Dear friend,

COVID-19 created a storm of new difficulties for  nonprofits, but the generous partnership of our community allowed us to charge forward together to protect human trafficking victims. We understood that traffickers had no interest in sitting on the sidelines of the pandemic. From the traffickers’ perspective, the pandemic represented a surge in the sea of vulnerable individuals to exploit. Traffickers knew that they would continue to have a steady stream of buyers undeterred by the virus, and law enforcement was largely diverted to other priorities. In crass economic terms: ample supply, resilient demand, and almost no risk. That’s a recipe for traffickers to declare open season on vulnerable people. Yet, with the help of our generous donors, supporters, and Justice Partners, we have stopped more traffickers and protected more victims this year than ever before! 

In Uganda, we saw a 1200% increase in the number of traffickers arrested and a 1300% increase in the number of victims protected between July and October. In January 2021, we sent Chris Lick, an experienced former FBI agent and police lieutenant, to partner with anti-trafficking law enforcement in Belize. In the U.S., we made great strides advocating for a stronger response to trafficking through the data in our annual Federal Human Trafficking Report.

Join me tomorrow, Thursday, April 22 at 1 p.m. EDT, to learn more about our year of unprecedented  impact in 2020. Slots are filling up fast, so don’t miss your chance to register. We will also stream the webinar live on Facebook. I’m excited to speak with you live about our work in Uganda and Belize and to answer your questions about our progress. Register here.