Development slowed when we became heavily involved in lobbying, action and generating media coverage around the implementation of the NSW Modern Slavery Act which had been passed and assigned in 2018 but sent back to inquiry by the NSW Liberal Coalition. The law finally went into effect on 1 January 2022. Raising the profile of the problem and motivating the wider public around the need for action is important but what’s crucial is that governments adopt and implement meaningful legislation so working on this and harnessing the networks we had built became a priority. Anything other risked fiddling around the edges while Rome burned.
Our intention has always been to conduct an impact campaign from the earliest days of development and although not a defined intention, we earned ourselves a Community Recognition Statement in NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard, thanked for our ‘tireless efforts in demanding solutions to the crime of modern slavery and advocating change to our culture which permits modern slavery to prosper’, ‘helping pioneer the path to end the abhorrent crimes of modern slavery in Australia and the Pacific Region’, educating ‘the wider community on how we can all minimise our involvement in exploitative practices, which occur unknowingly in our everyday lives. Something as simple as the clothes we wear or the foods we consume’ and bringing ‘together stakeholders to act on modern slavery prevention.’
Development was also impeded by Covid and sadly during May 2022-May 2023, the sudden and unexpected death of Jane’s father in the UK. We took up the reins again this year with meetings in Sydney including the recently appointed NSW Modern Slavery Commissioner and his team, and the CEO of the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, herself a survivor of Modern Slavery and founder of one of the first survivor networks, based in Kenya. A key shift in the sector since we first became involved has been the acceptance that the voices of survivors and communities directly affected by modern slavery must be part of the storytelling. This has reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring that our storytelling and the journey of our superhero(es) will centre these voices and that the man or woman on a mission will be super conscious of avoiding the trap of the Great White Saviour and will seek to engage with communities involved in the solution.
In August 2023, Jane travelled to Europe for meetings in Amsterdam and London. Focussing particularly on child labour and the cocoa industry, Jane undertook a series of extensive meetings and face to face research interviews in Amsterdam. The largest cocoa port in the world, Port of Amsterdam is an important link in the international cocoa supply chain and itself aims to lead the way in innovation and sustainability whilst the Netherlands hosts one of the world’s largest cocoa clusters including import, storage, production, NGOs and institutes with specialist focus. We are also currently coordinating a meeting with former UK Prime Minister Theresa May, are hopeful we have found a way to former Governor of California, Arnie Schwarzenegger, and have a strategy to pitch the project to production, funding and distribution partners in Australia and internationally.
In 2015, the United Nations – all 192 of them – committed to eradicating modern slavery by 2030 and all child labour by 2025. Statistics published this year indicate that the number of people in modern slavery worldwide has increased to 50 million including 12 million children which is an increase of 10 million since 2018. 160 million children are in child labour.* And 2025 is just 13 months away. Our first priority will be child labour with a particular focus on the cocoa industry and West Africa.
We are in talks to change our working title to ‘ANOTHER INCONVENIENT TRUTH’ (w/t)
* 2023 Global Slavery Index: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://cdn.walkfree.org/content/uploads/2023/05/17114737/Global-Slavery-Index-2023.pdf
