Humanity United

Our Calling

We believe that conflict and injustice threaten our common humanity.
Mass atrocities and modern-day slavery share a common and deplorable distinction. The world agrees that each is intolerable—and yet both persist today on a massive scale.

There are more slaves on the planet now than at any time in history—an estimated 27 million. In South Asia alone, nearly 10 million people languish in debt bondage. As many as 2 million people have been trafficked into prostitution or forced labor. Mass atrocities, meanwhile, have claimed some 20 million lives in more than 25 countries in the past half century. The ongoing crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan has left hundreds of thousands of dead and has displaced more than 2.5 million people. Across Africa, Asia, and the Americas, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and similar violence threatens millions more.

Individually, mass atrocities and modern-day slavery represent a challenge to peace and security. Together, they threaten the very foundation of our common humanity.

Our Work

We encourage catalytic change through research, policy, and advocacy.
By pursuing a creative combination of research, policy, and public pressure, Humanity United seeks to enable local and global solutions to end modern-day slavery and mass atrocities in our time.

We invest in ideas and individuals. In our work in conflict and postconflict zones, we support global, regional, and local actors that are working to mitigate the fighting, monitor and expose perpetrators of human rights abuses, amplify the voices of those directly affected, and prevent future hostilities. Our efforts to abolish modern-day slavery include supporting an ambitious worldwide advocacy and awareness-raising agenda, and making investments that help fight the practice of human trafficking and reduce the number of people living under the conditions of forced labor, bondage, and other forms of slavery.

More than simply supporting the most credible, capable, and creative policymakers, researchers, and advocates, we help these often disparate communities share ideas, build on each other’s work, and collaborate in ways that amplify their individual impact.

Our Future

We envision a world where conflict and injustice are no longer tolerated.
We are living at a unique moment in history. The tools necessary for ridding the world of mass atrocities and modern-day slavery are increasingly within our reach. Many of these solutions have yet to be fully realized. And the forces that enable conflict and injustice are deeply entrenched. But Humanity United is part of a growing global movement that rejects the notion that mass atrocities, modern-day slavery, and other forms of violence and oppression are inevitable.

It is a massive challenge to create a world in which mass atrocities and modern-day slavery are no longer tolerated, and in which the mere threat of these horrendous acts is met by a global response that is swift, effective, and uncompromising. But we are committed to making that world a reality—because we believe that all of humanity is inextricably connected, and that ordinary individuals united in common action can bring about extraordinary change.