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WASHINGTON – Nearly three years after he started his campaign to end modern slavery around the world, Sen. Bob Corker is seeing signs the movement is gaining momentum.

First, the State Department announced last week it is awarding $25 million to the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, a U.S.-based nonprofit created under legislation written by Corker.

Then, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced at the United Nations on Tuesday that the United Kingdom is pledging another $25 million to the fund.

On top of that, another $25 million from the U.S. appropriated for the fund could be coming soon.

When that happens, Corker said, other countries are expected to announce that they are contributing money to the effort, and private-sector funding from other parts of the world also will likely become available.

“We’re just getting going, but no doubt, we have passed a major threshold,” said Corker, the Chattanooga Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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“The initiative is real now," Corker said, "and we need to continue to gain momentum and work with people around the world."

With the funding, the U.S.-led effort can now begin setting up a series of practices for combating modern slavery around the globe, Corker said. The goal is to reduce slavery by 50 percent in targeted populations within seven years.

Ending modern slavery has been one of Corker’s top priorities since he traveled to Southeast Asia in 2014 and met with young women who were victims of human trafficking.

Although slavery is illegal in every country, experts estimate that 27 million people in more than 165 nations, including the United States, are trapped in the multibillion-dollar modern slave industry, often through forced labor, sexual exploitation or involuntary servitude.

A U.N. report released Tuesday put the number of victims even higher. The report warned that 40.3 million people across the globe were subject to some form of modern slavery in 2016. Among them, about 28.7 million — or 71 percent — were women or girls forced into sex, marriage or labor.

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The same day the report was made public, President Donald Trump, in remarks to the U.N. General Assembly, cited the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery as an example of how the United States has invested “in better health and opportunity all over the world.”

In her own speech, the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, told a U.N. panel that modern slavery is "the greatest human rights issue of our time."

Ivanka Trump has become an important ally for Corker in his campaign against human trafficking. The senator was tied up in a meeting in Washington and unable to watch the Trumps’ speeches, but he said Ivanka Trump kept him up to date by texting him as the events were happening. She also sent him a video of the president’s speech containing the segment where he mentioned modern slavery, Corker said.

Modern slavery is such a massive problem the United States can’t fight it alone, Corker said. But by providing leadership, the U.S. can galvanize support and investment for the fight from other governments and the private sector.