Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/12/14/google_slavery/

Google promises 0.001 of revenue to free the slaves

'More slaves today than at any time in history'

By Kelly Fiveash

Posted in Software, 14th December 2011 16:51 GMT

Google is on course to smash the £30bn annual revenue barrier by the end of this year, so - in time-honoured fashion with it be Christmas 'n' all - the company has plonked just over 0.1 per cent of this cash on the philanthropic pile.

The world's largest ad broker isn't just fretting about educating girls, empowering people through technology and bigging up science, tech, engineering and maths skills, it also wants to do something about modern-day slavery, too.

Google has set aside $11.5m from its $40m charity fund for 2011 to help "free more than 12,000 people" from serfdom.

"The bad news: there are more slaves today than at any other point in history," the company said in a blog post on its Google.org website.

"The good news: by returning to their villages and helping educate others, freed slaves protect hundreds of thousands of at-risk people from being tricked or forced into similar misery."

Google went on to claim that the support it was offering would not only "save" thousands of people from slavery, but that it would also "prevent millions more from being victimised."

The company's funding will be dished out to four groups (International Justice Mission, the BBC World Service Trust, Action Aid and Aide et Action) that have agreed to form a coalition to tackle the problem.

"It will work on the ground with governments to stop slave labour by identifying the ringmasters, documenting abuse, freeing individuals and providing them with therapy as well as job training. Our support will also help expand the reach of tools like the powerful Slavery Footprint calculator and Polaris Project’s National Trafficking Hotline," said Google.

Associated Press provided a breakdown of what the $11.5m donation from Google would be spent on trying to combat modern-day slavery that Mountain View described as "a multi-billion dollar industry that ruins the lives of around 27 million people."

An intervention project in India will be given $3.5m to fight slavery in that country. A further $4.5m will be spent on an advocacy campaign in India to support and educate vulnerable people.

Funding worth $1.8m will go to US-led Anti-Trafficking Initiative, which is a partnership between Polaris Project and Slavery Footprint.

The final lump of cash from Google - $1.7m - will be donated to smaller organisations that are fighting the slave trade. ®