A Launchpad for Action: Key Tech and Human Trafficking Priorities in 2025

Following the third annual Tech Against Trafficking Summit, BSR’s Technology and Human Rights teams share six key priorities for business action on leveraging technology to combat modern slavery.

Over the three-day program of policy roundtables, plenary sessions, workshops, and a dedicated tech day for NGOs, more than 160 anti-trafficking and tech leaders came together for discussions focused on three top-of-mind tracks for the anti-trafficking field: supply chain data sharing on forced labor; addressing trafficking on digital platforms; and tech innovations, AI, and human trafficking. 

With insights gathered from human rights leads at global companies, suppliers, anti-trafficking NGOs, and experts with lived experience, BSR’s Claudio Formisano, Lale Tekişalp, Kathryn Doyle, Alice Pease, and Laura Dugardin share key individual and collective human trafficking priorities for business in 2025. 

TAT Accelerator Showcase

Tech Against Trafficking continues to advance and scale the work of anti-trafficking organizations with promising technology solutions through its Accelerator Program.

To celebrate the close of our Third Accelerator, TAT is hosting a Showcase Event. This will be a 90-minute webinar where we will showcase the outputs of the Accelerator and share learnings and tools that can be used across the anti-trafficking field.

The event will include presentations by Accelerator participants Polaris and Issara Institute, who have been working with Tech Against Trafficking to deploy the latest cloud and AI techniques to improve efficiency and identify new trafficking and forced labor patterns, risks, and networks.

The event will also include a panel discussion on the use and impact of generative AI technologies for anti-trafficking efforts.

Register for the event here.

TAT: Building an Effective Data Ecosystem to Address Forced Labor in Global Supply Chains

Forced labor is entrenched in global supply chains, and it is often hidden at the lowest tiers of sourcing of products and services. increased regulatory pressure has led to the development of a “supply chain data ecosystem” to inform strategies to better prevent and address labor exploitation.

The supply chain data ecosystem is, however, largely fragmented with data siloes existing between—and within—the corporate sector, civil society, and the public sector. Despite an increasing amount of collected data about forced labor risks, the value and impact of that data is not being fully realized.

Through a comprehensive research, Tech Against Trafficking, through its BSR Secretariat have identified 7 principled recommendations to business, policy-makers and civil society to enable an effective supply chain data ecosystem where data is shared at greater scale and for greater impact.

Read the full report and executive summary here.

Webinar: Survivor Empowerment and Employment with the Freedom Business Alliance

To align with National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in the U.S, GBCAT hosted a joint webinar with the Freedom Business Alliance (FBA) focused on the economic empowerment of survivors of human trafficking and those at-risk of re-exploitation.

The webinar examined the "why" behind the need for economic empowerment, presented two case studies highlighting how business can play a role in sustaining freedom for exploited individuals, and explored opportunities for collaboration between businesses to address the issue of human trafficking.

Tech Against Trafficking Hosts Second Annual Summit

On November 15-16, Meta and BSR hosted the second Tech Against Trafficking (TAT) Summit in New York. Building on the success of the first TAT Summit that took place in 2022, this year the summit focused specifically on the nexus between technology, forced labor and labor trafficking.  

Over 140 global leaders across the anti-trafficking field, including business, civil society, academia, government, and survivors, came together to discuss how technology can be better leveraged to eradicate forced labor and labor trafficking, and how we can prevent the misuse of technology to facilitate these crimes. 

Read 5 key takeaways from the Summit here.

Reference Guide for Procurement Teams

As a compendium to the Toolkit for Corporate Suppliers, this quick reference guide provides practical guidance specifically for procurement teams on how to identify and address risks of modern slavery. It outlines practical steps procurement teams can take to engage with their suppliers, identify red flags for modern slavery practices, and address and mitigate risks.

Access to the Compendium here.

GBCAT and Tech Against Trafficking Merge to Scale Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Ahead of World Day Against Trafficking, we are delighted to announce that The Global Business Coalition Against Human Trafficking (GBCAT) has merged with Tech Against Trafficking (TAT) to enable a more comprehensive and inclusive business approach to combating human trafficking and empowering survivors. 
 
TAT will maintain its focus on the use of technology to prevent, disrupt, and reduce human trafficking, and embed this work across GBCAT's current workstreams, including supplier capacity building and survivor empowerment and employment.  
 
Together, we aim to create a one-stop hub for businesses to work together across sectors and from different angles to eliminate human trafficking.

Current GBCAT members include Amazon, Boost Engagement, Carlson, The Coca-Cola Company, Google, Marriott International, Meta, and Microsoft. BSR provides executive leadership and secretariat support for GBCAT. GBCAT welcomes inquires from any company that wishes to actively contribute to our mission to harness the power of business across sectors to prevent and reduce the incidence of human trafficking, and support survivors.

Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/ePccVtYY

Building Trauma-Informed Workplaces: Recommendations for Business

Securing employment in a safe, stable job is one of the most effective ways for survivors of human trafficking to build a new life. To mark EU Anti-Trafficking Day, GBCAT interviewed several organizations – including The Market Project, Marriott International and GFEMS and Outland Denim – to learn about their programs to employ and empower survivors of human trafficking, and their efforts to implement a trauma-informed workplace that enables all employees to thrive.

Watch the case study videos here and read this blog post where we share some key findings from these conversations to help more businesses implement their own trauma-informed practice.