Kevin Bales
President, Free The Slaves
Movement: Modern-Day Slavery
Kevin Bales had been a professor of sociology for nearly 20 years when he learned that slavery still existed. After examining modern-day slavery through an academic lens, he published Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (1999), an eye-opening investigation into slave-based businesses in five countries. Yet he was inspired to do more: “It was meeting people in slavery, seeing first-hand the horrors of slavery, that transformed my approach from one of well-meaning scholarly interest, to a deeper commitment to ending slavery—but without abandoning the tools of truth-seeking, thought leadership, and public persuasion based upon fact.” Seeking to reawaken awareness of slavery and reinvigorate a commitment to ending it globally, in 2000, Kevin co-founded Free the Slaves, a nonprofit organization that helps former slaves stay free, advocates to governments and corporations for policy change, and engages others in the fight for abolition. In his 2007 book Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves, Kevin outlines a 25-year plan to stop slavery and human trafficking, identifying what governments, the UN, businesses, communities, and individuals can do to end bondage. While Kevin and Free the Slaves have played a leading role in drawing attention to modern-day slavery in the richest nations of the world, his hope for the future recognizes the important role that everyday people play in ending slavery: “When freedom from slavery becomes a dream shared by most citizens, their expectations will drive our major institutions. I hope to see governments, from public insistence, fulfilling the promises they have made in the anti-slavery laws they have passed and conventions they have ratified.”In addition to Disposable People and Ending Slavery, Kevin is the author of Understanding Global Slavery and the coauthor of three other books. From 2002 to 2005, he was the principal investigator for the Study of Human Trafficking into the US, funded by the National Institute of Justice. He serves on the board of directors of the International Cocoa Initiative, a Swiss foundation working to remove child and forced labor from cocoa production, and on the board of governors of the National Underground Railway and Freedom Center. In his 30-year academic career, Kevin taught for 13 years at Roehampton University in London and is currently a visiting professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation (University of Hull). He holds an MSc and PhD in economic history from the London School of Economics. In 2008, Utne Reader named Kevin one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.”
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