There are an estimated 40.3 million people in modern slavery. To bring this figure close to zero by 2030 (to meet the SDGs), 1 individual in modern slavery should no longer be a modern slave every 8.6 seconds!
The presentation organised by InFiNe.lu on 6 March on the topic of modern slavery and human trafficking enabled Dr. James Cockayn, Director of the Centre for Policy Research at United Nations University, to present the final report on the Liechtenstein Initiative.
The Liechtenstein Initiative for a Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking led to a blueprint for the financial sector to accelerate engagement to tackle these crimes. It was convened by the Governments of Liechtenstein, Australia and the Netherlands, and Prof Mohammed Yunus.
The “Blueprint for Mobilizing Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking”, launched in September 2019, helps relevant financial sector actors, including financial inclusion stakeholders (which have a crucial role to play in giving access to finance and insurance to the population touched by modern slavery), banks, pension funds, (micro)insurers or policy makers, to take action against modern slavery and human trafficking.
To achieve this objective in line with the 2030 Agenda, these 5 goals were set out:
- Compliance with laws against modern slavery and human trafficking
- Knowing and showing risks (due diligence)
- Using leverage creatively to mitigate and address modern slavery and human trafficking risks
- Providing and enabling remedy
- Investment in innovation for prevention.
The Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) is the second phase of the work of the Liechtenstein Initiative, following the first phase’s Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking. FAST provides supportand tools to implement these goals such as a Risk Mapping Tool to help you to learn about your organisation’s possible connections to modern slavery and human trafficking. The exchange progress made, lessons learned and challenges will be delivered in a FAST Conference, to be held in June 2021, in Liechtenstein.
For more information, to read the report or use the FAST toolkit, visit FAST Initiative Website