World Day Against Human Trafficking – July 30, 2017

World Day against Trafficking in Persons occurs July 30th to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.”

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries and will likely continue to grow. Every country is directly affected by human trafficking and according to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, 71% of victims are women and girls.

Over the past year, 10 non-profit representatives from nine countries met regularly via phone conference to discuss the issue of human trafficking and how best to provide services to survivors. This group was part of a pioneering project known as the Global Learning Collaborative (GLC).

This past May, Safe Horizon’s Anti-Trafficking Program (ATP) hosted all 10 representatives for a first of its kind conference. Members stated that participating in the GLC Conference and the monthly calls globalized the issue of human trafficking for them, adding an international perspective on combatting trafficking to everything that they do.

Recently, a GLC member said that the monthly phone calls:

“… provide a time to look at content that we often don’t have the ability to do in the field. The calls help me think about the state of the issue in a broader sense, when usually we are in the weeds, dealing with client concerns.”

Bringing providers together to focus on the global state of human trafficking, and creating a platform for learning, gives the movement invaluable information about how best to provide services to victims and survivors of the crime.

This July 30th, and every day, please take a moment to help raise awareness of this issue by posting on social media with the hashtag #EndHumanTrafficking and tagging @SafeHorizon.

In partnership,

Megan Aebi
Global Learning Collaborative Project Coordinator, Anti-Trafficking Program

Megan Aebi, Global Learning Collaborative Project Coordinator, Anti-Trafficking Program (2)-523555-edited.jpg