Today’s guest post comes from Julia Owen, a recent alumni of LCHT’s Leadership Development Program. Julia works professionally in the immigration field in Colorado. Her suggestions around survivor-driven policy came through an independent review of survivor-led resources as well as input from existing survivor leaders. While the anti-trafficking field is moving towards a survivor-centered model,…
The Evolution of Anti-Trafficking Since TVPA Since the inception of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, a wealth of organizations and individuals have worked to galvanize a national response to human trafficking in ways we could have never imagined at the time. We watched professionals in law enforcement and prosecution advance towards a…
Localizing Global Human Rights Abuses Recently, I had the honor of sitting on a panel alongside esteemed colleagues who have forwarded many efforts in the Colorado anti-trafficking movement. This was not my first panel, and I clearly understood that the organizers’ goal was to increase awareness of the crime, an honorable feat as they successfully…
“There is no hierarchy of oppression.” When Audre Lorde put these words down on paper more than thirty years ago she could not have known that the silos in social justice movements that were present then would persist today. That is not to say there hasn’t been progress. But in the still nascent human trafficking movement,…
The Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking (CoNEHT) is a 24/7 statewide hotline dedicated to providing resources and referrals to best serve the unique needs of trafficking survivors in our state. The hotline is operated and supervised by the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking (LCHT), in partnership with Colorado Legal Services (CLS) and the Rocky…
All. The. Feels. If you don’t have them, you didn’t finish American Crime Season 3. From the first episode of the season, American Crime viewers were presented with multiple story arcs portraying a range of trafficking experiences from different perspectives. This week, those stories drew to a close with final revelations about the characters we’ve followed so carefully.…
When we set out in 2005 to respond to human trafficking in Colorado, very few survivors of the crime were publicly leading and informing the anti-trafficking movement. In part, this low participation was because of the very nature of how the movement evolved. Consider the fact that the first legislation defining the crime didn’t appear until…
Travel, in just about any form, requires a set of skills and intentions including open-mindedness, instantaneous problem solving, compromise and a healthy dose of caution for the unexpected. This “backpack” of tools accompany travelers whether it’s a family vacation to Colorado, taking a quick hike with our dog, business travel, peacekeeping missions, or migration. For…
Following last month’s National Human Trafficking Awareness campaign, it’s helpful to take a closer look at how anti-trafficking advocates can responsibly promote public awareness on this issue. By learning from the flaws of the past and important lessons from parallel movements, public awareness campaigns for human trafficking have a real opportunity to inform public opinion…
Survivorship and Human Trafficking Consider for a moment what it would be like to survive a crime that destroys your identity, your community, and your sense of self. Survivorship of human trafficking is traditionally understood in terms of crisis services and the provision of other immediate needs such as food, shelter, and safety. But beyond…