Free the Slaves

Today is the last day to apply for exhibition booth space at the 2026 Global Freedom from Slavery Forum.

The Forum is a working convening. Survivor leaders, government representatives, civil society organizations, researchers, and responsible private sector actors come together to align strategy and build the partnerships that turn commitments into coordinated action against modern slavery.

Applications close today, September 25, 2026. Download the application guidelines here:https://freedomfromslaveryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Call-for-Exhibition-Booths-Guidelines-Nairobi.pdf

Open Call for Exhibition Booths — 2026 Freedom from Slavery Global Forum

The Exhibition Booth Area is a space for organizations to share informational tools, resources, and materials on preventing and addressing modern slavery, and to connect with practitioners, researchers, survivor-led groups, and policymakers from across the movement.

The Forum takes place 5 – 6 October in Nairobi. Space is limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

To request a booth, email [email protected] by 25 September with the subject line “Freedom from Slavery Global Forum: Booth”, and tell us the topic you would like to present and the materials you would like to display.

Download the Guidelines Here:https://freedomfromslaveryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Call-for-Exhibition-Booths-Guidelines-Nairobi.pdf

Free the Slaves, on behalf of the Freedom from Slavery Forum and the 2026 Global Forum planning committee, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Tomoya Obokata as a Freedom from Slavery Forum Ambassador. He succeeds Ambassador John Cotton Richmond, whose service in the role we acknowledge with thanks.

Obokata is a scholar of international law and human rights at York Law School specializing in transnational organized crime, human trafficking, and modern slavery. He was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, in March 2020.

On the appointment, Prof. Obokata said:
"I am honored to be appointed as Ambassador for the Freedom from Slavery Global Forum organized annually by Free the Slaves, which has been at the forefront of the fight against slavery and similar practices. I had the pleasure of working with many colleagues as the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery in the past.

The Global Forum provides an important opportunity for local, national, and international stakeholders, including survivors, to get together and share good practices as well as challenges in addressing slavery and similar practices. This multi-stakeholder approach is essential in order to promote more effective responses to these gross violations of human rights.

I am extremely humbled to be part of this thriving community, and very much looking forward to working with Free the Slaves and others during my tenure."

Ambassador Richmond, said of his successor:
"Professor Tomoya Obokata will bring a unique and informed perspective to the Freedom From Slavery Forum. I look forward to learning from him during his term as an ambassador for the Forum."

We are pleased to share the agenda for the 2026 Freedom from Slavery Global Forum.
Venue: Argyle Grand Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

https://links.freetheslaves.net/2026-Global-Forum-Agenda

Dates: October 5–6, 2026

The 2026 program features six panels, two dialogues, two keynotes, facilitated Freedom Circles, 12 organizer-led side events, and the Survivor Awards.

Registration is free, but space is limited please register to confirm your attendance by Monday, September 21, 2026. Link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=u1pZVz4QgUy3SbtKOPsVMW0OVkbpp7NGv2Tb0xX7kgNUNlJaV1pDVEc0M1AyTDlNUktJUTc3S1NLOC4u

Today, Free the Slaves Philippines began conducting preparatory activities for the National Strategic Planning Workshop on Developing the Philippines' Roadmap Towards Becoming an Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Country.

From September 14–16, 2026, the LEAD 8.7 Capacity Development Sessions and Developing Recommendations Workshop will bring together survivors / persons with lived experience of forced labor, child labor, human trafficking, and modern slavery to learn and engage meaningfully, advocate through their insights and perspectives, and drive dialogue that contributes to collective efforts to strengthen responses to these issues.

On September 21–22, 2026, Free the Slaves will conduct two half-day capacity-development sessions focused on SDG Target 8.7, Alliance 8.7, and the Alliance 8.7 Accountability Framework. These sessions are preparatory steps to equip stakeholders with a shared understanding of Alliance 8.7 and its Accountability Framework so they can engage meaningfully and confidently in the subsequent National Strategic Planning Workshop. The sessions will be facilitated by FTS Executive Director Bukeni Waruzi.

In the next few days, we'll dig into the realities of modern slavery in the Philippines, center survivor leadership and lived experience, and work together to build concrete recommendations for the path ahead. Ending exploitation takes government, survivors, civil society, employers, workers, and other relevant stakeholders at the same table — and that's exactly where we'll be this week.

Follow along for updates.

Free the Slaves has spent more than two decades working toward a world without modern slavery, alongside communities, survivor leaders, governments, and partners around the world.

Monthly donors provide consistent funding for this essential work. A recurring gift of any size lets us plan further ahead, respond faster when conditions change, and stay committed where the need continues after a grant ends.

Join us as a monthly donor: https://freetheslaves.net/donate/

Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 committed the world to ending forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking, and to eliminating child labor in all its forms. Alliance 8.7 was launched in 2016 to turn that commitment into coordinated action, bringing together governments, UN agencies including the ILO and IOM, and civil society organizations.

At the center of that work are Pathfinder Countries. These are governments that make a public commitment to accelerate progress at home and develop a national roadmap to get there.

Free the Slaves works is a member of the Global Coordinating Group of Alliance 8.7. We alongside Pathfinder Countries across every phase of the roadmap process, from a government's first expression of interest through roadmap development, implementation, monitoring, and review. That work is underway now in Nepal, where we have been meeting with government and civil society partners in Kathmandu ahead of a stakeholder workshop this September, and in Guatemala, where we are supporting the update of the national roadmap for 2026 to 2030 alongside the Ministry of Labor and Fundación Sobrevivientes.

Our focus throughout is making sure survivors, communities facing the highest risk, and local civil society organizations have a real place in how those roadmaps are written and how progress is measured. Learn how Alliance 8.7 works and where we fit: https://freetheslaves.net/fts-with-alliance-8_7/