Over the last few years, we’ve heard from some of our long-time supporters. People who’ve stood beside us against modern slavery, funded life-saving projects, and believed in our mission from the very start. They ask, “Why the shift? Why are you talking about trees and energy now instead of trafficking?”

Some stopped donating altogether. Not because they stopped caring, but because they thought we did.

We want to say this as clearly as we can: we never left the fight against modern slavery. But the battlefield has changed, and we’ve learned from the early days.

The problem of modern slavery didn’t shrink or shift. It spread

You cannot fight modern slavery without facing environmental breakdown. But that doesn’t mean we’re shifting focus.

When we launched Not For Sale, our mission was clear: to fight human trafficking head-on by rescuing, rehabilitating, and restoring the lives of survivors. We’re still doing that every single day.

In Thailand, our work continues to protect children from exploitation through education and safe shelter. In the Netherlands, we provide job training and reintegration programs for survivors rebuilding their futures.

But early on, we realized that trafficking doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Behind each rescue was a pattern – a vulnerability created by broken systems. A father without work. A community without clean water. A family forced from their land by environmental collapse. Traffickers don’t create desperation, they exploit it.

That’s why we’ve expanded our fight; not shifted it. Today, we’re not only confronting the traffickers, but we’re going upstream, disrupting the conditions that make exploitation possible in the first place. Whether it’s seeding indigenous-run cooperatives in the Amazon, investing in clean energy solutions, or creating fair jobs through partner enterprises, we are building a world where trafficking has no oxygen to breathe.

Climate denial isn’t just wrong. It’s dangerous

There’s a growing narrative – pushed by powerful interests – that climate change is overblown, or worse, a hoax. But denial doesn’t stop the facts:

• According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 80% of the world’s displaced people come from countries most vulnerable to climate shocks.
• Entire communities in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are being uprooted by floods, droughts, and failed harvests, shows research in the World Bank’s Groundswell report.
• In the wake of climate disasters, child trafficking rates spike by as much as 30%, according to many international aid agencies.

You don’t even have to believe in ice caps melting to see what’s happening. Just talk to the mother who sold her daughter because the rice harvest failed. Or the teenage boy promised a factory job who ended up locked in a shipping container. Stories like this are rife around the world, with many individuals that Not For Sale work with.

Environmental change is fuelling modern slavery. Climate collapse isn’t a sideshow. It’s the stage modern slavery now plays out on.

We’re not off track fighting modern slavery. We’re further in

Some saw our partnerships with regenerative businesses, clean energy pioneers, and circular economy leaders and thought: “That’s not what we signed up for.”

But here’s what we’ve learned: if we only show up after people are trafficked, we’re already too late. We need to act upstream – to prevent, not just react. That’s why we support innovations that create sustainable livelihoods, protect local ecosystems, and make it harder for traffickers to gain a foothold in the first place.

This isn’t about changing direction. It’s about going deeper into the work we promised to do.

We’re not replacing one mission with another. We’re expanding the definition of what fighting modern slavery looks like in a rapidly changing world.

A call to return to combatting exploitation

To those who felt like we drifted: we see you. We hear you. And we want you back.

Not just as donors, but as co-builders. As people who once said: “This shouldn’t be happening – not on our watch.” That fire is still burning. But to put it out, we’ve had to widen the scope.

We can’t ask people to choose between survival and dignity. Between clean air and safe work. Between climate justice and human rights. The people we fight for – they don’t get that choice.

And neither should we.

Come back to the front line

Modern slavery thrives in the shadows. So does misinformation. But now’s not the time to pull back. It’s time to push forward – eyes open, hands steady, and hearts unwilling to settle for a world that lets people be bought and sold.

We are still Not For Sale. The mission hasn’t changed. The world has.

Are you still with us?

• Support Not For Sale and rid the world of modern slavery.