the sharpening of our understanding of this issue, the adoption of domestic legislation, and the growth of best practices. As Secretary of State, I was proud to call for a shift into a Decade of Delivery, and what a productive decade it has been.”

“Today, I’m calling for a Decade of Determination. It is time to take stock of our efforts to determine what is working and what is not. And most importantly, we must stay determined,” Clinton said. “Let’s keep going.”

President Bill Clinton signed the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act on October 28, 2000. As First Lady, Clinton was deeply involved in shaping the legislation. The law created a blueprint for the federal government’s anti-slavery strategy. A U.N. treaty outlawing human trafficking, the Palermo Protocol, was signed shortly after the U.S. law was enacted. The U.N. estimates more than 40 million people are in modern forms of slavery today.

Clinton’s remarks commemorating the 20th anniversary of the U.S. and U.N. anti-trafficking initiatives were a highlight of the four-day Freedom from Slavery Forum. The session was organized in partnership with Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.

The forum creates a collegial space for anti-slavery leaders to create partnerships, discuss promising practices, and develop a shared action agenda. The 2020 forum stressed innovation in anti-trafficking programs as organizations adapt to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 Focus Areas:

Research to Fight Modern Slavery: How can drivers of modern slavery and the impact of interventions be measured in ways that shape policy, generate funding and inform the design of interventions?

Strengthening Advocacy, Grassroots to Global: How have the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act and U.N. Palermo Protocol shaped the movement? How can coordinated global action more effectively serve enslaved individuals and vulnerable populations?

Empowering & Learning from Survivors: How can stronger survivor engagement and leadership be achieved in advocacy, research, policymaking, awareness-raising and project implementation?

Fundraising & Resource Mobilization: What is the movement’s financial future in the face of challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic, what must funders do to keep the movement resourced?

“We are honored that so many human rights leaders came together to work collectively on mapping paths forward for our movment,” said Free the Slaves Executive Director Bukeni Waruzi, whose organization serves as the forum’s secretariat.

2020 Forum Speakers:

• Kevin Bales | University of Nottingham Rights Lab
• Sarah Bessell: Human Trafficking Legal Center
• David Blight | Yale University
• Joha Braimah | Free the Slaves
• Luis C.deBaca | Yale University
• Dominique Chauvet-Staco | Pathy Family Foundation
• Michaëlle De Cock | International Labor Organization
• Geannina Dinarte Romero | Costa Rica Minister of Labor & Social Security
• Davina Durgana | Minderoo Foundation/Walk Free
• Alice Eckstein | U.N. University Center for Policy Research, Delta 8.7
• Tina Frundt | Courtney’s House
• Nick Grono | Freedom Fund
• Anousheh Karvar | Government of France, Alliance 8.7
• Shawn MacDonald | Verité
• Ima Matul | National Survivor Network
• Deepika Mittal | Global March Against Child Labor
• David Okech | Univ. of Georgia African Programming & Research Initiative to End Slavery
• Charlotte Oldham-Moore | U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• Sophie Otiende | Liberty Shared
• Deborah Pembrook | Monterey County California Rape Crisis Center
• Cheryl Perera | OneChild Canada
• John Cotton Richmond | U.S. State Dept. Office to Monitor/Combat Trafficking in Persons
• Vijay Simhan | Humanity United
• Zoe Trodd | University of Nottingham Rights Lab
• Bukeni Waruzi | Free the Slaves
• Kevin Willcutts | U.S. Labor Department International Labor Affairs Bureau

The forum is made possible by Elkes Foundation funding.

Terry FitzPatrick
Free the Slaves
+1 571-282-9913
terry.fitzpatrick@freetheslaves.net