RnDAO Talks Ep 13 | Matt Friedman: Modern Slavery and the Private Sector

The RnDAO Podcast

​Every four seconds, another person enters a human trafficking situation somewhere in the world. It is estimated that there are over 40 million people in modern-day slavery today – more than any other time in history.
​In the effort to design organisations to empower individuals and "liberate them" it feels important to understand the big issue of slavery in corporations as it will probably give us interesting insights and considerations for DAO design.
​To make sense of this important issue and its relevance to today’s organizations, Matt Friedman will offer a comprehensive update on this topic. His talk will explore the following:
​- The changing human trafficking paradigm;
​- The relationship between human trafficking and modern slavery;
​- A comprehensive summary of global trends and patterns;
​- An update on emerging legislation;
​- A description of the relationship between modern slavery and ESG.
​- A detailed description of the relationship between human trafficking and business risk; and
​- A description of tangible, practical tools and approaches used by corporations throughout the world to help identify and address this potential problem.
​Matt Friedman is an international human trafficking expert with more than 30 years’ experience. He is CEO of The Mekong Club, an organization of Hong Kong’s leading businesses which have joined forces to help end all forms of modern slavery. Mr. Friedman previously worked for USAID and the United Nations in over 30 countries. Mr. Friedman offers technical advice to numerous governments, banks and corporations working to eliminate all forms of modern slavery and is the author of twelve books. In 2017, Mr. Friedman won Asia’s prestigious “Communicator of the Year” Gold Award.
​The Mekong Club is one of the first not-for-profit organizations of its kind in Asia to use a ‘business-to-business’ approach to fight slavery. Bridging the gap between the public and private sectors, the Mekong Club helps companies of all sizes to understand the complexities of human trafficking and to reduce their vulnerability within their supply chains/business environment. Together with business partners, the Mekong Club is spearheading innovative and strategic projects to achieve a slave-free world.
​Matt's new Penguin book, WHERE WERE YOU?: A PROFILE OF MODERN SLAVERY, has been published and is available worldwide. In this memoir, he explores the early days of meeting modern slavery survivors and recounts true stories of enslavement in Asia. He recalls painful moments that literally changed his life, reflect back on the different approaches to fighting human trafficking over the last 35 years and give an account of the early beginnings of the fight against modern slavery before the phrase “human trafficking” was adopted. As he reflects on the deeply personal lessons learned, his first and foremost goal for this book is to motivate more people to join him in helping to fight this global crime.