Real stories. Real change. Real solutions to ending sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.

Why we care:  Sex trafficking and exploitation is a gender-based human rights violation operating on a massive global scale; survivor participation is essential to ending it.

How we’re solving this:  By showcasing the stories of survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation and by providing actions readers can take to be a part of the anti-trafficking movement.

Trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world despite the fact that international law and the laws of 134 countries criminalize it. Women and girls make up 98% of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.  As awareness of this multi-billion dollar industry grows, survivor participation in the movement to end it is critical. As advocates, their perspectives and leadership can shape and influence effective anti-trafficking policy and legislation around the world.

“Survivor Stories” is a yearlong web-based campaign, created in partnership with survivors and grassroots organizations combating trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Through our work with these partners, we know that there isn’t one “type” of victim and that how they come to be exploited varies widely.  For example:

•  A Peruvian university student, sold into a legal brothel by her boyfriend;

•  A young Indian girl born into a family involved in inter-generational prostitution—her virginity was sold at age 12;

•  A single mother sold to U.S. marines stationed at a military base in the Philippines;

•  A sister sold by her brother into “temporary marriages” with Saudi men visiting Egypt;

•  A Lithuanian girl, who entered the sex trade after being raped by her godfather and developing a drug habit; and

•  A teenager who was recruited by a pimp in New York after running away from home and repeatedly sold on Backpage.com.

The campaign will reflect the multiple ways women and girls become trapped and most importantly how they are using their voices to advocate for change and justice. Starting in 2013, stories from Cambodia, Brazil, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, the United States and the United Kingdom will be released monthly (countries subject to change).  Readers will be given related actions they can take to support efforts against this violent and devastating industry, and survivors will have a forum to shape the conversation and be a part of the solution – as eloquently stated by our Cambodian partner, AFESIP:

“For a survivor, her past is associated with a lack of power. Others wielded immeasurable authority over her, whether it was the grandmother who sold her to the pimp or the policeman who rescued her from the brothel. At what point can the survivor be empowered? We must allow survivors a platform to be influencers alongside policy makers and law enforcement. To exclude them from the solution further perpetuates their disenfranchisement. Include them, empower them, and listen.“

Please support this project so that the women and girls around the world, who are exploited by those who profit from the trade in human beings and those who contribute to the violence against them, are given a chance to influence policies to end this epidemic.  By empowering survivors and developing survivor leadership in the anti-trafficking and exploitation movement, their voices become ones of strength and activism.