Dr. Kevin Bales
Dr. Kevin Bales is Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the University of Nottingham and co-founder of Free the Slaves. His Pulitzer-nominated book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy was named one of “100 World-Changing Discoveries” by the Association of British Universities in 2006. The film based on Disposable People, which he co-wrote, won a Peabody Award and two Emmy Awards. Bales has advised the US, British, Irish, Norwegian, and Nepali governments, as well as the ECOWAS Community, on slavery and human trafficking policy. In 2005 he published Understanding Global Slavery, an edited collection of Bales’ academic articles.
Following the publication of Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves (2007), Bales was invited to address the Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Paris. After reading Ending Slavery, President Clinton told the plenary session of the Clinton Global Initiative: “It tells you that it is a problem we can solve, and here’s how to do it.” In 2011, Ending Slavery won the $100,000 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Promoting World Order.
In 2008, with Zoe Trodd, he published To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today’s Slaves; and with seven Magnum photographers, Documenting Disposable People: Contemporary Global Slavery. In 2009, with Ron Soodalter, published The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today. He is currently writing on the relationship between slavery and environmental destruction; building a global slavery index with Monti Datta and, with Jody Sarich, a book exploring forced marriage worldwide.
Dr. Mohamed Y. Mattar
Dr. Mohamed Y. Mattar’s professional expertise is in comparative and international law, especially international human rights law. Recognized as an international expert on anti-trafficking legislation, Dr. Mattar has worked over 15 years in more than 75 countries, including countries in the Middle East, to promote state compliance with international human rights standards and to advise governments on drafting, implementing, and enforcing anti-trafficking legislation and related human rights laws. Dr. Mattar leads the work of The Protection Project on trafficking in persons; clinical education; corporate social responsibility; legal reform; the promotion of religious dialogue; enhancing civil society capacity; and human rights education.
Dr. Mattar has testified in the United States on the status of human trafficking around the world at various Congressional Hearings, including the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission; the Helsinki Committee for Security and Cooperation; the House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness; the House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights; and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. He also testified before the Russian Duma, the Mexican Senate, as well as the Egyptian Parliament. He has served as a member of numerous United Nations expert groups, as well as an expert advisor to the League of Arab States. He drafted the Inter-Parlimentarian Handbook on the Appropriate Responses to the Problem of Trafficking in Persons.
Dr. Mattar teaches courses on International Trafficking in Persons; Corporate Social Responsibility; International Contract Law; Comparative Contract Law; Contract Drafting Techniques; Investment and Trade Laws of the Middle East; Islamic Law; Introduction to the American Legal System; International Business and Human Rights; International Arbitration; and International Human Rights: Theory and Practice. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Protection Project Journal of Human Rights and Civil Society. He is currently Clinical Professor of Law at Qatar University of Law, teaching courses on Labor Law, Legal Ethics and Legal clinics in the bachelor’s in law program and International Construction Contracts in the Master in Private Law. He is also Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs.
Helen Burrows
Helen Burrows is a human rights lawyer and international justice reform practitioner. Over the past 20 years, she has advised and collaborated with governments and justice sectors in 50 countries to address human and civil rights violations. She holds Masters degrees in International Law, Anthropology and Development, and is committed to the development of the rule of law globally; delivering justice, dignity and respect to all.
Heather Moore
Heather Moore is a specialist in human trafficking and slavery, with nearly 17 years’ experience in the field. As Managing Director for the Monash University Trafficking and Slavery Research Group, Heather is responsible for for building partnerships with industry to inform, document and strengthen corporate responses to contemporary forms of slavery. She has worked internationally across a range of areas, including survivor support, management, capacity building, policy and research. Heather was a consultant on trafficking for the US Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Centre and has advised governments, multi-stakeholder networks and business on developing victim-centred responses that go beyond minimum standards to achieving practical and measurable positive change. Heather holds a Master of Science in Social Work with a focus in International Social Welfare from Columbia University.
Sarah Jewell
Sarah Jewell is the director of Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa-USA, which was founded by Leymah Gbowee (2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Liberian peace activist) to raise the next generation of peacebuilders and democratic leaders in West Africa. The Foundation focuses on international advocacy and grantmaking to Liberia. Sarah is an experienced policy advisor and advocate with a particular interest in women’s rights, youth affairs, and social justice. She is from Australia and has professional experience in the non-profit sector as well as in the Australian civil service. Before joining Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa-USA, Sarah was the National Policy and Research Director of Anglicare Australia, which is a network of over 30 social service agencies across Australia.
Emma Christopher
Emma Christopher is a Scientia Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She is the author of Freedom in White and Black, which was a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2018. She previously wrote A Merciless Place, which won both the Kay Daniels and Ernest Scott prizes, and Slave Ship Sailors and their Captive Cargoes. She is the co-editor, with Marcus Rediker and Cassandra Pybus, of Many Middle Passages: Forced Migration and the Making of the Modern World. She is also a documentary filmmaker and is the director, producer and researcher of They Are We, which won five Best Documentary Awards, and was the United Nations’ Remembrance of Slavery film 2015. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the film as “an inspiration a victory over slavery”.
Debbie Ariyo
Debbie is a recognised expert in forced migration, human trafficking and modern slavery with a focus on Africa and the UK. She is CEO of AFRUCA, a UK charity she founded in 2001 to address child trafficking and provide services to help rehabilitate and support victims. She also founded and chairs the UK Black and Minority Ethnic Anti-Slavery Network (BASNET), that works to promote racial equity, diversity and inclusion in the UK anti-slavery space.
Debbie has served in many anti-trafficking and child safeguarding advisory and non-executive roles. These include membership of the UK government’s Modern Slavery Strategy Working Groups on Children and Victim Support, non-executive Board Member of the (defunct) UK Independent Safeguarding Authority, member, UK Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group of Experts, and technical expert and advisor on various research and intervention projects on human trafficking from Nigeria to Europe. She has served as a guest lecturer at UK universities, addressing students on different aspects of human trafficking and forced migration from Africa to Europe. She is an independent court witness providing expert advice on UK immigration country of origin risk of return asylum cases. She has written for sector publications including “Open Democracy”, and her articles have featured in newspapers in the UK and a number of African countries.
Debbie sits on the Boards of charities including the EU funded and Brussels based Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform (ADEPT). She has served as an expert contributor at high-level international anti-trafficking forums. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. As a 2019 Churchill Fellow, she produced a research report exploring community engagement models in protecting child victims of human trafficking. Debbie holds an Executive Master degree in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Master degree in Urban Policy from University of North London and a Bachelor degree in French Education from University of Benin in Nigeria. In 2011, Debbie was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire medal for her charitable work with children.
Dr. Polina Smiragina-Ingelström
Polina is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Criminology department at Stockholm University. She received her PhD from The University of Sydney. Her research interest is within the disciplines of criminology and medical anthropology with a special focus on victimhood, gender, post-trafficking needs and help-seeking behaviour.
Polina is also affiliated with the Danish Institute in Stockholm (DIS), where she is a lecturer in Human Trafficking and the Sex Trade and a lead researcher on a project on illicit organ trade at the department of Justice and Human Rights.
Before commencing her academic career Polina was a migrant counsellor and a reintegration assistant at the UN Migration (IOM) mission in Russia. She was engaged in providing direct assistance to migrants in distress including victims of human trafficking and exploitation; and assistance in voluntary return and reintegration of Russian nationals in an irregular situation abroad.
Throughout her career, Polina has made monitoring, preventative and research fieldtrips to various countries in Europe and Asia, including Chechnya, Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia; and Nam Dich and Hanoi in Vietnam.
Sophie Otiende
Sophie Otiende defines herself as a feminist, teacher and survivor advocate for survivors of trafficking. Her work has mainly focused on developing systems and processes for grassroots organizations. The past seven years she has focused on creating ethical standards for protection of victims of trafficking, developing systems for organizations, training and development of curriculum on both protection and awareness of human trafficking. Her advocacy on standards of care and survivor engagement has made her a sort out international speaker. She is also passionate about ethical engagement of survivors of trafficking in the movement and ethical storytelling. Sophie is a 2015 Vital Voices Fellow and the recipient of the US Trafficking in Persons Report Hero 2020. She currently works as the Regional Operations Manager – Africa for Liberty Shared and also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS). For more information check: www.sophieotiende.com
Chloe Setter
Chloe is the Senior Advisor on Anti-Trafficking at Lumos Foundation, the international children’s charity set up by the author J.K. Rowling to tackle the issue of children living in institutional care. In her role, she leads the organisation’s efforts to tackle child trafficking in the context of orphanages, working with governments, global institutions and business to influence policy and practice that helps to protect children from the harms of institutionalisation, trafficking and orphanage tourism.
Chloe is a leading expert on the trafficking of children, having spent nearly a decade with the international anti-slavery charity, ECPAT UK. She has authored many influential reports and managed international anti-trafficking programmes. A member of the Home Office’s multi-agency expert identification panels, she regularly provides evidence to Parliamentary Committees, expert bodies and the courts. She set up and chaired the first dedicated child trafficking group for the UK Government and also for the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in the UK.
Vimal Kumar
Vimal Kumar is Next Generation Leader, at The McCain Institute, Acumen Fellow, at Acumen Funds, founder, Democratizing Leadership Initiative (DLI), and the founder of Movement for Scavenger Community (MSC), an organization committed to the eradication of manual scavenging in India and bringing education and awareness to the existing scavenger community. As one of the rare members of the scavenger community who was able to obtain higher education, Kumar provides the unique perspective needed to provide insight into the issues caused by India’s caste system. Kumar seeks to eradicate caste violence and prejudice attitudes towards the scavenger community through the establishment of leadership education centers. Kumar is also a leadership trainer and committed to building the leadership movement among grassroots organizations and activists around the world. Kumar did his Masters in Social Work and also completing his Ph.D. in social work.