Human Trafficking Institute (HTI) exists to decimate human trafficking at its source by empowering police and prosecutors to stop traffickers and protect victims. Traffickers make money by coercing victims into commercial sex or forced labor.
Although trafficking is now illegal in almost every country in the world, trafficking continues to explode in places where the laws are not enforced. There are great partner organizations that seek to reduce vulnerability or care for survivors. Their work is essential. At HTI, we believe that we also need to stop trafficking at its source: the trafficker. Every trafficker stopped means that future victims don’t have to spend years enduring the truama of trafficking or struggling to recover from it. That’s why we’re dedicating our lives to stopping traffickers.
Drawing on decades of field experience, our team works closely with partner countries to help them measurably reduce trafficking. We do this by:
1. Establishing specialized units that enforce anti-trafficking laws;
2. Creating enforcement academies that equip police and prosecutors with the strategies and tools they need to be effective, and
3. Embedding HTI enforcement experts inside these units to help them build strong cases against traffickers.
We’ve already seen record numbers of traffickers stopped and victims protected. For example. over the last 2 years, we've worked with Uganda to produce a 538% increase in the number of traffickers prosecuted. Uganda is now prosecuting traffickers at a rate almost 9X the global per capita average and more than 5X the per capita average of the Western Hemisphere and Europe, which has the highest concentration of resources and expertise. That means we're helping drive some of the most efficient casework on the planet. As a result, there are literally hundreds of kids in Uganda alone that are no longer under the thumb of traffickers. They are in places of aftercare that otherwise would never have been able to reach them. And some are back home with their families. That means their families will get to spend holidays with their kids instead of having to stare at the empty chair around the table as painful reminder of their powerlessness in the face of their children being snatched away from them through the power and guile of a trafficker.
