Human Trafficking

If you are being watched, leave now!

Untold numbers of women and girls are impacted by sex and labor trafficking, many without ever leaving their community. We focus on the online sexual exploitation of children and the intersection of sex and labor trafficking, which disproportionately impacts women and girls. Victims of human trafficking are especially vulnerable to economic exploitation and gender-based violence.

Legal Impact Strategies

We seek to eradicate human trafficking using the power of the law. We challenge those who profit from trafficking; we advocate for laws that hold traffickers accountable and empower trafficking survivors to seek justice, find healing, and lead lives free of violence; we educate the public about the realities of human trafficking. We also advocate for policies to advance economic justice and women’s economic empowerment to target root causes of trafficking and its disproportionate harm on women.

Litigation

We filed two lawsuits against Backpage LLC in 2016 for their role in facilitating the sex trafficking of minors, one of which is still ongoing. We also successfully advocated for federal legislation that removed barriers for victims of human trafficking to hold liable websites that facilitated and profited from their abuse.

Legislation

As part of our efforts to address the global impact of trafficking, we have issued expert policy guidance on human trafficking, advocating for domestic legislation and policies that close existing gaps in protection, create stronger and more comprehensive legal safeguards, and address root causes of trafficking, including systemic gender discrimination and structural inequality. Our work centers around prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable women, including women in poverty, women in low-wage work, and women without stable immigration status, all of whom remain particularly susceptible to trafficking in the United States and worldwide.

Access our Resources on Human Trafficking

Featured Resources