Stories and Updates
Hello all, and welcome, any new members of the coalition! For the past two months, we’ve been campaigning around the connection between increased anti-migrant policies in the US and forced labor. We’ve released a Know Your Rights guide in Spanish and English for migrant communities in the United States, and we encourage our members who are both based in the US (and who have connections in the US) to take action by reading and sharing this information. Today, coalition members also joined a joint teach-in with Project South to learn about their efforts against forced labor in migrant detention facilities.
At the start of his second term as President, one of Donald Trump’s first actions was to announce executive orders focused on mass detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States, putting migrant communities – who face some of the highest rates in the US of labor abuse, forced labor, and other forms of trafficking – at an even greater risk.
At the same time, the closure of the CPB One app, which helped facilitate safe and legal migration, has left asylum seekers with few options, increasing their vulnerability to forms of human trafficking, including forced labor. What's more, right-wing lobbying – including Project 2025 – has been pushing against life-saving T-Visas for human trafficking survivors.
Surveying data from the US Human Trafficking Hotline, Polaris found that 76 percent of human trafficking survivors in the agriculture sector were immigrants. At the heart of our campaign is a commitment to defending the rights of migrant and refugee communities and combating the exploitation they often face across the U.S. economy. Our movement seeks to raise awareness, build solidarity, and advocate for policy and system change, ending not only labor and sexual exploitation, but the systemic injustice and corporate violence enabling them. We believe in a future where migrant workers are valued, treated with dignity, and can fully participate in the economy without fear of discrimination, wage theft, or violence.
Action Items
Here are some actions that you can take as we work towards a world free from forced labor, human trafficking, and the systemic inequalities that perpetuate exploitation! For additional action items, see our Action Library!
- Review our Gift Buying Guide and learn about industries that have high forced labor risk, ways to minimize harm when making purchases, and number of enterprises created by and/or in support of survivors.
- Sign our pledge to boycott abusive tea farming practices in rural Sri Lanka! And support our members who are crowdfunding to expand education access in their community.
- For those based in the US or with US citizenship, call your elected officials about supporting and advocating for immigrant rights. This can include calling the congressional switchboard at (202) 224 - 3121 and asking for your representative or senators. Find your elected officials here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member.
Call for Collaborative opportunity in the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking
At the International Coalition Against Modern Slavery, we believe that lasting change in the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking requires collective action. Change doesn’t come from the top down – it comes from all of us working together to organize, raise awareness, and act.
If you have any ideas for topics you’d like to cover, resources you’d like to help us create, or talks you’d like to help host, reach out to us at coalitionagainstmodernslavery@gmail.com.
Call for partner organization spotlight: Champions in the Fight Against Modern Slavery
At the International Coalition Against Modern Slavery, we are proud to work alongside a dedicated network of partners and members who are leading the charge in combating modern slavery and human trafficking. We want to highlight the incredible work of partner organizations and members, helping to share insights and research that could benefit the larger network, and spotlight any projects you have been working on to help fight exploitation. Something you’d like us to add to the next newsletter? Send us an email.
ICAMS Resources
Go to our website and check out our resources!
- Signs of modern slavery
- Myths of modern slavery
- Know your rights
- Hotline database - Does your organization or an organization that you know of provide services to individuals who have experienced human trafficking and modern forms of slavery? Complete this interest form to be included in our hotline database!
Opportunities
If you are aware of a funding or career opportunity, please share with us at coalitionagainstmodernslavery@gmail.com!
- Apply for the WARC Travel Grant and get up to $3,000 for research visits across Africa! This grant supports West African researchers and graduate students traveling for academic work, collaborative projects, or archival research.
- Deadline: March 2, 2025
- More information: https://opportunitiesforyouth.org/2024/09/18/west-african-research-center-travel-grant-support-for-academic-research-across-africa/
- Career opportunity at the UNESCO-UNEVOC as a Project Assistant and Programme Assistant!
- Deadline: March 2, 2025
- More information: https://opportunitiesforyouth.org/2025/02/19/unesco-unevoc-project-programme-assistant-positions-in-germany-open-to-international-applicants/
- Climate Mobility Fellowship
- Deadline: March 15, 2025
- More information: https://opportunitiesforeveryone.net/call-for-applications-for-the-fully-funded-2025-26-climate-mobility-fellowship-800-per-month-stipend/
- The Columbia Global Emerging Scholars Fellowship Program provides opportunities for early-career scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who hold refugee status or have been forcibly displaced.
- Deadline: March 19, 2025
- More information: https://globalcenters.columbia.edu/emerging-scholars-fellowship-program
- Climate Policy Initiative is hiring for positions for their offices in the US, India, and South Africa.
- Deadline: Varies for positions
- More information: https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/about-cpi/careers/