Hong Kong-based campaigner to press United States big business on slavery scourge
Visit is announced after Hong Kong government reacts angrily to report placing the city on par with North Korea, Iran and Eritrea for “inadequate” response to modern slavery
The head of a Hong Kong-based group dedicated to the battle against modern forms of slavery is set to embark on a two-month, coast-to-coast speaking tour of the United States to highlight the issue to big business and major corporations.
News of the road trip comes at the end of a week in which the Hong Kong government had to fend off accusations contained in a major report into modern-day slavery which ranked it alongside North Korea, Iran and Eritrea for its “inadequate” response to the problem.
The findings of the 2016 Global Slavery Index , which estimates the number of people in modern slavery, describes what makes victims vulnerable and ranks governments on their response to the problem, prompted a strong response from the government
A spokesman for the Security Bureau accused the authors of sloppy research and inadequate conclusions.
The man making the two- month road-trip, Matthew Friedman, is the chief executive officer of the Mekong Club – an organisation of Hong Kong-based private sector business people who have joined forces to fight human trafficking in Asia.