Our international team includes statisticians, criminologists, lawyers, and international development experts, working to create and agitate for mass systems change, to address the root causes of slavery.
Walk Free believes that a strong, multifaceted approach is needed to end modern slavery.
We are building a robust knowledge base to inform action, driving legislative change in key countries and harnessing the power of businesses and faiths.
Through a combination of direct implementation, grassroots community engagement, and working in partnership with faiths, businesses, academics, NGOs, and governments around the world, we work to address slavery and dismantle its core drivers.
Migrant domestic workers in Lebanon are subjected to the kafala system, a private migration sponsorship system in Gulf countries which exponentially increases the risk of labour exploitation, forced labour and trafficking.
Photo Credit: Aline Deschamps. Getty Images.
Walk Free is an international human rights group focused on the eradication of modern slavery in all its forms.
Walk Free was established over a decade ago after Founding Director, Grace Forrest spent time living and working in Nepal at a rescue home for children who had been subjected to various forms of exploitation. It was there that Grace first witnessed the extent of the extreme and continued commodification of human beings, and soon learnt that modern slavery is one of the most profitable forms of organised crime in the world, continuing to underpin our global economy.
At the end of that same year, Walk Free was established to address the root causes of modern slavery and create systems level change.
Now for over a decade, Walk Free has studied the number of people living in modern slavery around the world. Through each edition of the Global Slavery Index, our understanding of the problem has deepened, our estimates have become more precise, and our advocacy has catalysed global efforts.
Grace Forrest
Founding Director and Head of Strategic Communications
Jacqueline Joudo Larsen
Deputy Director and Head of Global Research
Katharine Bryant
Head of Policy and Programs
Franca Pellegrini
Head of Global Freedom Network
Martina Ucnikova
Head of Strategic Impact
Jade Delaney
Executive Assistant
Serena Grant
Head of Business Engagement
Gabrielle Ashworth
Research Analyst
Santiago Baruh
Program Officer, Global Freedom Network
Matthew Coghlan
Financial Sector Engagement Manager
Alexandra Flynn
Strategic Impact Coordinator
Elise Gordon
Global Research Manager
Charlotte Gwynn
Business Engagement Advisor
Bernadette Joudo
Research and Policy Specialist
Abigail Munroe
Research and Policy Analyst
Sascha Oliver
Research and Policy Assistant
Catherine Parsons
Business and Government Engagement Manager
Brittany Quy
Research Analyst
Patrycja Tokarczyk
Executive Assistant
Elly Williams
Research and Measurement Specialist
Elizabeth Poku
Program Coordinator, Global Freedom Network
“It’s one thing to know about a terrible problem and not be able to fix it; it is another to know about the problem and have the means to do something about it.”
Andrew Forrest, Co-Founder of Walk Free
Photo Credit: Mohammad Saiful Islam/NurPhoto. Getty Images.
We independently and unashamedly agitate for change and pioneer research that reinforces the need for change in the world.
Modern slavery is an umbrella term which encompasses several types of exploitation, including forced labour, human trafficking and forced marriage.
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