After nearly seven years of valued leadership, Jasmine O’Connor OBE is stepping down as Anti-Slavery International’s CEO to take up a new role as CEO at a UK charity working on refugee community resettlement. We are happy to share that Donna Covey joins the organisation as the new interim CEO. Donna brings a wide range of charity CEO experience, which will help the organisation continue to build on its strong operations, advocacy and fundraising programmes.
While we are sad to bid farewell to Jasmine, we are thrilled to see Jasmine’s passion for social justice continue with her new role. We want to thank Jasmine for her tireless work over the past six and a half years, for steering Anti-Slavery International and for her leadership in the wider anti-slavery movement to drive systemic changes which positively impact the lives of people in, and at risk of, modern slavery.
Jasmine presenting at the Annual Supporter Meeting in 2022
Implementing our strategy for systemic change
Under Jasmine’s leadership, Anti-Slavery International implemented a new strategy that kicked off in 2020. This new strategy centred on responsible business, climate change, child slavery and migration and trafficking and pushes for thorough, systemic change. Our approach to achieving this system change focuses on voice and participation of survivors, movement building, framing the issue of slavery and legal protections.
As part of this strategy, we have continued to develop and progress our supply chain advisory work. Via a “critical friend” model, we advise businesses on how they can clean up their supply chains and understand the risks of modern slavery.
Achieving groundbreaking laws in the EU
Since 2017, Anti-Slavery International has been pushing for the EU to introduce broad-ranging laws to tackle forced labour in supply chains. We have remained at the forefront of the campaigns to introduce what became the Forced Labour Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
Following the incredible progress and ambition from so many lawmakers, businesses, civil society organisations and worker representatives, we were disappointed to see very late challenges from core Member States to the CSDDD. Jasmine led the organisation in appealing to businesses, lawmakers, and other influential people to try to save the law. And while this late disruption watered down parts of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, we were still thrilled to see both laws passed earlier this year. After years of hard work, we are now working to support the EU and its Member States in implementing these laws across the EU.
It’s hard to overstate how important these laws are for global progress in tackling forced labour in supply chains, and we can’t wait to see them introduced!
Monitoring and improving modern slavery support in the UK
Under Jasmine’s leadership, we have continued to monitor the UK’s modern slavery support system, largely through the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group. We have campaigned for crucial improvements, conducted in-depth research, supported legal challenges, promoted positive media coverage and engaged directly with decision-makers. In 2018, we supported a legal case that not only reversed a Home Office decision to cut subsistence to victims of trafficking, but made sure this was repaid. And in 2022, the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group published a pioneering piece of survivor-led research, reviewing for the first time the impact of the UK’s Recovery Needs Assessment.
And when the UK Government ramped up hostility towards victims and survivors of trafficking in the UK, Jasmine led the organisation to challenge this hostile rhetoric. Jasmine authored an opinion piece in a national newspaper outlining just how dangerous the narrative of the then Home Secretary Suella Braverman was. We also successfully challenged inaccurate information through a series of information and press complaints against the Home Office and the Telegraph. We also received the support of various UN experts who called out the UK Government’s rhetoric as having a “chilling effect” on survivors.
Challenging descent-based slavery in the Sahel
Throughout Jasmine’s time at Anti-Slavery International, we have worked to challenge the practice of descent-based slavery in the Sahel, including in Niger, Mali and Mauritania. We have influenced UN committees to call on the governments in these countries to protect children, supported legal cases – including the groundbreaking case of Mrs F that led to the outlawing of the “fifth wife” practice – and provided education and direct support to communities of slave descent. We were also instrumental in making sure the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery visited Mauritania and called on the government. This visit led to the Mauritanian Government being under pressure to introduce much stricter laws to prevent slavery.
Shining a spotlight on state-imposed forced labour
Anti-Slavery International has led pioneering work to raise awareness of, and tackle state-imposed, forced labour, particularly in the cotton trade. After 15 years of campaigning on forced labour in Uzbekistan, we witnessed the end of systematic state-imposed forced labour in the 2021 cotton harvest. This momentous victory means that around a million people in Uzbekistan are no longer forced to work by their government. We are aiming to achieve the same landmark victory in Turkmenistan, as we campaign to change the decision of businesses and lawmakers about the risks of forced labour in Turkmen cotton.
We have also helped to set up a coalition focused on Uyghur forced labour, and we continue to drive action so that businesses and governments no longer purchase goods made with Uyghur forced labour. In December 2021, we saw great progress in this work with the passing of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the USA.
And so much more!
There’s so much we could thank Jasmine for; this barely scratches the surface. Under Jasmine’s leadership, we also led a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting our partners to adapt their operations and provide direct support to communities impacted by slavery. We’ve also supported the establishment of a Migrant Resource Centre in Mauritius, worked with partners in Ghana and Tanzania to support children employed as domestic workers, exposed forced labour in brick kilns in India and worked to stop the practice of forced child begging in West Africa.
With tremendous thanks to Jasmine, we have redoubled our efforts to push for a world in which everyone, everywhere, is able to live free from slavery. Join us in continuing this fight by subscribing to our updates and follow us on social media to stay informed and engaged in the movement for systemic change.