Human Trafficking Information Guide
Are you interested in learning more about human trafficking? Browse the resource guide below for a list and description of educational resources including datasets, books, and more compiled by the EverWell team.
Content Note: Please note that these resources contain detailed and sometimes graphic information about human trafficking, exploitation, and trauma. The contents may not be appropriate for all readers.
Datasets and Reports
U.S. Department of State TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Report
The TIP Report is published annually by the US Department of State since 2001. It provides information on how governments around the world respond to human trafficking, including rankings of "tiers" of states' anti-trafficking policies. Reviewed by officials as high-up as the Secretary, this report goes in-depth into the causes and consequences of human trafficking worldwide. With an emphasis on survivor experiences and trauma-informed approaches, recommendations are made with regards to the “Three Ps”: Prosecution, Protection, and Prevention. Readers are able to learn both about the basics of trafficking (within topics such as debt bondage, state-sponsored trafficking, and the non-punishment principle) as well as each country’s individual trafficking profile.
GRETA
GRETA, or the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, is a division of the Council of Europe that ensures implementation of any resolutions passed by the Council relating to human trafficking. GRETA is made up of 10-15 members who publish reports evaluating each member of the Council of Europe on their efforts to carry out CoE provisions to combat human trafficking. GRETA was created as a measure of accountability for these nations- its “General Reports”, published annually (but most recently in 2021), outline both ways that member states have been lacking and ways that they have improved since GRETA’s last report. The General Reports also include information about collaboration with other international organizations like the UN, the EU, ICAT, and more.
The Global Slavery Index is a comprehensive dataset and report of human trafficking and slavery statistics across the world. Newly published with data from 2021 (and previously 2016), the report uses surveys and interviews conducted in households with survivors as well as “national-level vulnerability” assessments across 160 nations to determine the prevalence per country of these crimes. GSI is produced by Walk Free, an international organization dedicated to eliminating slavery. In contrast to the TIP Report, the GSI does not focus exclusively on government responses to human trafficking and offers unique data that estimates the prevalence of human trafficking in countries around the world.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or the UNODC, is a division of the United Nations- it comprises a multi-national effort to combat drugs, organized crime, corruption, and terrorism. As a result, their work is directly related to human trafficking and they produce reports about their work globally. Primarily, they work to dismantle the criminal enterprises that perpetrate these crimes, often focusing on drug syndicates and terrorist organizations. The UNODC’s role, as an office made up of United Nations governments, is to create effective and efficient anti-trafficking responses. This involves providing authorities with the necessary technology to prevent human trafficking and prosecute those responsible. While extremely important, the UNODC’s solutions focus on police and government responsibility, rather than direct survivor interactions.
Books
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
In this memoir Ishmael Beah recounts his life as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Beah grew up peaceful and happy with his family until a civil war obliterated their lives; rebels seize his village, and Beah (along with his brother and several other boys) escape and move from village to village as rebels slowly attack more of the country, committing horrible atrocities. He eventually gets captured by government forces as a young teen and is trained as a soldier, forced to commit his own atrocities. After several years, he is rescued by UNICEF, but is so used to war that he does not want to leave his squad. Beah shares the struggles he had adapting to life after his experiences in the war, and how he uses the pain he went through to advocate for others.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
Written in 1861, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl chronicles Jacobs' experiences as an enslaved woman in the southern United States pre-Civil War. Under the pseudonym "Linda Brent", Jacobs narrates the effects of being bought and sold and experiencing sexual violence: feeling powerless and constantly vulnerable, and how that led her to develop resilience, motivation, and strength. Jacobs points out that the rules of ethics are different for a victim and survivor of slavery, and she bravely documents her struggle to escape slavery while caring for two young children to encourage women in the north to stand in solidarity with people who are enslaved.
Migrant Crossings: Witnessing Human Trafficking in the US by Dr. Annie Isabel Fukushima
Dr. Fukushima uses a wide variety of source material including court records, press releases, law enforcement campaigns, film representations, theatre performances to question how Asian and Latinx survivors and victims of trafficking are represented and understood in terms of victimhood, criminality, legality, and citizenship. Her work focuses on representations of Asian and Latinx migrants who have experienced trafficking into informal economies and service industries in the United States.
The Great Escape by Saket Soni
Saket Soni is a labor organizer who spent years fighting for the rights of a group of Indian men tricked into forced labor in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in the early 2000s. Promised fair pay and green cards, these people searching for better lives for themselves and their families were manipulated into working in unhygienic and overcrowded camps with limited freedom or sustenance. Soni is eventually able to organize a mass escape from these camps, but the men are still isolated and unable to find permanent security without green cards. Thus begins a long fight to officially recognize the men as survivors of human trafficking so that they may apply for green cards and start the lives they were promised so long ago. This book recounts an all-too-common story of labor trafficking in the United States and the tough realities of trying to have their experiences recognized in the eyes of the law.
This book exposes how exploitation occurs in our modern day food supply chains that many of us in the United States consume, along with other industries where human trafficking is often practiced. Read Fishermen Slaves to learn more about how we interact with and consume goods produced through exploitation.
Comfort Woman by Maria Rosa Henson
The author provides a firsthand account of her experience being trafficked by the Japanese Imperial government during World War II, along with the narrative of her life experiences before and after being trafficked.
Manufacturing Freedom: Sex Work, Anti-Trafficking Rehab, and the Racial Wages of Rescue by Dr. Elena Shih
"Sex worker rescue programs have become a core focus of the global movement to combat human trafficking. While these rehabilitation programs promise freedom from enslavement and redemptive wages for former sex workers, such organizations actually propagate a moral economy of low‑wage women’s work that obfuscates relations of race, gender, national power, and inequality. Manufacturing Freedom is an ethnographic exploration of two American organizations that offer vocational training in jewelry production to women migrants in China and Thailand as a path out of sex work. In this innovative study, Elena Shih argues that anti‑trafficking rescue and rehabilitation projects profit off persistent labor abuse of women workers and imagined but savvily marketed narratives of redemption." - Publisher summary
Websites/Organizations
The Polaris Project can serve as a hub for information about the fight against human trafficking- research, legislation, current updates, and more. They aim to tackle the underlying causes of trafficking worldwide.
National Human Trafficking Hotline
This hotline will connect callers with specially trained Anti-Trafficking Advocates, in more than 200 languages. The website provides resources as well as information on what to do in an emergency situation.
National Trafficking Sheltered Alliance
NTSA's mission is to enhance access to services and care for survivors of human trafficking. They serve as a middleman- providing resources to programs, referring survivors to residential shelters, and prioritizing accountability and trauma-informed approaches. If you are a survivor looking for a residential service provider you can work with the NTSA for a referral to suitable resources.
The Alliance is a network of survivors of slavery or human trafficking- members can learn, attend online trainings, join a (secure) digital town square, and more- all with the end goal of survivors helping survivors stop trafficking.
This network of healthcare professionals offers trainings and resources to learn about how healthcare workers can work to recognize and respond to trafficking cases. The organization also supports research and advocacy efforts.
Freedom Collaborative is an online platform to facilitate collaboration between organizations, agencies, and individuals working to end human trafficking with a focus on Asia. Their website offers a wealth of information and we especially enjoy their free weekly newsletter that highlights news related to combatting human trafficking around the world.
Films
Survivor-Vetted Films About Human Trafficking
Sabra Boyd has created a document with links to films that are approved by survivors of human trafficking. This document also provides a brief description of themes present in each of the films.