TraffickingMatters.com Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

by | Apr 18, 2019

One year ago today – April 18, 2018 – the Institute launched TraffickingMatters.com, a first-of-its-kind global resource platform to combat human trafficking featuring original content in Trending Cases and Articles as well as a robust Resource section.

Now, one year later, the site features 326 resources from 41 individual organizations leading the way in anti-trafficking efforts including Polaris, the International Labor Organization, and the U.S. Department of State. In addition to these resources, the site is also home to 38 original articles on topics ranging from legislation and governmental policy to opinion pieces and survivor stories written by experts, practitioners, and researchers in the anti-trafficking field.

“The vital work of stopping traffickers and caring for victims around the world simply cannot be sustained by compelling stories and emotion alone,” said Victor Boutros, the Institute’s Chief Executive Officer. “There is a tremendous need to have a one-stop shop of practical resources and data on trafficking that is up-to-date and easy to consume. TraffickingMatters.com is increasingly filling that need, and we are committed to serving prosecutors, policymakers, researchers, journalists, and other leaders in the anti-trafficking community by making it the premier global hub for trafficking research and resources.”

In Trafficking Matters’ first year, a few of the most visited articles were: From Enslavement to Empowerment: A Trauma-Centered Approach to Civil Litigation written by litigator Betsy Hutson, associate at DC-based law firm McGuireWoods; Beyond Hospitality: Hotel Liability for Trafficking written by Douglass Fellow and Boston University Law Student Meghan Poole; and Tips and Insights on the 2018 Tip Report: A Practitioners Perspective written by Senior Adviser Ruth Freedom Pojman, consultant for the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery.

Also unique to TraffickingMatters.com are Trending Cases, which are summaries and analyses of recent decisions by U.S. Courts of Appeals that impact the legal landscape of human trafficking in the United States. The site’s 18 cases can be filtered by topic on the website by selecting categories such as the federal circuit court, the type of trafficking (sex trafficking or labor), and the case’s main issues such as immigration or child sex trafficking.

The site is also home to the 2017 and 2018 Federal Human Trafficking Reports, exhaustive accounts of all criminal and civil human trafficking cases handled by federal courts during the calendar year. In its first year, the Report was downloaded more than 800 times and has been referred to as one of the most reputable human trafficking resources available in the space. This year, TraffickingMatters.com will also release State Reports for all 50 states highlighting data from the federal cases in each state.

“We designed the site to be both an educational platform for those looking to learn more about human trafficking, as well as a practical and useful resource for practitioners engaged in combatting human trafficking day in and day out,” said Kyleigh Feehs, the Institute’s Associate Legal Counsel. “Whether you are a student doing research on various human trafficking issues or a federal prosecutor looking to stay up-to-date on recent appellate decisions in human trafficking cases, we want to be able to provide you with relevant and data-based information that will advance efforts to stop traffickers.”

Since the launch, TraffickingMatters.com has also featured a daily news article from a U.S. or international publication with content ranging from case updates and arrests to new legislation and advancements in the anti-trafficking field. Individuals can subscribe to receive these daily news articles in their inboxes.

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