1 DECEMBER 2016 Hilton London Bankside 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2016 Hilton London Bankside Welcome to the Fifth Annual Trust Women Conference
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30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2016 Hilton London Bankside 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2016 Hilton London Bankside Welcome to the fifth annual Trust Women conference. You are in the company MONIQUE VILLA of some extraordinary change makers who have come to London from the four CEO corners of the world to take action to fight slavery and empower women. Thomson Reuters Foundation What a journey it has been so far. Trust Women is today the world’s leading anti- slavery forum, and a powerful movement committed to putting the rule of law behind women’s rights. It is where survivors, business, government and NGOs come together to meet and forge new high-impact relationships. Action is what makes Trust Women unique. Together, we find bold and tangible solutions that can transform the lives of people, who are victims and survivors of modern-day slavery, or women who do not know and therefore cannot defend their most basic rights. Over the course of the next two days, we will be exploring some of the most critical issues of our time. You will hear stories of survival from child slavery, learn about how companies are setting a gold standard in cleaning their supply chains from forced labour, and explore whether migration is a crisis or indeed the new normality we all face and if we should be contemplating long term solutions. We will also hear from exceptional female entrepreneurs about the challenges they overcame, and the secrets of their success. Many women and men have broken taboos in their societies, and we will hear them. Finally we will see if there are any positive examples of de-radicalisation. As always, inspiring ‘Actions’ will be launched from the Trust Women stage. In fact, the very same stage will host the winners of the first Stop Slavery Award, an Action presented at last year’s conference and the only global recognition for businesses that have excelled in efforts to try to eradicate forced labour from their supply chains. trustwomenconf.com 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2016 Leading global brands, including Apple, Tesco, Thai Union, Hewlett Packard Enterprises and NXP Semiconductors have shown tremendous courage in applying for this Award, inevitably putting their businesses under yet more public scrutiny. Our judging board, comprising Nobel Peace Prize Winner Kailash Satyarthi; global human rights and business expert John Ruggie; Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus H. Vance Jr; Britain’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland; International Criminal Prosecutor Patricia Sellers; Edelman President and CEO Richard Edelman, and myself, has selected the winners. On November 30, the first day of the conference, they will be presented with the Awards, a sculpture created by an active friend of Trust Women, the great artist Anish Kapoor. The momentum built by the Trust Women movement continues to grow. This year, we are joined by more than 200 organizations and 600 delegates representing 65 countries around the world. Amongst these, we are proud to welcome 60 leading women’s rights advocates on the front lines – from Sierra Leone to Kazakhstan – attending as 2016 Trust Women scholars. I have no doubt that they will use this opportunity to forge connections that will give their work even bigger impact. Finally, and thanks to an exciting collaboration with YouTube, Trust Women will be live-streamed around the globe to thousands of new viewers. YouTube celebrity vloggers will be with us for both days of the conference, helping to get the conversation going amongst a whole new audience, far beyond the reaches of this room. Welcome, YouTubers! Last but not least, we are very grateful to our sponsors, whose generosity has made the conference possible: White & Case, our headline partner this year, but also the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Humanity United and the Stardust Fund, and all our other sponsors. We deeply appreciate your support. Without you, a big part of this would not be possible. Settle in for two action-filled days and get ready to listen, intervene, learn and feel inspired. And whatever you do, make sure you take advantage of this exceptional gathering of global leaders committed to making real social progress. From conversation, to inspiration, to action – it all starts right here, right now! Together, we can make a difference, and we will. 3 Welcome to the 2016 Trust Women Conference. HUGH VERRIER Chairman White & Case LLP White & Case is proud to sponsor this year’s Trust Women conference, continuing our support of the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s effort to empower women and fight slavery worldwide. TrustLaw has provided the legal world with a tremendous service, bringing together clients in need with law firms who want to help. It has significantly expanded the marketplace of pro bono activity, helping us live up to our obligation to be good citizens, individually and as a firm. Thank you for being here today in support of this extraordinary organization. Together we can continue to make a difference for women around the world. trustwomenconf.com 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2016 Socially & environmentally responsible White & Case is proud to support TrustLaw and the Trust Women Conference As a pioneering international law firm, we help our clients achieve their ambitions across the world’s developed and emerging markets. whitecase.com/social A “centre leader” counts money to be distributed as a micro-loan in India 5 5 trustwomenconf.com 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2016 When humanity is united, we can create a powerful force for human dignity. Humanity United is a foundation dedicated to bringing new approaches to global problems that have long been considered intractable. We build, lead, and support efforts to change the systems that contribute to problems like human trafficking, mass atrocities, and violent conflict. HU is part of the Omidyar Group, which represents the philanthropic, personal, and professional interests of the Omidyar family. Learn more at humanityunited.org trustwomenconf.com 7 Photograph by Alissa Everett Committed to Action At Trust Women, participants forge tangible commitments to fight human trafficking and empower women to know and defend their rights. Here are some of the actions taken by women’s rights campaigners, as well as leaders in the fields of law, finance, technology and business at last year’s conference: The Stop Slavery Award is a global initiative by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Award, created by the artist Anish Kapoor, will recognise the ‘best in class’ of the corporate sector, companies that are setting a gold standard in taking steps to eradicate forced labour from their supply chains. The Stop Slavery Award aims to create a virtuous cycle to demonstrate that businesses can play a critical role in stopping modern day slavery and forced labour worldwide. In October 2016, the Thomson Reuters Foundation unveiled the 10 companies shortlisted for this year’s Award. The winner will be announced at a special ceremony on November 30, the first day of Trust Women 2016. Not My Style is an app created to spark a consumer movement and put pressure on fashion brands to be more transparent about their supply chain. The mission of Not My Style is to improve the lives of the women and men who make our clothes. Following a highly successful crowdfunding campaign that was launched at the Trust Women conference last year, the team behind Not My Style launched the app on 4th November. The goal of The Jobs for Survivors Academy, is to give survivors of human trafficking comprehensive training, support, mentoring and professional development opportunities to enable them to embark upon successful professional careers. Baker & McKenzie, Dress for Success and The ICE Foundation are working with a diverse group of corporate and non-profit organisations, to address the range of obstacles trafficking survivors face in fulfilling their professional potential. An event was organized in September bringing together key stakeholders, specifically leadership development consultants and companies, which helped to increase the number of participating organizations. trustwomenconf.com 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2016 Since last year, The Gender Based Violence Emergency Response and Protection Initiative has worked to increase the number of survivors it supports through its Urgent Assistance Fund. Launched by Vital Voices, the U.S. Department of State and the Avon Foundation, the initiative provides immediate financial assistance to victims of sexual and domestic violence, human trafficking, forced marriages and honour crimes, so that they can access emergency services such as medical care, legal assistance, shelter and psychosocial support. The programme has now been renamed Voices Against Violence: The GBV Global Initiative to help extend its outreach. It has also increased staff to meet the increased need for assistance. Support for Yazidi Women and Girls Victimized by ISIS was launched by The Yazda Organization to help survivors of genocide and violence with therapeutic support and medical services, particularly through the Yazda medical clinic. It has now raised $10,000 towards purchasing food and vital supplies for Yazidi women and girls in northern Iraq who managed to escape ISIS capitivity, as well as donating $50 each to around 100 women. The Global Information and Intelligence Platform to Combat Slavery, an initiative developed by Thomson Reuters, aims at gathering data to empower NGOs to fight slavery and human trafficking in supply chains, and to give the private sector vital information to take action in their own supply chains. Thomson Reuters’ research teams have now included human trafficking and slavery as part of their core investigations, and they are integrated into clients’ due diligence processes. Thomson Reuters Risk has also partnered with a network of 20 NGOs in Asia to gather information that is then available to clients on a risk intelligence dataset called World Check, containing 63,000 profiles of human trafficking and related human rights abuse.