Archives
by Sally Irwin | Mar 30, 2021 | About Modern Slavery, Blog, Forced Labour, Stats and Facts about Modern Slavery
One of the biggest questions we get asked is “how is slavery different to exploitation?” Was the 7eleven incident exploitation or slavery? What about kids working in their parents business? These are great questions. Many people confuse exploitative...
by Sally Irwin | Mar 22, 2021 | Blog, Stats and Facts about Modern Slavery
Some thoughts on racism as part of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. These thoughts below have been penned by one of our American interns, Natasha, who is a woman of colour and has an inside perspective on racism. – For a...
by Sally Irwin | Mar 22, 2021 | About Modern Slavery, Blog, Child Labour, Forced Marriage
COVID-19 and Child Marriage; A Dangerous Unforeseen Consequence 10 million additional girls at risk of child marriage due to COVID-19 “NEW YORK, 8 March 2021 – Ten million additional child marriages may occur before the end of the decade, threatening years of...
by Sally Irwin | Mar 17, 2021 | Blog, Ending Modern Slavery, Forced Labour, Survivor News
As we bring awareness to the National Day Against Bullying and Violence it is important to understand that bullying doesn’t limit itself to children and students. Because bullying is also found in places of work. And this makes the work environment unhealthy and...
by Sally Irwin | Mar 2, 2021 | Blog, Forced Labour, Slavery in Fish
Seafaring Slavery aboard Chinese fishing vessels in the Indo-Pacific “Video footage went viral in May showing bodies of dead Indonesian fishermen thrown overboard from Chinese fishing vessels. Specifically from Long Xing 629, a high-sea boat of the Dalian Ocean...
by Sally Irwin | Feb 17, 2021 | Blog, Ending Modern Slavery, Survivor News
A lot can be said about a girl and her horse, but these two worked together to help survivors during the pandemic. While many of us felt paralysed with the barrage of change, these two felt mobilised to help survivors during COVID. Meet Eleni, our ‘Survivor...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 20, 2020 | About Modern Slavery, Blog, Forced Labour, Slavery in Fashion
On the first of March this year the Australia Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released a report called “Uyghurs for Sale”. But it seems to have been lost in the Covid flurry of 2020. This report indicates a huge breach of human rights. And we think every...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 14, 2020 | Blog, Ending Modern Slavery, Ethical Business, Stats and Facts about Modern Slavery
Just in time for Human Rights Day, the Australian Government launched its 5 year plan to combat modern slavery. “The National Action Plan articulates the Government’s vision for a future where no one is subjected to #modernslavery. It builds on our efforts to...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 14, 2020 | Ending Modern Slavery
How great it has been to see Christmas Festivities happening in our venue after a challenging year for hospitality. Smiling faces, laughter and enjoying being out was the general vibe. The greatest thing is that most people came to support our survivor school and to...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 14, 2020 | Blog, Ending Modern Slavery, Survivor News
Our news is of thriving not just surviving! As the year comes to an end, first we would like to say a huge thank you to all of you for your support during a very challenging year. While it has been challenging is has actually been a very good year for us in many ways....
by Sally Irwin | Dec 8, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Survivor News
Today is day 15 of our series and we would like to share with you some hopes and dreams of our survivors now that they are free. Eloquent writer Alex Elle says, “You’re not a victim for sharing your story. You are a survivor setting the world on fire with your truth....
by Sally Irwin | Dec 8, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, About Modern Slavery, Blog
Today is the United Nations Human Rights Day. At the Freedom Hub we believe this should be everyday but sadly the world is has many who exploit others for their own gain. The UN uses ‘Peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet’ as a slogan. Because equality is a...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 8, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Forced Labour
One of the biggest problems we face in trying to help women out of forced labour is knowing how to shop ethically. Shopping ethically supports the companies and factories that are treating women fairly and paying them properly. If those companies prosper, making a...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 7, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog
Today is International Volunteers Day and it is through volunteering that we see the power of women to invoke human rights. Since 1948 the UN has been proclaiming the rights that every individual is entitled to regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language,...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 3, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Forced Labour, Slavery in Fashion
Women Unpaid, exploited and dismissed: Garment workers continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic The immense global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are yet to be fully assessed. But there’s no doubt of the devastation this unprecedented event has caused. For...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 3, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog
Partners are essential to ending Modern Slavery. The Freedom Hub mission is to end slavery in Australia, help victims recover and PARTNER in the fight to end global slavery. There are many ways that we partner to end slavery. At a high level, our founder sits on...
by Sally Irwin | Dec 3, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
Sex Trafficking is not as common as forced labour and forced marriage in Australia, but it still happens. Here is a story from one of our survivors. – I am from Asia where I studied business, and saved up for a long time to further my studies in Australia – so...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 30, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
Day 9 – What is Modern Slavery and Why are Women more Vulnerable? The facts are that women and girls account for 99% of victims trafficked in the commercial sex industry, 84% of victims of forced marriage and 58% in other sectors. (ILO) Modern slavery, often...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 30, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
Today is International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, December 2 It is an interesting concept the “Abolition” of Slavery, given we still have slavery today. In days gone by slavery was the legal ownership of a person. So slavery, was condition in which...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 27, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
Defining Freedom can be difficult for anyone, but what does it mean for someone who has experienced no freedom? Someone who has been kept captive with no freedom of choice? So to find out, in the article we ask some of the survivors in our Freedom Hub Survivor...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 27, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
An Australian story of a women caught in Sexual Servitude* Note: Sexual servitude can often start as domestic violence or rape within marriage. It becomes modern slavery when the woman or girl has no freedom of movement, no phone, no bank account, no friends or is...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 27, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
The Freedom Hub Survivor School helps slavery survivors find freedom. That is freedom from their past, freedom from their own feeling of shame, and freedom to chose a new life. Modern Slavery Happens here in Australia! The Global Slavery Index 2018 estimated that we...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 24, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
This is a Survivors Story of Freedom from modern slavery in the area of forced labour * right here in Australia. I grew up in an area of Turkey and lost my parents in a war. My grandparents raised my siblings and me, but now they are old and can’t work. So when an...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 24, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
The Shadow Pandemic – Violence Against Women and Girls during Covid19 “Even before the pandemic, violence against women was one of the most widespread violations of human rights. Since lockdown restrictions, domestic violence has multiplied, spreading...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 24, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Blog, Ending Modern Slavery
Calling all women… did you know …..? Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today. 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence. Women and girls...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 23, 2020 | 16Days of Freedom, Ending Modern Slavery, Forced Marriage
Being Forced to Marry Note: Forced marriage is against a girls will. It is different to ‘arranged marriage’ where they consent and know it is happening. Usually in forced marriage the girl is often tricked and doesn’t know it is about to happen....
by Sally Irwin | Nov 8, 2020 | Blog, Ending Modern Slavery, Waterloo Cafe
At last the Waterloo cafe is crawling its way out of the Covid doldrums!!! We have travelled from March figures being 75% behind last year to October 45% behind. It’s a tricky time because we are busy enough to need more staff but not enough revenue to pay for...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 7, 2020 | Blog, Ethical Business, Forced Labour, Global Modern Slavery Updates, Slavery in Fashion
The Cruel Cost of Cotton We look at our wardrobes, and we see the end result of unseen labour. But we now know that there is modern slavery in every aspect of the products we consume. The cruel cost is hidden in the production of the materials. And, one very large...
by Sally Irwin | Nov 7, 2020 | Blog, Ending Modern Slavery, Survivor News
Freedom to Swim is an Empowering Exercise “The [woman] who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it” Woodrow Wilson. – Women and girl survivors of modern slavery know what it is like to swim against the stream where obstacles lie. And, they also...
by Sally Irwin | Oct 25, 2020 | Blog, Ending Modern Slavery, Survivor News
English is the most widely spoken language in the world. So The Freedom Hub’s Survivor School runs English classes for Survivors of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. These English classes are developed to suit our students’ individual needs. Because we want our...
