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How A Hong Kong Not-For-Profit Is Helping The Private Sector Fight Human Trafficking

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Deep-rooted tragedy underlies the plight of the Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim people whose desperate journeys across the Bay of Bengal have recently riveted the world. Decades of systematic disenfranchisement in their native Burma, also known as Myanmar, have resulted in many being forced to live in filthy camps or flee abroad.

Sectarian violence in 2012 between the country’s Buddhist and Rohingya communities deepened the misery. The U.N. estimates that, in addition to more than 240,000 suffering internal displacement, more than 800,000 in the western state of Rakhine lack citizenship.

Conditions are therefore ripe for human trafficking. While many decide to travel, many others are deceived or subjugated to board rickety ships plying the waters off Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. The going rate for a cargo of 300 migrants is at least $20,000, according to one report.

Against this bleak backdrop, a Hong Kong-based not-for-profit organization called The Mekong Club is engaging the private sector to break the cycles of human trafficking and slavery. Led by former USAID and U.N. official Matt Friedman, the group offers business leaders expertise in examining their supply chains and tightening up operations.

Founded in 2013, The Mekong Club attempts to complement traditional efforts to combat human trafficking and slavery. Eschewing the “naming and shaming” approach that governments and NGOs enlist to confront businesses, the group instead gives executives a low-key space for learning about the issues and figuring out what actions must be taken.

“We’re confidential. We’re supportive. We’re positive,” Friedman stated. The Mekong Club provides training in supply chain management and risk assessment. It also extends technical assistance if a company gets into trouble.

Trafficking often arises when an acute need for labor intersects with extreme poverty. As Asian economies rapidly transform, forced labor has become rampant. One source claims there were more than 35 million slaves globally in 2014, up 30% from 2007. India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand are among the top ten countries in the world for number of slaves.

The Rohingya crisis presents an opportunity for the business community to contribute to a solution, Friedman said. “If the private sector spent more time addressing their supply chains, they’d be in a position to help identify patterns of deception and fraud among migrant workers,” he explained. “Companies are much closer to the action. They understand bad business.”

The Mekong Club’s constructive engagement has elicited favorable feedback from governments and foundations. Its fundraising includes events like a gala music concert this Friday in Hong Kong.

The private sector has begun to pitch in financially, and some give in-kind help. The law firm Winston and Strawn, for example, allocates the group office space in Hong Kong.

Friedman spends most weeks delivering presentations on the entwined issues of human trafficking (“the movement of people”) and slavery (“the withholding of wages and restricted movement”). Publicity is a priority. “If you don’t know about the problem you can’t care about it,” he said.

Hilde-Gunn Vestad, director for program development at adidas Group, heard Friedman speak last year. She was so impressed with his knowledge and passion that she approached The Mekong Club to partner with its network and resources.

adidas Group now has a seat on The Mekong Club’s advisory board. Vestad told me that Friedman and his team offer “an excellent platform to engage and mobilize businesses, [and] drive impact and change by having corporate members learn from experts and peers.”

Fighting an illicit industry whose profits are valued at $150 billion is no small task. The Mekong Club, however, is unfazed. “It’s not just about labor infractions,” said Friedman. “It’s about loss of freedom, loss of health, loss of control of your life. Why not take on this one thing which is the cesspool element of society? Fix that, and a lot of other things get sorted out along the way.”