Cardiff Coffee Roastery, Manumit, donate £10,000 to IJM on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
The not-for-profit coffee business, Manumit, which employs survivors of modern slavery and helps them on their road to recovery, aims to raise awareness of the fact that modern slavery is a continuing reality for over 40 million people in the world today – but that change is possible, even during the pandemic. It has chosen to support IJM because of its work to stop slavery at source.
On World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on the 30th July 2021, Manumit marked the occasion with a £10,000 donation to International Justice Mission, one of the world’s largest anti-slavery organisations
As sales have risen during the pandemic with home workers stocking up on coffee to get them through long hours on Zoom, Manumit has seen incredible support for its business model.
The not-for-profit business was set up to create ethical coffee from source to cup, with beans roasted in Cardiff by a team of survivors of modern slavery, who are supported through training and coaching with the aim of helping them gain new skills and rebuild their lives. Founders Dai Hankey and Nick Davis started the business after becoming aware of the need for survivors of modern slavery to access help entering the workplace, inspired by the idea of a business that was entirely survivor-focused. Five years later, they have seen the business and the survivors it supports go from strength to strength.
The movement to end slavery has become even more urgent during the pandemic, which has put more people than ever at risk of trafficking globally.
Children, for example, have been out of school and lacking some of their usual safeguards, which raises the risk of online sexual exploitation. Sadly, they’re increasingly at risk of labour trafficking too, with abusers looking to exploit desperate families. And large numbers of adults risk similar exploitation, with a reported 1.6 billion informal workers expected to lose their work because of the COVID crisis (source: CGAP), putting them in a precarious position. With many criminal justice systems under major stress, traffickers see more opportunity to exploit people and a lesser likelihood of being held to account – creating a perfect storm.
Despite these challenges, IJM has seen positive signs of change even during the pandemic, through working with local authorities around the world to bring freedom to people trapped in slavery and restore them to safety and strength, as well as bringing perpetrators to justice and creating a safer future for all. IJM has worked with authorities to bring 66,000 people to safety from slavery and violence – such as an operation in June which brought three boys aged ten, twelve and sixteen to safety from trafficking in Ghana, where they had been trafficked to work for a fisherman: mending nets, scooping water from boats and pulling in nets with the day’s catch. All three children are now safe and receiving aftercare, and one trafficker has already been sentenced. By ensuring justice for survivors of exploitation, IJM has seen amazing change in the areas where it works, with reductions in slavery of up to 86%.
Dai Hankey commented, “We’re delighted to see the support shown for our business during the pandemic period. It’s our privilege to be able to support survivors in this way, but to truly end modern slavery, we also need to see solutions that tackle slavery at source and stop anybody being exploited in the first place. That’s why we’ve chosen to donate to IJM, because they are committed to bringing people to safety from exploitation, holding perpetrators accountable, and transforming systems to ensure lasting change.”
David Westlake, CEO of International Justice Mission UK, commented: “We've been really encouraged to see Manumit’s commitment to empowering survivors of modern slavery, as well as their support for our work stopping slavery at source. It's amazing to see businesses joining the movement to see slavery ended for good.”
Support Manumit and learn more about their model to bring freedom and stop slavery through coffee.
Learn more about IJM UK at IJMUK.org