ASSET

Overview

There are 27 million slaves in the world today. The vast majority of slaves are found in agriculture and mining, growing and extracting the raw materials that sustain our modern lives. They can be found in the far reaches of the globe and just down the street-in every developing nation, and every developed one. Indeed, 200 years after the United States abolished the mid Atlantic slave trade, the taint of slavery touches not only our national history but also our clothing, our food, and our technology.
Slavery exists in cotton, steel, sugar, computer and cell phone components-just to name a few. For the first time in history, slavery is illegal everywhere. The costs associated with ending slavery pale in comparison not only to the dividends of its eradication but to the hard dollars created when a community’s children are able to go to school, tax revenues are generated by a legal workforce, and PR nightmares are averted by a pro-active strategy. We can end slavery, and we can do it in our lifetimes.

Mission

Founded by Julia Ormond, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador against Slavery and Human Trafficking, the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET) works to address the causes of slavery and trafficking at their source. Through its focus on supply chains, ASSET helps corporations, NGOs, and governments work together to innovate and implement best practices for removing the economic impetus for slavery.

Program

Chain store reaction is an open letter to the producers of your favorite products. We are asking them to promise to investigate slavery in their product chains and to clean it up where they find it. Only you can start a chain store reaction.

www.chainstorereaction.com

Impact

Over 20,000 letters sent to brands, public notification of iconic brands slavery policies, and a chance for the public to engage on this issue in a direct way, and that's just the beginning of the chain store reaction...

Chief Executive

Alison Kiehl Friedman

Chief Executive Profile

Prior to becoming Executive Director of the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking, Alison Kiehl Friedman helped run Hope for Cures, a 527 that promoted stem cell research. Alison served as District Director for Congresswoman Jane Harman, California Policy Director for People For the American Way, and National Student Director for the Gore/Lieberman 2000 campaign. She's also helped to found Public Interest Pictures, and serves on the board of Ms. Magazine, and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

Board

Julia Ormond
Founder and President

Julia Ormond is the Founder and President of the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET), As United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Goodwill Ambassador Against Slavery and Trafficking, she has met with experts, activists, government officials and most importantly, victims in Ghana, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Julia was instrumental in organizing the first-ever UN Security Council Arria on the issue, crafting groundbreaking anti-slavery legislation, and continuing to raise public awareness through the media.

Melanne Verveer

Melanne Verveer is the United States Global Ambassador-at-Large on Women's Issues. Melanne Verveer
and Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that supports emerging women leaders in building vibrant democracies and strong economies.

Kevin Bales

Kevin is the world's leading expert on modern slavery and President of Free the Slaves. He is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Roehampton University in London, and serves on the Board of Directors of the International Cocoa Initiative.

Andrew Morton

A frequent speaker on human rights and immigration/refugee law, Mr. Morton has testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, and he appears regularly in national media outlets. For his extensive advocacy on behalf of refugees and asylum-seekers, the D.C. Bar Association honored Mr. Morton as "Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year" in 2002, and in 2006, he received the "Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award" from the Legal Aid Society.

Countries of Operation

United States

States of Operation

California