Kevin Brian BalesCMG (born 1952)^{[citation needed]} is Professor of Contemporary Slavery at theUniversity of Nottingham, co-author of theGlobal Slavery Index, and was a co-founder and previously president ofFree the Slaves, the US sister organization ofAnti-Slavery International.^[1]

Kevin Bales
Bales atChatham House in 2013
Born	(1952-02-09)February 9, 1952 (age 73)
Education	University of Oklahoma (BA) University of Mississippi (MA) London School of Economics (MSc,PhD)
Known for	Bales is a member of theReligious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Scientific career
Fields	Anti-slavery
Thesis	Early innovations in social research: the Poverty Survey of Charles Booth (1994)

Bales graduated fromPonca City High School inPonca City, Oklahoma, in 1970. Bales earned his Ph.D. at theLondon School of Economics in 1994 with a thesis onEarly innovations in social research: the Poverty Survey of Charles Booth.^[2] He also holds a BA inAnthropology, an MA inSociology, and an MSc inEconomic History.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, Bales partnered with Simon Pell to form the fund-raising and consulting firm Pell & Bales Ltd.^[3] The firm's stated goal is to raise funds for medical charities, human rights groups, environmental campaigns, overseas development, and theLabour Party.^[4]

Bales has served as a Trustee of Anti-Slavery International and as a consultant to theUnited Nations Global Program on Trafficking of Human Beings.^{[citation needed]} He has advised various governments on formulating policy on slavery and human trafficking.^{[citation needed]} Bales has also done editing in his line of work for the United Nations, and published a report on forced labor in the US with the Human Rights Center atBerkeley.^{[citation needed]}

In 2015, he worked as Professor of Human Rights at the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights at theUniversity of Chicago. From 2001 to 2005 Bales was a visiting Professor of International Studies at theCroft Institute at the University of Mississippi.^{[citation needed]}

Bales has also served as Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the University of Nottingham and as Emeritus Professor of Sociology atRoehampton University in London. He served on the board of directors of theInternational Cocoa Initiative, and currently serves on the board of the Freedom Fund.^{[citation needed]}

Bales has written several books on modern slavery. One of his best-known books isDisposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (1999; revised edition, 2004, further edition 2012), an analysis of five slave-based businesses:prostitution in Thailand, the selling of water inMauritania, production of charcoal inBrazil, generalagriculture in India, and brickmaking inPakistan. ArchbishopDesmond Tutu called the book "a well researched, scholarly and deeply disturbing expose of modern slavery".^[5] The book has been published in ten different languages. The book formed the basis for a film,Slavery: A Global Investigation, made by TrueVision in 2000, which won aPeabody Award.^[6]

In 2000 Bales was awarded thePremio Viareggio prize for his services to humanity. In 2003 he received the Human Rights Award from theUniversity of Alberta; in 2004, the Judith Sargeant Murray Award for Human Rights; and in 2005 the Laura Smith Davenport Human Rights Award. In 2006 the association of British Universities named Bales' work as one of the top "100 world-changing discoveries of the last fifty years". Two years later in 2008, Utne Reader named him one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World". In 2008 he was also invited to address the Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Paris, and to join in the planning of the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative. The following year he was awarded a Prime Mover fellowship, and in 2010 awarded an honorary doctorate by Loyola University of Chicago for "outstanding service on behalf of human rights and social justice."

Most recently, Bales received the 2011University of LouisvilleGrawemeyer Award for Improving World Order.^[7]

Bales was appointedCompanion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the2017 New Year Honours for services to the global antislavery movement.^[8]

• Bales, Kevin (1999).Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (2004; 2012)ISBN 9780520243842
• Bales, Kevin (2005).Understanding Global Slavery: A ReaderISBN 9780520245075
• Bales, Kevin (2005).New Slavery: A Reference HandbookISBN 9781576072394
• Bales, Kevin (2007).Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's SlavesISBN 9781435611511
• Bales, Kevin; Trodd, Zoe (2008). To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today's SlavesISBN 9780520257962
• Bales, Kevin; Malbert, Roger;Sealy, Mark (2008).Documenting Disposable People: Contemporary Global SlaveryISBN 9781853322648
• Bales, Kevin; Soodalter, Ron (2009).The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America TodayISBN 9780520268661
• Bales, Kevin; Trodd, Zoe; Williamson, Alex Kent (2009).Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million PeopleISBN 9781851686414
• Bales, Kevin (2016).Blood and Earth: Modern Slavery, Ecocide, and the Secret to Saving the WorldISBN 9780812995763

• Bales, Kevin (2003), "Because she looks like a child", inHochschild, Arlie;Ehrenreich, Barbara (eds.),Global woman: nannies, maids, and sex workers in the new economy, New York: Metropolitan Books, pp. 207–229,ISBN 9780805075090.

In 2007, in response to Kevin Bales' interview withDemocracy Now! about Free The Slaves,^[9]investigative journalistChristian Parenti wrote a criticism of Bales, alleging he had made false claims about the chocolate industry. Specifically, Parenti argued that "Bales goes around fund raising, flogging his book and promoting himself on the basis that he has successfully reformed thechocolate industry and largely halted its use ofchild labor in West Africa. But no such thing has happened... Bales’ organization FTS defended the chocolate industry when the Department of Labor sought to list cocoa as a product tainted by slave and child labor."^[10] Bales' work has also come under criticism by sociologist Julia O'Connell Davidson.^[11]

• Official website
• Speaker's Forum: Kevin Bales - How to End Slavery (audio),KUOW-FM
• Kevin Bales atTED 
  • TED Talk:How to combat modern slavery (TED2010), also onVideo onYouTube