Since its inception in 2010, DNA has created and supported programs that have educated the general public and law enforcement about the issue of human trafficking and that have helped strengthen support networks for survivors. Our programs include:
Real Men Don’t Buy Girls Campaign
The “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign was designed to bring the issue of child sex slavery into the mainstream, to reach millions of people with information about it, to create an engaged community of activists and to begin to shift cultural permissiveness on buying sex, particularly among men. The campaign reached hundreds of millions of people through mass media, more than 1.4 million people watched the videos, more than 83,000 made and shared videos and more than 100,000 have since joined the DNA online community to learn more about this issue.
DNA Tech Task Force – Creating a Trafficking Free Internet
Human trafficking has been a reality for many years, but the internet has provided a new, more efficient platform for pimps to find buyers. Traffickers and pimps are exploiting legitimate services – social networking sites, online classified sites and others – for the business of selling human beings. DNA launched its technology task force in March 2010 to develop innovative and effective solutions to disrupt this activity and make it more difficult for traffickers to conduct business online. Through these projects, we have reached hundreds of thousands of people with messaging about the issue and have successfully disrupted activity related to child sexual exploitation in a number of ways. We will continue expanding this work and collaborating with a growing number of organizations working to combat this problem online.
Maiti Nepal Border Guard Program
Nepal and India have an open border, which makes trafficking children from Nepal to India easy for traffickers. Children are brought from Nepal into India to fuel the demand for sex with children in Indian brothels in Mumbai. Maiti Nepal, an organization started by CNN Hero Anuradha Koirala, operates a border guard program that stations trained survivors at these crossings to intercept potential trafficking victims. Last year, these guards rescued 2500 children – an average of 250 children per border crossing, per year. This year, DNA will partner with Maiti Nepal to help fund their survivor border guard program and transit home at Biratnagar.
Department of Homeland Security PSA
Victims of human trafficking move through American airports each year. These victims come from all over the world and are forced into many forms of slavery. Ashton and Demi worked with the Department of Homeland Security to produce a video educating travelers about how to identify a possible trafficking victim and how to summon help. The DHS hotline number allows someone to instantly contact someone who can take action quickly right then. The video is currently being shown in 46 airports around the country and is seen by 20 million people per month.
Law Enforcement Training
One of the most important elements of rescuing survivors in trafficking situations is to ensure they know they will be treated as victims and not criminals for the behavior they were forced into. Demi and Ashton worked with California’s Peace Officer Standards and Training team, which trains 97,000 police officers and first responders, to create a law enforcement training video. The video helps explain the reality of human trafficking and describes how to handle a situation involving human trafficking. The video has been seen by groups of officers around the state and we are now working on creating a national version for other states to use.
Legislative Advocacy
DNA supports legislative efforts that help protect victims rights, that increase and enforce penalties for those buying sex and those forcing the victims to sell sex, that help increase support networks for the most vulnerable children before trafficking occurs. To date, DNA has supported Senator Wyden’s Domestic Minor Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act, and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. We have also worked with the Massachusetts Attorney General to introduce anti-trafficking legislation in her state, and supported similar legislation in other states without anti-trafficking laws in place. We are developing a new program that will focus on advocating for bills that deter “johns” from soliciting sex through increased penalties.
Survivor Support
Until there are no slaves, we will need organizations that are working to rescue and rehabilitate survivors of human trafficking. DNA Foundation has partnered with GEMS (www.gems-girls.org) and CAST (www.castla.org) to provide financial support to help them expand their survivor services.
