Citation

Heiss A, Kelley JG. J. Hum. Traffick. 2017; 3(3): 231-254.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/23322705.2016.1199241

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Amid the academic and policy critiques of the United States' 15-year push to eliminate human trafficking, the perspective of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working with anti-trafficking advocacy and services has been largely ignored. This article presents the results of a global survey of nearly 500 anti-trafficking NGOs working in 133 countries and is the first NGO-focused survey of its kind. Based on the results of the survey, we provide an overview of the anti-trafficking NGO sector as a whole, detail the relationship between anti-trafficking NGOs and the United States and account for some of the variation in NGO opinions of U.S. efforts. Notably, we find that NGOs are remarkably satisfied with U.S.-led efforts--despite their acknowledged flaws--and that NGOs believe that American anti-TIP policies are important and, on balance, helpful. These results also provide a warning for the future of the United States' anti-trafficking advocacy, suggesting that the United States avoid politicizing its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

Keywords: Human trafficking

Language: en

Keywords

Anti-trafficking efforts; anti-trafficking policy; human trafficking; NGOs; Trafficking in Persons Report