Beyond Trafficking and Slavery (BTS) started as many projects do – by doubling down on an idea from the pub the night before.
Our (very nerdy) founders decided that they were fed up with policymakers and activists blaming trafficking on individual ‘bad apples’ – on evil criminal syndicates who exploit people because they’re criminals and that’s just what criminals do. This, they knew, was a wholly insufficient explanation for why so many people around the world end up in highly exploitative work.
So they decided to set up a megaphone to disabuse people of this illusion. Their goal was to explain the structural causes of labour exploitation so clearly that even the most ardent fans of criminal justice couldn’t deny their existence or effect. Poverty. Immigration status. Social exclusion. Lack of labour protection. Purchasing practices. Outsourcing. Concentrated corporate power. Governance gaps. This is where we began.
