the problem
Human trafficking is a global problem where people are coerced into working in slave-like conditions and other forms of abuse and exploitation.
Thanks to advances in communication, transportation, and energy technologies, we live in a global village. Our connected world expands understanding and opportunity for many. Unfortunately, not everyone has benefitted. Poverty and desperation, migration and immigration laws, inequalities of gender, ethnicity, and income, political instability, environmental degradation, shifting markets, and war all create risk. The same transportation, distribution, information, and financial networks that connect us for good also enable traffickers to exploit those at-risk for pleasure, profit, and power.
ACCORDING TO ESTIMATES OF THE 2016 GLOBAL SLAVERY INDEX,
425,500 people live in conditions of modern slavery in Thailand.
Lack of Education = Lack of Options = Vulnerability
In a study of commercially sexually exploited children in the northern region of Chiang Rai, researcher Simon Baker writes, “The best data indicating the number of children at risk of being victims of child prostitution are education enrollment figures. Education is a surrogate measure for both child labour and child prostitution.”
According to human trafficking expert Louise Shelly, “Those who are trafficked are the least educated. In the triborder area in Thailand, 22 percent of surveyed prostitutes had never attended school and 41.5% had some exposure to primary education.”
IN NORTHERN THAILAND
9.9%
57%
drop out before finishing high school
7.3
6.5
IT’S NO WONDER THAT NORTHERN THAILAND STILL FUNCTIONS AS A BREEDING GROUND FOR THAILAND’S COMMERCIAL SEX INDUSTRY.
Estimates suggest that over 60,000 children are sexually exploited for commercial gain in Thailand each year.
Cutting off the supply
Our scholarships, tutoring, math and foreign language classes provide at-risk students with the tools needed to compete. Our mentorship and support nurture resilience. Our human rights programs teach students throughout the region their sexual and legal rights. Our sustainability programs spur independence in vulnerable communities.
PREVENTION IS WORKING
89%
of our students graduate
8,000+
students learned about their sexual integrity and rights
5,600
hours of mentoring & resources offered to at-risk students each year
