Intervention

Intervention is often what people think of when they hear about anti-trafficking work. Intervention work involves partnering with local organizers to remove child victims of trafficking from exploitative situations, as well as providing support and exit pathways for trafficked adults. We rely on our local Network leaders to lead this initiative through culturally sensitive and appropriate methods.

Why Intervention Matters to Dressember

Our mission at Dressember is to take a stand against all forms of exploitation and create options and exit pathways for victims of trafficking to live free, autonomous lives.

Our Dressember Intervention looks like:

CREATING ACCESSIBLE
PATHWAYS OUT OF
trafficking situtations
TRAINING FRONT-LINE
WORKERS TO IDENTIFY
TRAFFICKING
PROVIDING TRAUMA-
INFORMED SUPPORT TO VICTIMS
USING TECHNOLOGY TO
LOCATE OSEC VICTIMS

Dressember Network Intervention
Programs

+ Training for frontline workers

We partner with industry-specific leaders to equip frontline workers, including hotel and casino employees, bus and truck drivers, and local law enforcement, with the tools to identify and report trafficking. These trainings have been proven to increase the reporting of human trafficking across sectors. Dressember also spearheaded a training with one of our partners for several Lyft driver trainings in preparation for the 2020 Super Bowl.

+ Supporting The Federal Human Trafficking Report

Dressember supports the Federal Human Trafficking Report as a reliable and comprehensive resource drawing data from every federal criminal and civil human trafficking case that United States courts handle each year. Generated by a group of attorneys, the report serves to hold traffickers and states accountable for exploitation, as well as encourage collaboration across anti-trafficking groups.

+ Disrupting Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC)

In our increasingly digital world, the abuse of children online has become an alarming and growing issue of exploitation, specifically in the Philippines. According to the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, there was a nearly 265 percent increase in unconfirmed reports of online child sexual abuse in the Phillippines during the pandemic. Dressember supports the only international non-governmental organization in the Philippines working directly with local justice and social service system officials to find and safeguard children victimized by OSEC, and ensure their abusers are prosecuted. This program works side-by-side with the Philippine justice system to create legal reform and to provide OSEC survivors with comprehensive case management.

+ Cross-Border Trafficking Intervention in Romania

The Ukrainian people have endured terrible violence, conflict, and displacement since Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022. Over 1.4 million people have been forced to cross the Ukrainian border into Romania in search of asylum since the start of the war. Refugees have a heightened risk of human trafficking due to compounding vulnerabilities such as economic desperation, decreased access to social services and safe shelter, language barriers, and so much more. Romania is the source country for 44% of all sex-trafficking-related prosecutions in Europe, increasing refugees’ vulnerability to trafficking. Dressember's partners are committed to protecting refugees from preying traffickers at the Romanian-Ukrainian border by raising trafficking awareness, educating on available services, building individual safety plans, and providing mid and long-term assistance along their journeys. Dressember is also helping to establish a European Anti-Trafficking Center for Excellence in Romania, which will offer cross-border protection by supporting, training, and working alongside the local justice systems to intervene in trafficking situations and help survivors get aftercare and justice.

+ Bulgarian National Human Trafficking Hotline

To protect victims and survivors in Bulgaria, Dressember is supporting the Bulgarian National Human Trafficking Hotline, a resource to support trafficking survivors and provide advice and assistance from prevention to intervention. With the Ukraine Refugee crisis in mind, the hotline will continue aiding in victim identification, arrest of perpetrators, and spreading awareness of the issue the country and surrounding area.

+ Protecting Refugees from Labor Trafficking in Supply Chains

Dressember is resourcing the first project in the anti-trafficking, business, and human rights space that focuses on mitigating the risks to workers fleeing conflict. Our partner in the U.K. is creating advisory guidelines for businesses to help them proactively prevent labor trafficking of refugees from Ukraine in their supply chain, rather than reacting to this critical issue once it’s too late. Creating concrete guidelines around responsible business practice is essential in preventing exploitation from occurring within supply chains and supporting the employment of those displaced.