About UnShape Slavery

 

People are often not aware of the impact of slavery locally and globally that exists to this day. UnShape Slavery is a cross-hub collaboration project of the Global Shapers Community, initiated by the Guatemala City Hub, that aims to bring awareness to the numerous forms and expressions of modern-day slavery globally and at city hub levels. Launching in December 2018 with nearly 40 hubs participating in the initiative, UnShape Slavery sought to understand local perspectives of modern slavery, present facts, and identify organizations working to reduce, prevent and fight all forms of slavery today. Hubs looked to map how slavery is currently translated and seen, as well as the efforts to end it. This international crime that targets children, youth and adults often goes unnoticed and has become the new normal.

 

Today we ask that all hubs in the Community consider the component of slavery within their projects, as modern slavery is present in every single aspect of our lives - and even more so in the three impact areas of GS (climate and sustainability; education and employment; diversity and inclusion). 

 

Hub activities

 

It is critical to shed light on these modern forms of slavery with the goal of de-normalizing them in all sectors around the world. The cross-hub collaboration UnShape Slavery aims to achieve this goal this goal in the following ways:

• Bring awareness of what constitutes modern-day slavery


• Identify key aspects and moments of each country's lives under slavery actions - in order to portray national variables on a global issue


• Understand why those actions go against human rights and dignity


• Explore local or international organizations solutions to bring about change in modern-day slavery


• Ignite citizen advocacy to pursue slavery-free actions

 

Impact metrics

 

UnShape Slavery was launched within the framework of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (December 2), with three main focus points: Perception - Reality - Collaboration. As a result, 38 hubs from all regions participated in the online campaign in 2018, reaching over 10K people. Each hub also identifed organizations working on the issue, and even partnered with human rights and children rights organizations in order to develop methodologies to end modern-day slavery.

 

The campaign has continued over the years, partnering with different Global Shapers projects, including Shaping Fashion. On 2 December 2020, a video on Six ways to unshape modern slavery was published, reaching over 6,000 impressions and around 2,000 views in just GSC social media.

 

UnShape Slavery has also been recognized in: 

• Trust Conference of the Thomson Reuters Foundation in London 2019, where it was presented


• 
  Mention of the project at a global scale in the book The Serendipity Mindset, written by Christian Busch, published by Penguin Random House in 2020
  

 

Today, UnShape Slavery has evolved, going beyond a single project to becoming a lens through which all hub projects must work, addressing forms of modern slavery at every step. To support this movement, the project is looking for strong partnerships that will help guide the community towards the best ways in which youth can play a larger role in UnShaping Slavery.