Bukeni Waruzi is the executive director of Free the Slaves. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), his home country, he formed the grassroots nonprofit group AJEDI-KA/Child Soldiers Project to confront the widespread enslavement and the use of children as soldiers by armed militias and forces.

In Kenya, Waruzi worked for the Porticus Foundation, overseeing projects on human rights, civic engagement, education, and climate change. For nearly a decade he was a senior program manager for WITNESS in New York, a group that empowers victims worldwide to collect evidence that brings perpetrators to justice. He recently served as executive director of Watchlist in New York, an organization that protects children in conflict zones and advocate for children at the United Nations Security Council.

Waruzi has spoken to high level audiences including the United Nations Security Council, the International Criminal Court and the Children’s Caucus of the U.S. Congress. He currently represents anti-slavery groups as a civil society member of the Global Coordinating Group of Alliance 8.7, the global initiative to attain Sustainable Development target 8.7, the end of child and forced labor worldwide.