The number of women and girls disappearing in Latin America is increasing at an alarming rate, especially in communities under the control of cartels and organized crime.

Why we care: We can make communities less vulnerable to organized crime, empower families in the search for missing persons, and provide aftercare services to victims of contemporary forms of slavery.

How we’re solving this: The Red Alert System gathers data on the disappearances of women and children into trafficking networks and attempts to rescue them from trafficking.

In 2006, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Latin America and the Caribbean in collaboration with the Mexican General Attorney and the Federal Preventive Police, founded the “Red Alert System” to rescue women and children victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.

Through the “Red Alert System,” the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Latin America and the Caribbean helps consolidate the work of government agencies, migration authorities, office of passports, the ministry of foreign affairs, general attorneys, prosecutors’ offices and police to rescue trafficking victims.

The Red Alert System gathers data on the disappearances of women and children into trafficking networks. It also works to make communities less vulnerable to organized crime, helps construct a strong civil society by empowering families in the search for relatives, and provides necessary aftercare services to victims.

The Red Alert System is the first of its kind and has to-date helped more than 1,037 women and children across Latin America escape trafficking.

You can help us fund the amount of staff needed to support the search for victims, provide after care for victims of trafficking, medicines and necessary medical expenses, and materials to help disseminate information about missing people.