Lessons Learned by NGOs in the Fight Against Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is a worldwide problem, with victims typically subject to forced labor or sexual exploitation. However, while this problem is vast and increasingly recognized, it has been difficult to address at state or intergovernmental level, given the crime’s poor visibility and often transnational nature. The gap in services for victims and vulnerable groups, from addressing recruitment through to recovery and rehabilitation, has been partly remedied through the efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), though such organizations face problems of their own. These problems, in addition to what NGOs have found ‘works’ in fighting human trafficking, were investigated for the purposes of this article using an open-ended survey.