Who we are

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.

Our story

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.

Global Slavery Index 2023