Freedom From Slavery Africa Regional Forum 2022

Aicha Traore is currently the Program Manager for Sierra Leone at the Center on Human Trafficking Research and Outreach (CENHTRO) housed at the University of Georgia in the US where she supports anti-TIP projects related to child trafficking/child labor, sexual exploitation, and domestic servitude in the country.

Prior to CENHTRO, Aicha served as Program Coordinator for the Francophone portfolio at Pathfinder International, where she provided administrative and technical support to three country programs (Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo) in implementing projects on Sexual
Reproductive health and rights and access to informed family planning resources.

She also acquired experience in community and social capital development during her time as Program Associate at Heifer International overseeing the West-Africa Portfolio (Ghana, Senegal,
Ivory Coast) in the implementation of nutrition, women empowerment, and market systems development projects.

Andati Morris Shapwala is a Sustainable Development consultant whose focus has been working with young people and making sure they get the proper skills in order to sustain themselves and create community solutions. He serves as Executive Director and Founder of Smart Talk Café in Rwanda where he is the Programs and Project Coordinator.

Andati is deeply passionate about young people, art and culture, human rights, especially gender equality, justice, climate action, development, and rule of law. He has gained his experience through human rights engagements in the past 5 years in SDGs, event organization, gender and youth affairs, training, and economic empowerment.

Previously he worked with Strimid Consulting as the Capacity-Building Program Coordinator. Andati is a trained Sustainable Development expert accredited by Springdale College Foundation. He is also a bamboo consultant with 1-year of experience in training under its various value chains. He has worked under Moonlight Initiative and consulted for International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation and Kenya Forest Research Institute. He seeks to create safe spaces that promote healthy colloquy, discourse, and social change among the youth.

Dr. Annette Mbogoh is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya with fourteen (14) years of standing. She undertook her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree at the University of Nairobi and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law at the Kenya School of Law in Nairobi. She later pursued a Master in Women’s Law (MWL) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Law (DPhilLaw) from the Southern and Eastern Africa Regional Centre for Women’s Law at the University of Zimbabwe. She has conducted empirical research work on trafficking and sex tourism involving the youth in the Coast county of Mombasa, gender and public participation of women in land governance and transitional justice processes, disability rights, and human rights in general. She is the Executive Director of Kituo cha Sheria-Legal Advice Centre. She has ten (10) years of teaching experience garnered from the University of Nairobi’s School of Law.

Antonia Musunga is an intersectional feminist who is passionate about protecting human rights, gender equality, social justice, inclusion, governance, and development.t. She is the Co-Founder of Azadi Kenya, a collective of survivors of human trafficking, and currently advises on strategy and programs.

When not at work, she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family. She is also passionate about African Literature and is part of vibrant feminist collectives in Kenya and the East African region. Currently, she is the Programme Manager Movement Building Portfolio at the Freedom Fund.

Awah Francisca Mbuli is a survivor of sex and labor trafficking. She is the founder of Survivors’ Network (SN), a Cameroonian-based, female survivors-led NGO that fights against all forms of human trafficking. SN rescues and provides temporary housing, psychosocial services, vocational training, and economic empowerment programs to victims of human trafficking and internally displaced women. She advocates both with governments and the general population.

For her efforts, Awah has been awarded numerous distinctions, including, but not limited to being one of the 50 Most Influential Cameroonians and an Obama Africa Leader and having received the African Dream Achievers Award, the US Trafficking in Persons Hero award, and the World of Difference Award 2022 for Economic Empowerment of Women.

Furthermore, Awah is one of the Freedom From Slavery Forum Ambassadors.

Born in the mid-sixties near Rosso, into a poor family, Biram Dah Abeid is the only one of many siblings to attend modern school. His main concerns are the protection of human dignity (Fight against slavery, protection of women and children) and strategies for the defense of human rights. To defend this commitment, he was kidnapped, demonized, tortured, and stayed in prison in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2018. For his efforts, he has been awarded several distinctions, including the prestigious United Nations Human Rights Prize in 2013 and the Front Line Defenders Human Rights Award.

Today, Biram Dah Abeid, whose organization, Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) gained official recognition after more than ten years of denial, maintains peaceful and collaborative relations with the current President of the Republic, Mohamed Cheikh Ghazouani, and its Governmental high-level officials.

Brenda Odhiambo is a Survivor Advocate at HAART Kenya where she has been working with fellow survivors of Human Trafficking for the past year. She has a diploma in Community Development. She is passionate about helping people to get out of Human Trafficking and offering advice to survivors of Human Trafficking. Brenda also works as a consultant on the matter.

Bukeni Waruzi is the Executive Director of Free the Slaves. He works closely with the board, the global team, and headquarters to provide strategic leadership and set a vision for one of the world’s most widely-known and respected anti-modern slavery organizations.

Waruzi has documented human rights abuses, designed and implemented advocacy campaigns, made public presentations around the world, and trained hundreds of human rights advocates and activists in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas.

Waruzi has spoken to high-level audiences including the United Nations Security Council, the International Criminal Court, and the Children’s Caucus of the U.S. Congress. He currently represents anti-slavery groups as a civil society member of the Global Coordinating Group of Alliance 8.7, the global initiative to attain Sustainable Development target 8.7, the end of child and forced labor worldwide.

Dr. David Okech is a Professor at the University of Georgia and Director of the Center on Human Trafficking Research & Outreach, the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery, and the Prevalence Reduction Innovation Forum. He is a board or working group member of numerous global anti-trafficking agencies. He focuses on building research and evidence for building responsive programs and policies in the human trafficking field with a special focus on Africa.

David Ngendo Tshimba is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Refugee Law Project (RLP), School of Law at Makerere University. He earned his Ph.D. (History and Political Studies) from the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR). Prior to joining the RLP, David benefited from a host of research fellowships, including with the Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) on a book project on peace and security in Africa’s Great Lakes region; the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) on its African Great Lakes Project; the University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars Program (UMAPS) for his doctoral study on historicizing political violence in the Rwenzori region astride the Congo-Uganda border; and Action for Development (ACFODE) research project on violated bodies in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement, western Uganda. David’s research interests pertain to thematic issues of (political) violence, (forced) migration, and (social) justice.

Florence Soyekwo serves as Country Director at Hope for Justice in Uganda. She is a passionate advocate for child protection and in particular for their right to live in safe family based care. She steers a team of dedicated professionals at Hope for Justice Uganda to provide trauma informed care to child survivors of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation as well as drive forward the prevention of human trafficking.

Florence has been instrumental in shaping multi-agency coordination, working in partnership with government and non-government agencies as well as the academia in preventing human trafficking and standardizing care for survivors in Uganda. She represents Hope for Justice in national policy forums including the National Task Force Committee on Prevention of TIP. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons in Uganda (CATIPU).

Giselle Balfour, Ph.D. is a native of Trinidad and Tobago. She has garnered over ten years of experience working with children and families impacted by various forms of child maltreatment, specifically child sexual exploitation. Prior to coming on board at Free the Slaves, Giselle served as the Project Director of the Envision Project at the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy, providing specialized reintegrative services to survivors of child sex trafficking survivors in Georgia, USA. Giselle recognizes that Modern slavery is an egregious abuse of one of life’s most basic human rights and believes it is our obligation to continue this work until everyone is free.

Grace Mukwaya is currently the Executive Director of Platform for Labour Action (PLA) where she is responsible for Managing the organization and change management. Platform for Labour Action is a National Civil society organization founded in 2000 to advocate for the promotion and protection of the rights of vulnerable and marginalized workers in Uganda. PLA is an accredited legal aid service provider by the Law Council in Uganda.

Grace Kalekye is a survivor of human trafficking and a member of the Free the Slaves advisory board in Kenya. She is an upcoming musician and a professional dancer.

Sr. Jackline Mwikali Mwongela, from the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary commonly known as the Loreto Sisters. The Project Coordinator for Religious against human trafficking(RAHT Kenya).A highly motivated Change Agent with over 10 years of experience in the administrative and socio-economic industry. Offering expertise in Social Transformation, Human rights-based approach to development, community-based development, planning, implementation, and monitoring in different fields. Well-versed in handling people of different ages and social strata, mobilizing and facilitating them to achieve their desired goals. She has previously managed a number of projects to a successful outcome. Currently, Jackline coordinates a project within the 25 catholic dioceses in Kenya fighting against human trafficking at the grassroots level.

James Lual Atak is the Founder and Director of New Life Ministry,
a ministry partner in Lift Up the Vulnerable (LUV)’s indigenously
directed anti-human trafficking network.

Being part of the South Sudanese Lost Boys, James watched
other children die during a raid on his village and months long trek
from South Sudan to Ethiopia. Later, he would be conscripted as
a child soldier. Eventually, James made it to Nairobi, Kenya where
he received an education. Despite being offered a new life and a
visa in the United States, he decided to return home with the plan
to help alleviate suffering and prevent trafficking in South Sudan.
He began teaching severely malnourished children and orphans
under the trees. In 2005, New Life Ministry became the founding
member of Lift Up the Vulnerable’s anti-trafficking network that
today spans Sudan and South Sudan. James played a pivotal role
in the expansion of LUV’s network by identifying other regions
and tribes where children and women were the most vulnerable to
exploitation and introducing and supporting new indigenous
partners from those areas. In 2018, James was awarded the
Tanenbaum Peacemaker in Action award for his years of
dedication to transforming lives in warzones.  In 2019, his journey
as a child soldier to child educator was recorded for the West
Point Center for Oral History Archives. USA

Today, New Life Ministry (NLM) provides protection, education,
and economic development opportunities for over 750 students
annually who were once vulnerable to human trafficking and
employs female survivors from the community.  NLM and James
have played an essential role in Lift Up the Vulnerable’s efforts
and he has been pivotal in impacting thousands of lives with
hope, healing, and practical care throughout Sudan and South
Sudan.

Joanna Ewart-James is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Freedom United, a global community against modern slavery powering action for change. Joanna is also a trustee at Labour Behind the Label Trust – campaigning for workers’ rights in the clothing industry. At the end of 2021, she completed her term as Chair of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative UK, during which she received an innovation award for the newly created Commonwealth 8.7 Network on modern slavery. Joanna was previously with Walk Free and Anti-Slavery International, where she developed and directed their work on business engagement, including coordinating the Cotton Campaign in Europe. J Her international human rights experience spans the UK diplomatic service, academia, and philanthropy, managing multi-million dollar budgets.

Joha Braimah is the West Africa Regional Director at Free the Slaves. Joha has over eighteen years of practical experience in human rights and community development. He has helped to design and implement programs in migration governance at the national level and anti-slavery in sectors such as fishing, cocoa, mining, and sex trafficking as well as coalition building and fundraising. Joha also serves on the board of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), Geneva, where he is also an Executive Committee member. He is a member of the Ghana National
Steering Committee on Child Labour and the Technical Working Committee of the Ghana Anti-Human Trafficking Management Board. He is an active participant in the development and formulation of national policies such as the Ghana National Action Plan on Child Labour, Ghana National Action Plan on Human Trafficking, Standard Operating Procedure on Human Trafficking, and Child and Family Welfare Policy among others.

Dr. Katarina Schwarz is an Associate Professor in Antislavery Law and Policy at the School of Law and Associate Director of the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham. Her research explores the intersections between slavery and the law, from the historical to the contemporary.

In her role leading the Rights Lab’s Law and Policy Programme, Schwarz works at the interface of research and policy to deliver evidence-based guidance for contemporary antislavery action. Her Rights Lab research interrogates the law and policy frameworks operating at the global, regional, and domestic levels to determine the elements of effective antislavery governance and map trends, successes, and failures.

Schwarz is the lead author of the Antislavery in Domestic Legislation Database, the world’s first comprehensive database of international obligations and domestic legislation on slavery and related practices. This project, initiated in 2015, maps the current state of domestic legislation prohibiting slavery, servitude, forced labor, institutions and practices similar to slavery, and human trafficking in all 193 UN Member States, providing new insights for the global antislavery movement.

Mary Musoni is the Senior Legal Empowerment officer at the Legal Aid forum in charge of assessing and managing client files and needs as well as the coordination and supervision of legal empowerment activities at LAF. She holds an LLB from the National University of Rwanda, a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Institute of Legal Practice and Development of Rwanda, and is a registered member of the Rwanda Bar association as well as the East African Law Society.

She formerly worked for Lamèsè, a global public health start-up, with footprints in the UK and Africa, and Forzley & Associates, an international public health law company with headquarters in Washington, DC, before joining the Legal Aid Forum in 2016. Her work with both companies included using the law to protect and restore accountability by tackling injustices in health systems in developing countries.

Ngwepekem Eunice Foloh is a Human Trafficking and Gender Based Violence advocate, a survivor of Labor Trafficking, countless harassment, and almost a victim of rape. She has been working in the humanitarian field for more than four years with Survivors’ Network, a female-led not for profit making organization that advocates against Human Trafficking, Gender Based Violence, and associated abuses perpetrated on women and girls. She serves as the Human Resource Officer, Gender Based Violence and Case Manager of the organization where she manages staff and intervenes in all Gender Base Violence and Human Trafficking issues when it comes to helping survivors become reintegrated and self-relent in their societies.

Pamela Vargas Gorena works as part of the Rights Lab’s Law and Policy Programme, conducting contextual research and engagement focused on antislavery law and policy frameworks to deliver bespoke legislative toolkits. She contributes to the expansion of a database of domestic legislation and international obligations of all UN Member States, maps global legislation to understand trends, successes, and failures, and identifies factors contributing to positive legislative change. Her research background includes comparative law and jurisprudence as well as the assessment of government law, policies and capacities. As a qualified Bolivian lawyer, she previously held management positions in government contributing to the development of law and public policy at central and local levels. She also has been part of UN-Habitat, working on the Urban National Policy, and has frontline experience working with vulnerable youth in the non-profit sector.

Paul Adhoch is the Executive Director of Trace Kenya, a counter-trafficking in persons organization based in the coastal region of Kenya. With over seventeen years of experience in working to combat human trafficking and slavery, Paul has vast knowledge and skills on issues related to child protection, child labor, commercial sexual exploitation of children, sex slavery, forced street begging, domestic servitude, and migrant labor both at community and policy level.

After graduating from university, Paul worked briefly in the private sector and government before joining the civil society. He has supported research in child protection, social development, and youth development. Paul has contributed to various social studies publications over the last eight years; and participated in think tank meetings in Africa, Europe, and North America on diverse topics such as Migration and Sexual Exploitation – Women victims of human trafficking in the context of migration; Mental Health for Children Victims of Human Trafficking; Justice and Peace; Security Training for Human Rights Defenders; Services Delivery for Education for Children and Leadership Initiative for Good Governance in Africa

Rima Kalush is the Deputy Director of Majal.org, and editor of Migrant-Rights.org. She joined Migrant-Rights.org in its infancy and has overseen its financial and programmatic growth. Her work has been published and referenced by institutions including Al Jazeera, the International Labor Organization, Jadaliyya, Gender Across Borders, and the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. She holds a Master of Philosophy in Middle Eastern Area Studies from the University of Oxford.

Shivan Pavin Alungnat is a musician, artist, queer activist, feminist, and survivor leader whose presence, energy, and personality light up any room. Her music has been heard around the world, including Africa Nalia that addresses modern slavery. Her lived experience and her impeccable ability to rise above the cards that she is dealt makes her a leader and a beacon of hope for our community. She has been a voice for the voiceless and an incredible force in the counter-trafficking movement with her unique voice and perspective, bringing focus to the queer intersection with trafficking and the way art can be used for storytelling. Her lived experience and her role in the movement mean that she has incontestable knowledge and perspective.

Vani Saraswathi is the Editor-at-Large and Director of Projects at Migrant-Rights.org and the author of Stories of Origin: The Invisible Lives of Migrants in the Gulf. The book is an anthology of reporting from seven origin countries over a period of three years.

Since 2014, in her role with Migrant-Rights.org she reports from the Gulf states and countries of origin. She also organizes advocacy projects and human rights training targeting individual employers, embassies, recruitment agents, and businesses in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, working with nationals and long-term residents in these countries. A special emphasis is on female migrants, including domestic workers. Much of her advocacy effort is geared towards mainstreaming issues facing female migrant workers.

She is also a member of the Migration Advisory Group (previous Policy Advisory Committee) of ILO ROAS, the Policy Advisory Group of Freedom Fund’s Ethiopia hotspot, Humanity United’s Advisory Group on Forced Labour and Human Trafficking, and Steering Committee member for GAATW’s cross-regional (Asia-GCC)work.

Victoria Klimova is the MPA Programme Coordinator at the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in Burundi. She was born in Belarus and has 18 years of experience with IOM in the prevention of trafficking in persons and the protection of victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants.

She has been involved in giving direct assistance, as well as the return and reintegration of survivors of trafficking in persons and gender-based violence whereby the recipients of her services were both children and adults, as well as male and female. Furthermore, Victoria has worked within shelter operations, institutional and operational capacity strengthening of partners, and development and institutionalization of NRM/SOPs and other protocols in Belarus, Ghana, Iraq, and Burundi.