By Matthew Quandt, Legal Fellow Today, the U.S. Department of State released the 19th annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was joined by John Cotton Richmond, the Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking-in-Persons, and Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President, honored 8 individuals as TIP Report Heroes in recognition for their […]
Now I Have a Way to Help
By: Ambassador Bridget Crawford You ever had a little person, maybe your own child pulling on your clothing in an attempt to get your attention? Or maybe they put their small innocent hand inside of yours, prompting you to follow? That familiar tug is what I felt when I began to hear about the reality […]
Child Victims of Sex Trafficking Receive Mixed Messages: If We Aren’t ‘Aggressors’ Then Why are We Arrested?
In February, Kansas Judge Michael Gibbens came under fire in national news for claiming that two girls, ages 13 and 14, acted as “aggressors” in a situation of exploitation in which a 67-year-old male, Eugene Soden, paid them to have sex. While public reaction to Gibbens ruling was appropriately harsh, the reality is that his […]
Survivors of Child Sex Trafficking are Never the Aggressor
Joint Statement by Shared Hope International and Center for Combating Human Trafficking on Sentencing by Kansas Judge Michael Gibbens Under Federal and Kansas state law, persons who purchase sex from minors commit child sex trafficking; in fact, Kansas law specifically criminalizes such conduct as “Aggravated Human Trafficking.” Therefore, by definition, minors […]
What I learned through my Shared Hope Fellowship
By Aliz Nagyvaradi I am grateful and humbled for the learning opportunity Shared Hope provided me this summer. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it has been truly impactful experience. Shared Hope has a 20-year history in the anti-trafficking field and its enduring presence makes it a leader in the field. As […]
