In a bid to raise awareness on trafficking and forced labour across South Asia,Thomson Reuters Foundation, in partnership with C&A Foundation, has launched a unique editorial initiative, a new style of journalism highlighting sensitive issues like bonded and forced labour.
The new editorial desk will shed light on a few under-reported issues. Also in-depth training will be provided to reporters, highlighting topics ranging from bonded and forced labour, to supply chain exploitation to human trafficking. The programme is set to launch initially in Chennai and Mumbai.
“We are excited about our partnership with the Thomson Reuters Foundation because of its potential to shine a spotlight and promote new conversations on issues of forced labour and trafficking. Investigative journalism is powerful. It can amplify victims’ voices, highlight models for reform, and tackle the underlying social norms that perpetuate exploitation”, says Head of Gender Justice and Human Rights for C&A Foundation Brandee Butler.
The stories produced will be distributed extensively across the social media platforms and made available globally.
The first of such courses will be launched in Mumbai on April 11. A panel discussion will also be held with manufacturing garments for Western retailers on the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh, in which 1,135 workers were killed.