Human Trafficking Institute

Stop Trafficking at the Source

Join the fight against human trafficking by supporting proven, targeted enforcement strategies to end trafficking at its root – the trafficker. Your actions today will have an out-sized impact for years to come.

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TURNING THE FEAR DYNAMIC ON ITS HEAD

In places where there is little or no enforcement, the fear dynamic is simple: traffickers are not afraid, their victims are. We are building a future where the fear dynamic is turned on its head: where the traffickers are afraid, and their victims are emboldened; where the darkness of modern slavery is receding, and the light of freedom is advancing. 

UPSTREAM SOLUTION: STOPPING TRAFFICKING AT ITS SOURCE 
We can’t stop trafficking without stopping traffickers. 

Many antitrafficking efforts focus on reducing the vulnerability of potential victims or caring for survivors. These are essential, but if we don’t also stop the traffickers, then we remain trapped in an endless cycle devastation where more traffickers exploit more victims who require more care. Lasting transformation requires not simply healing wounds but preventing the injury in the first place. HTI is moving upstream to cut off trafficking at its source: the traffickers themselves. By stopping traffickers, we not only free current victims but also prevent countless others from ever experiencing the horrors of trafficking. 

OUTSIZED IMPACT: THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF DETERRENCE
We stop traffickers through effective law enforcement. 

Trafficking begins to collapse when effective law enforcement teams impose serious costs on traffickers, seizing their profits and sending them to jail for many years. Once word gets out that committing the crime could cost them their money, their business, their family, and their freedom, many traffickers decide the risk is too great. But police and prosecutors cannot impose these costs unless they are equipped with the specialized skills to do so.