Cristian Eduardo, Lead Human Trafficking Consultant and Survivor Leader, and Dr. Shobana Powell, CEO, Founder, and Human Trafficking Consultant at Shobana Powell Consulting (SPC), will discuss the research on the Survivor Equity and Inclusion Framework, an organizational change model for preventing the re-exploitation of survivors and lived experience experts in the movement to end trafficking. They will present on the research questions of what is survivor re-exploitation, why is it happening, and how it can be prevented. They will provide a brief summary of the research they conducted and will be presenting on and the methodology, including the literature review, interviews with experts around the country, and a pilot study. Presenters will share the results and implications from the pilot program as well as additional examples of implementation across multiple organizations. They will also share recommendations for applying the Survivor Equity and Inclusion Framework to the anti-trafficking field and scaling it to other social justice movements.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Provide an overview of the research supporting the Survivor Equity and Inclusion Framework, including questions, methodology, findings, and outcomes from implementation

·  Describe the outcomes and recommendations for utilizing the Survivor Equity and Inclusion Framework based on the research

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Child sexual abuse is often referred to as a parent’s worst nightmare. People who abuse children are often considered monsters who can never change. At last year's IHTSJ Conference, one comment expressed surprise that pedophilia might be incurable but is treatable. This presentation focuses on how treatment works, barriers to successful treatment, and promoting community healing and safety. This can be a difficult population to work with due to existing stereotypes among professionals as well as the public. Those relatively few therapists who do work with pedophilia feel responsible not only to the clients but to the community at large because recidivism is unacceptable. It is also a challenge to work with individuals who engage in such behavior. Even other therapists and family may question the motivation of therapists working with child sexual abusers. It is equally true that child sexual abusers have learned how to manage and redirect these impulses and it is very satisfying to see the major changes in thinking and behavior over time. These successful individuals have the ability to become ambassadors to how therapy works and share this with family, friends, and community. The goal becomes working with a difficult population, confronting denial and minimization, and developing the social, cognitive, and emotional qualities needed to manage sexual impulses and provide an improved quality of life. The use of a demonstration therapy session will clarify how to break through denial and promote pro social thinking and behavior bringing to participants why treatment is a critical component of community safety.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Demonstrate the importance of working with child sexual abusers

·  Demonstrate the implementation of treatment goals

·  Address the unique challenges of working with this population

Address the importance of preventing future abuse

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The National Survivor Study (NSS), developed in 2020 by Polaris, was conceptualized and implemented as participatory action research. Research has been a critical need in the anti-trafficking field, but it typically tokenizes and alienates survivors. The researchers ensured wide and deep survivor engagement in all aspects of the project including who was invited and included in the project team, the way the team was structured, and the use of a variety of research tools that have been shown to be effective for getting community input and feedback (e.g., focus group discussions, individual interviews, surveys, consensus–building activities, cognitive pre-test). In the end, the NSS is the largest primary research on human trafficking (457 survivors) and has provided relevant and impactful data that is already being used to push for change in several spaces (criminal record vacatur, awareness of child custody issues, barriers to livelihoods). The critical value of the NSS was achieved not despite its challenges, but because of them, and the team’s approach to growing and learning together. It required the whole project team of survivors and allies to start a partnership journey that valued and centered different expertise, perspectives, and lived experiences as critical for the project’s success. The presenters will discuss a more equitable and inclusive way to do research that empowers survivors and leads to better findings and outcomes.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Discuss how to implement projects where survivors are centered, empowered, and able to lead in partnership with allies

·  Describe how the research team centered the project in a way that was survivors led

·  Discuss how to ensure that the anti-trafficking movement is led not only by research and evidence but also by survivors

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Why do we utilize stories in our campaigns? Why do we share our stories to bring people into the mission of our work? Why do we provide a platform for survivors to tell their story? These questions are easy to answer: stories matter. They speak to us, encourage us, challenge us (Goodman, 2016; Classy, 2019). But there are other questions that must be asked. How do we know when someone’s ready to tell their story? What do I do with the grief of listening? Is this going to help someone else achieve safety? What is this all accomplishing? How do we do this well? These questions have begun to hover over all social justice movements as we shift to elevate survivors’ voices while struggling to provide safety and protection for the vulnerability of sharing something only one person can give (Survivor Alliance, 2023; Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2023). In this session, the presenters will explore one way to pursue ethical storytelling, the strategies of the “Storytelling Through Photography” curriculum that organizations can be trained to utilize, and the results of this program (Ewald, 2001; Kilbourn, 2013; Wolynn, 2016; Cobb, 2018). There will also be time for blunt, honest conversations on the power of stories and the impact it has on professionals in this sphere, with the hopes of giving permission for grief and joy to be experienced in the midst of the heartache.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Provide an overview of Empty Frames Initiative's "Storytelling Through Photography" which utilizes art therapy techniques in photography to bring about stories

·  Discuss how to process difficult conversations with yourself (for survivors and professionals)

·  Present practical tips on how to ethically engage survivor storytellers

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While sex trafficking and porn have both been defined as forms of sexual violence rooted in a system of gender inequality (Farley & Donevan, 2021), what is often overlooked is the way these two industries are culturally and economically linked. In this presentation, Dr. Gail Dines will explore how porn acts as both a method of recruitment into trafficking and a major driver of demand. Drawing from empirical research and testimonies from porn performers, trafficked women, and sex buyers (Donevan, 2021), Dr. Dines argues that as long as we have a multi-billion-dollar porn industry, we will always have sex trafficking. To better understand the linkages between porn and trafficking and how they are similar in some respects (and different in others), the business concept of “value chains” is useful (Preiss, 2019). Value chains refer to the whole range of activities involved in making and selling a product or service, from sourcing components to production, distribution, and consumption. The idea of the value chain is that “value” is added at each stage, though the term “harm chain” is more appropriate for porn and trafficking, because each stage causes harm to women and children—the sex industry’s “product” (Boyle, 2011). Only the companies and pimps involved typically make a profit. Dr. Dines will discuss the different types of legislation that can be adopted or adapted to stop the profit motive for sex trafficking and pornography.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Explore how the sex industry works as an interconnected eco-system

·  Discuss the ways youth at risk are groomed into the sex industry via pornography

·  Examine best practices for building resilience and resistance in youth to the harms of the sex industry

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In 2019, the United Kingdom was ranked as the country with the best government response to human trafficking in the world (Walk Free Foundation). The UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act was groundbreaking, and it mandated the creation of healthcare guidelines for trafficking survivors. However, despite the UK’s advanced policies, there was little research on how well the government was fulfilling their commitment to survivors’ healthcare needs. This project engaged existing scholarship, UK policy documents, and qualitative research interviews to answer the research question, “How well is the UK government meeting female trafficking survivors’ needs for healthcare access?” Thirteen interviews were conducted in 2021, seven with survivors and six with support workers, on their experiences with the UK healthcare system. Findings focused on the five areas of healthcare the government outlines in their statutory guidance for how the healthcare system should serve survivors: access to interpreters, trauma-informed medical staff, routine and emergency care, psychological services, and cost-free healthcare. Results indicated that the government is failing to fully meet the needs of survivors in accessing interpreters, trauma-informed care, routine and emergency care, and psychological services, and it is succeeding in free access to healthcare. Additionally, findings indicated the charity sector plays a crucial role in meeting these needs for survivors in areas that the government fails to do so, primarily through providing interpreters, helping with doctor registration, and finding survivors psychological counseling. This presentation concludes with recommendations to improve the UK healthcare system’s responsiveness to survivors, including fast-tracked care and survivor-specific clinics.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Provide an overview of the qualitative research study, including the UK-specific background, the research question, methodology, and findings

·  Amplify the voices of the survivors interviewed by providing specific quotes to illustrate findings

·  Describe recommendations for ways the UK healthcare system can better serve survivors

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The presenters examine the impact of multinational oil companies’ (MOCs’) corporate social responsibility (CSR) on traditional practices recognized as violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Nigeria’s oil region. Results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that MOCs’ CSR play a significant role in empowering women and girls with information and education to protect their human rights. This implies that CSR offers an opportunity for MOCs to help address prevalence of child early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, sex trafficking, virginity testing, and taboos through a business case for stakeholders’ human right protection. The purpose of this presentation is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on the fight against VAWG in the oil-producing communities of Niger Delta region.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Analyze the level of MOCs’ CSR investment in policy dialogue and advocacy to deter violence against women and girls in Niger Delta, Nigeria

·  Examine the impact of multinational oil companies GMoUs on reducing the rate of child early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, sex trafficking, virginity testing, and nutritional taboos in Nigeria

·  Determine the consequences of ending violence against women and girls in Niger Delta, Nigeria

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Youth service providers in all settings encounter young people identified as high risk for, believed to be, or known to have been commercially sexually exploited or sex trafficked. Barriers to successful engagement with young people emerge for a variety of reasons. Young people’s reluctance and mistrust of systems, coupled with their transience, present challenges. Service providers miss opportunities to engage youth at each level of readiness and teams become inactive until a crisis. While many service providers receive specific training on the subject, they continue to seek tangible tools and concrete resources to make meaningful connections. “Building a Strong Team Response to High Risk and Trafficked Youth” and “Finding Your Strengths” are companion tools created as part of a Milwaukee based public-private partnership. The tools serve to enhance youth service providers’ response and give both providers and youth ways to articulate strength and resiliency factors they possess to achieve their goals. Both tools were informed by research literature, listening sessions with stakeholders across the state, and input from youth focus groups. The free tools are intentionally inclusive of all geographical experiences, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and all genders. The framework of this presentation and the materials reviewed are also inclusive of all types of lived experiences, such as youth engaging in survival sex, solicitation by individual purchasers of sex, sexual exploitation occurring online, peer recruitment, and those with a trafficker. A summary of findings, the development process, as well as practical applications and recommendations for use will be shared in this session.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Describe the development process and findings used to create a set a strengths-based tools specific to commercially sexually exploited youth (CSEY)

·  Explain how to use the tools to improve team-based responses to CSEY and identify strengths, resilience, and protective factors with young people

Discuss opportunities to use the tools in various settings and give recommendations for addressing potential challenges in using the tools

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Understanding how youth homelessness and sex trafficking intersect is vital as youth who are homeless are vulnerable to being lured into trafficking, and survivors may be unable to escape without access to safe and affordable housing. In this presentation, findings will be shared from a mixed-methods, participatory action research project with two objectives: 1) examine the intersection between youth homelessness and sex trafficking, and 2) identify the awareness levels of the issue of sex trafficking among the youth homelessness sector in Canada. The presenter begin by describing the project’s methodological approach, including its anti-colonial lens and the utilization of the voices of survivors of sex trafficking. She will share findings from interviews with survivors and service providers, including the structural inequities that lead to youth homelessness and sex trafficking, recommendations to make shelters safer for youth, and the housing and service needs of survivors who are escaping traffickers. She will then share survey results from service providers across Canada in the youth homelessness sector, detailing their levels of awareness on the issue of sex trafficking and their preferred training methods on this issue. The presenter will conclude by sharing the project's next steps, including developing a conceptual framework for socioeconomic inclusion for youth with histories of sex trafficking and youth homelessness. This presentation is relevant for anyone interested in learning more about how the issue of youth homelessness intersects with sex trafficking, how to increase the safety of youth who are homeless, the housing needs of survivors, or executing participatory action research rooted in an anti-colonial framework.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Identify the multiple ways that the issues of youth homelessness and sex trafficking intersect

·  Provide practical strategies to keep shelters and drop-in spaces safer for youth

·  Discuss community-based participatory action research methodology rooted in anti-colonialism

·  Discuss the current levels of awareness of sex trafficking in the youth homelessness sector and strategies for training

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