Club Lunch: How Can We Win The Fight Against Modern Slavery?

Every 4 seconds, another human being is forced into modern slavery. One minute it might be a 13-year old girl who is forced to provide sex to up to ten men a day, seven days a week – a form of commercial rape. Or a teenage boy who is placed on a slave boat in Thailand – working 18 hours a day for four years without proper food or rest, and without any pay at all. Or a child who is separated from her family and forced to work in a sweatshop to make the clothes we wear or the electronics we use. Matt Friedman talked about what is working, not working and what needs to be done to address this problem in an effective way. He interviewed hundreds of freed slaves throughout SE Asia for his new book, “Where Were You? A Profile of Modern Slavery”.

Matt Friedman had been the Regional Project Manager of the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) in Thailand . He has also worked for the United States Agency for International Development in Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal. He also helped establish a counter-trafficking regional training centre and produced two award-winning international films about sex trafficking. The Mekong Club uses an Association model to bring four industry-specific working groups together, including: Banking, Manufacturing, Hospitality and Retail. This model encourages like-minded companies to share their experiences and work together in a safe environment.