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Rotherham, England and Child Sex Trafficking

On August 21st Alexis Jay released a report titled “Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham: 1997-2013.” Her findings have taken the human trafficking world by storm, as she claims more than 1,400 girls, mostly between the age

What Can Ordinary People in Ordinary Places do to Bring and Sustain Freedom for the Enslaved?

The pungent smell of stale urine set me back a step. Rats rested in leisure. The sound of disease could be heard echoing off the worn walls, and if these walls could talk, as the saying goes, few could stomach the stories. I moved forward, up two fli

ISIS, Yazidis and Crimes of Sex Trafficking in Iraq

You’ve certainly heard about the terror in Iraq during the last month with reports of 200,000 Iraqis fleeing for their lives as a radical Islamic terrorists attack, kill and rape tens of thousands. In addition to the obvious human rights abuses, we’r

What It Takes for Real and Lasting Progress in Eradicating Contemporary Slavery

Earlier this year I developed a paper upon which this article is drawn. My purpose in developing that paper was to gather learnings from the history of reform movements which could inform how we tackle the challenge of eradicating contemporary slaver

Vannak Prum

In 2006, Cambodian Vannak Prum arrived in Malai, a city located in northwestern Cambodia along the Thai border, with the promise of a job. Prum left his pregnant wife in the hopes of returning home in a few months with the money to support his growin

James Annan

As the youngest child of an illiterate family, being enslaved was not uncommon in Ghana when James Kofi Annan was growing up. He had not begun primary school when he was sent away by his father to work in a fishing village nine hours away from his ho

Ravi Shanker Kumar

More than 300,000 children are estimated to be trapped in India’s carpet industry. Most of India’s carpets are woven in Uttar Pradesh, where the majority of workers are low-caste Hindu boys. Ravi Shanker Kumar was one of them. His parents were succum

Christine Caine - The A21 Campaign

In 2007, while walking through the airport in Thessaloniki, Greece, evangelist and motivational speaker Christine Caine passed by a number of handmade posters with pictures of missing girls. Astounded that so many kids were missing, Caine did some re

Justin Dillon - Made in a Free World

Artist, entrepreneur, public speaker and abolitionist Justin Dillon utilizes social media, film and music to make the issue of modern-day slavery public knowledge. He is the founder and CEO of Made in a Free World, which engages in several projects a

Theresa Flores - S.O.A.P.

Like many survivors, Theresa Flores is paying it forward by reaching out to at-risk individuals and raising awareness about human trafficking. An all-American girl from a well-to-do white suburban neighborhood, then 15-year-old Theresa Flores was not