US ‘off and running’ with landmark End Modern Slavery Initiative
Senator Bob Corker, who championed the new End Modern Slavery Initiative, says the US is “off and running” with the new legislation.
Hope for Justice strongly welcomed the passage of the new bipartisan initiative in December 2016, and had been running our ‘TOGETHER, WE CAN END IT’ campaign in support.
Asked about the initiative this week, Senator Corker had this to say:
Under the initiative, a non-profit, grant-making foundation in the District of Columbia will be created to fund projects to help set free victims of modern slavery and aid their sustainable recovery. It will also fund projects that prevent individuals from being enslaved, and enforce laws to punish individual and corporate perpetrators of modern slavery.
Dave Rogers, Hope for Justice US program director, commenting at the time the legislation was approved, said: “Hope for Justice is proud to have worked with Senator Corker’s office as they moved to enact the comprehensive End Modern Slavery Initiative Act. The expansiveness of this law will enable nations and global organizations to address the enslavement of millions of people throughout the world. This law will make a very real impact in achieving our vision of a world free from slavery.”
The End Modern Slavery Initiative will have clear and defined goals and outcomes that can be empirically measured, and will seek to achieve a measurable 50% reduction of modern slavery in the areas the foundation operates. It will seek to raise $1.5bn, more than 80% of which will come through matching funds from the private sector and foreign governments. Sources of funding are as follows:
$250m in funds from the United States over several years ($50m has been appropriated through fiscal year 2017)
$500m from foreign governments
$750m in private funding
