In this introductory episode, we’ll introduce you to the relationship between global finance and modern slavery, the team at Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking, and we’ll start our journey into understanding how the financial sector can help end slavery. Guests in this episode include Timea Nagy, survivor leader, small business owner and global anti-trafficking activist; Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, the Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the United Nations; and Fiona Reynolds, CEO of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment and former Chair of the Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. Timea Nagy presents a survivor perspective on the experience of being trafficked and the role that debt plays in the process. Ambassador Wenaweser and Fiona Reynolds discuss how the Liechtenstein Initiative was set up and the goals it aims to achieve.
In the first episode of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we consider the financial logic of slavery. We’ll learn how debt is used to control trafficking victims. We will hear why some businesses treat workers as disposable, depreciating assets, more like machines than people. And we’ll hear about the implications of this financial logic for financial markets. Guests in this episode include Dr Katarina Schwarz, Assistant Professor of Antislavery Law and Policy at the University of Nottingham and Associate Director at the Rights Lab; Professor Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the University of Nottingham; Timea Nagy, survivor leader, small business owner, and global anti-trafficking activist; and Fiona Reynolds, CEO of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment and former Chair of the Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
In Episode 2 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we’re following the money. We’re learning how the profits from forced labour and modern slavery find their way into the financial system, and what happens to them. We’ll also hear from financial sector regulators and banks about how they’re learning to find the footprints of this hidden crime. Guests in this episode include Liz Barrick, Deputy Director of the Transaction Record Analysis Center (TRAC); Barry Koch, former legal counsel at JP Morgan Chase’s global anti-money laundering compliance programme and member of the FAST Initiative Steering Group; Joseph Mari, Director of External Partnerships in the Global Risk Management Division of Scotiabank; and Tom Keatinge, Director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute.
In Episode 3 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we look at how banks, remittance companies and credit card companies have been analyzing financial transactions to spot modern slavery and human trafficking. We then look at the impact that partnerships between financial institutions, regulators and civil society actors can have on this type of analysis. Guests in this episode include Tom Keatinge, Director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in the UK; Professor Jill Coster van Voorhout, Assistant Professor in (Inter- and Trans) national Criminal Law, University of Amsterdam; Valiant Richey, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings; Tarana Baghirova, Associate Country Visit Officer at OSCE Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings; and Timea Nagy, survivor leader, small business owner, and global anti-trafficking activist.
In Episode 4 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we consider how the financial sector can empower survivors of modern slavery. The episode first looks at why a lack of access to financial services can lead to greater vulnerability to modern slavery and human trafficking, how traffickers exploit victims financially through fraudulent financial identities, and the lasting impacts that this can have. Guests include Sara Crowe, Director of the Strategic Initiative on Financial Systems at Polaris; Timea Nagy, survivor leader, author and global anti-trafficking activist; Martina Vandenberg, Founder and President of the Human Trafficking Legal Center; Larissa Maxwell, Director of Illuminate, a project by the Salvation Army, Canada; Sarah Byrne, Attorney at Moore & van Allen; Megan Lundstrom, Founder of the Avery Center; Professor Barry Koch, Professor of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and independent consultant in the field of anti-money laundering compliance and risk management; and Professor James Cockayne.
In Episode 5 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we examine the relationship between modern slavery and institutional investing. Institutional investors have a key role to play in fostering business practices that help end modern slavery and human trafficking. In this episode we discuss how institutional investors are addressing modern slavery risks in their investment decision-making, as well as the ways they are working collaboratively to engage companies to find, fix and prevent modern slavery. Guests include Fiona Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment; Jenn-Hui Tan, Global Head of Stewardship & Sustainable Investing at Fidelity International; Anne-Maree O’Connor, Head of Responsible Investment for New Zealand Superannuation Fund; Kate Turner, Responsible Investment Specialist at First Sentier Investors; Mans Carlsson, Head of ESG Research at Ausbil Investment Management Limited; and Andrew Adams, Modern Slavery Project Lead at CCLA Investment Management.
In Episode 6 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we examine the role that development finance can play in the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking. We begin by discussing how restrictions on economic agency create the conditions that make people vulnerable to exploitation. The episode then looks at how development finance practitioners understand modern slavery risks and what they’re doing to restore people’s economic agency. The episode concludes with a discussion about the connections between climate change vulnerabilities, human trafficking and development, and what that means for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) later this year. Guests include Sophie Otiende, Regional Operations Manager at Liberty Shared; Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive at ODI; Sarah Mendelson, Distinguished Service Professor of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and Head of Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College; Mark Eckstein, Director of ESG Impact at CDC Group; Gabriel Azevedo, Division Chief of Social, Environmental, and Governance at the Inter-American Development Bank; and Fran Witt, Climate Change and Modern Slavery Advisor at Antislavery International.
In Episode 7 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we look at the changing disclosure and due diligence landscape. We discuss the British and Australian Modern Slavery Acts, learn more about the new mandatory human rights due diligence framework under consideration by the EU, and hear from experts involved in the development of new corporate benchmarks and standards on modern slavery about what they mean for financial sector actors. Guests include Patricia Carrier, UK Modern Slavery Act Registry Project Manager at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre; Katharine Bryant, Research Manager at Walk Free; Alexander Coward, Advisor at Pillar Two; Chloe Cranston, Business and Human Rights Manager at Anti-Slavery International; Shailesh Alawani, Vice President of Product Management at CENTRL; Joanne Bauer, Co-Founder at the Rights CoLab and; Akilah Jardine, Research Fellow in Antislavery Business and Communities at the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.
What does the world of insurance have to do with forced labour, human trafficking and slavery? In Episode 8 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast, we start off by putting that question in historical context, speaking to Professor Robin Pearson of the University of Hull about the case of the Zong, an infamous episode of insurance litigation following a massacre of African slaves off Jamaica in 1781. We hear from Charles Mathias, Chief Risk Officer at Fidelis Insurance, and Jasmine O’Connor, Chief Executive at Anti-Slavery International, who have been collaborating on a new approach to tackling modern slavery risks through insurance. We also speak to Butch Bacani, Programme Leader at UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance, about where modern slavery risks fit in the larger effort by the industry to grapple with questions of sustainability.
Episode 9 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast considers how we can make modern slavery reduction a goal of impact investing. We hear from Chloe Bailey of Moving the Market and The Freedom Fund, which has been funding innovation in this space, and Dr Marc Moser, Head of Impact at Lightrock, about what this looks like at scale. Ed Marcum, Managing Director of Working Capital Fund, speaks to us about investing in labour management practices and systems, and Rathish Balakrishnan, co-founder and managing partner of Sattva, discusses investing in solutions in India’s construction sector.
Episode 10 of Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast focuses on remedy. In this episode, James Cockayne speaks to Jamila Duncan-Bosu of ATLEU about the case of Balogh & Ors v Hick Lane Bedding Ltd in the UK and Suzanne Hoff from La Strada International about their Justice at Last project on the right to remedy. He then discusses the complaint in EC & IDI v ANZ with John Southalan of the Australian OECD National Contact Point and Tom Dickson of the Australian Department of the Treasury. Finally, Dr Nia Emmanouil of the Global Compact Network Australia joins the podcast to speak about case studies and guidance they developed on effective modern slavery grievance mechanisms.