Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking: The Podcast

In this latest FAST podcast episode, FAST’s government and multilateral organizations lead, Andy Shen sat down with Caleb Thole from Global Hope Mobilization, a Malawi-based civil society organization, Martina Vandenberg from the Human Trafficking Legal Center, a US-based civil society organization, Sheri Levine-Shea from Barclays, Hennie Verbeek from the Netherlands Financial Intelligence Unit, and Brian Hoxie from the Forced Labour Division of US Customs and Border Protection, to discuss issues of asset recovery and compensation for victims and survivors. In this episode we will hear insights on, the significance of compensation to victims, what can be done to increase this compensation, inter-agency cooperation in support of cooperation; a case example of exploited workers receiving restitution; and FAST’s recommendation that States should criminalize financially benefiting from forced labour, if they have not already done so, and make it a predicate offense to money laundering. 

In this new FAST podcast episode (one of two), FAST’s Government and Multilateral Organizations Lead, Andy Shen, Research Associate Dr Loria-Mae Heywood, and Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, Nadine Kambriss provide details on a year-long project focused on asset recovery and compensation for victims and survivors of human trafficking and forced labour.  They explore, inter alia, the relevance of the AML framework to closing the remedy gap between the profits and proceeds derived from human trafficking and forced labour and compensation to victims/survivors, and views from questionnaire respondents on who should provide compensation to victims/survivors. They also mention some of the key recommendations emerging from the research. 

We kick off the season of FAST: The Podcast, with an episode delving into ‘Canada Leading by Example’ on developing a risk-based approach to improving both financial inclusion for survivors and financial investigations into modern slavery, in particular human trafficking. Listen to industry leaders as they share how they lead their financial institutions to address the challenges of modern slavery, contribute to the important public-private partnership in Canada working to end modern slavery and human trafficking and formulate practical solutions to support survivors financial recovery. 

This insightful discussion is moderated by Timea Nagy, a long-standing survivor leader and CEO of Timea's Cause, between Timea, Sarah Paquet, Director/CEO of Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, and Stuart Davis, for mer Executive Vice President. Global Head, Financial Crimes Risk Management at Scotiabank.

In the last episode of this season of FAST: The Podcast, we explore issues around remedy for survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking. Under human rights law, survivors have a right to a remedy, but that right is often very hard to realize. Court processes are long and costly and outcomes often rest on very technical questions.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights make clear that there is a role here for both States and the private sector to play in helping survivors to realize their right to a remedy. And they also make clear that there is a role for both judicial and non-judicial grievance mechanisms.

In this episode, Professor James Cockayne speaks to Jamila Duncan-Bosu of ATLEU about the case of Balogh & Ors v Hick Lane Bedding Ltd in the High Court of England and Wales and Suzanne Hoff from La Strada International about their Justice at Last project on the right to remedy. He 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 developed on effective modern slavery grievance mechanisms.

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.

What does the world of insurance have to do with forced labour, human trafficking and slavery?

On this episode of FAST 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.

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.  

This episode is hosted by Professor James Cockayne. 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. 

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.

 This episode is hosted by Professor James Cockayne, Senior Fellow at FAST. 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 5, 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.

This episode is hosted by Shalini Samuel, Financial Sector Engagement Manager at Minderoo Foundation’s Walk Free in partnership with FAST. 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 4, 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.

The episode then turns to ask what can be done to try to solve or mitigate these issues, discussing the importance of having financial independence and what economic empowerment can look like for survivors. The episode concludes with a discussion of the FAST Survivor Inclusion Initiative, how it works, and the resources it provides to its members.

This episode is hosted by Alexandra Cerquone, External Relations Manager at FAST and 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, Head of the FAST Secretariat.

For more information on this topic, please visit:

FAST Survivor Inclusion Initiative

The Survivor Alliance

Toolkit for Building Survivor-Informed Organizations