Due to its strategic position and its reputation as a migrant-receiving country, Côte d’Ivoire (CDI) is not immune to various forms of child trafficking, including commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). Although no reliable official statistics are available, CSEC is perceived as widespread in CDI. The study on which this presentation is based aims to: 1) estimate the prevalence of CSEC;  2) assess the prevalence of Ivorian child labor law violations and U.S.-based child trafficking indicators; and 3) identify critical service needs for victims. A quantitative research design was employed. Link-tracing sampling, a variation of respondent-driven sampling (RDS), was utilized to reach a final sample of 588 CSEC victims and estimate population size. Data were collected via a survey questionnaire. The study estimated 2,853 CSEC victims in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, with a potential range of 1,404 to 9,643. Significant demographic and risk-related findings include: 60% of victims were 17 years old, and over 35% were between 15 and 16 years old; 20% of victims had children, and over 33% reported engaging in unprotected sex within the preceding 12 months; over 50% had never been tested for HIV/AIDS, and approximately 1% had ever connected with a service provider; all participants met the criteria for child trafficking victims based on U.S.-defined indicators; and the research also identified emerging patterns of CSEC. The findings underscore the urgent need for the Ivorian government to develop and implement robust policies to address child victimization. The results highlight a critical gap in service provision, underscoring the need for improved, more accessible support systems for victims.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Describe the research methods used in this prevalence study

•  Highlight the distinctive characteristics of CSEC in Côte d’Ivoire

•  Describe the needs of victims of CSEC in Côte d’Ivoire

•  Provide attendees an opportunity to share what link-tracing methods or service-access gaps mean in their own research context

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The global response to human trafficking continues to be limited by one critical gap: most victims are never identified. Building on insights presented at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), the World Freedom Network advances the concept that victim identification is the gateway to justice and must be strengthened as a coordinated, cross-sector practice rather than treated as a technical intervention within single systems. This presentation introduces a practical framework for understanding victim identification as a shared process occurring across government agencies, healthcare providers, civil society organizations, the private sector and faith-based communities. It argues that identification is not a single event but a distributed responsibility requiring awareness, confidence, and coordination at multiple points of contact with vulnerable populations. Drawing on global network engagement across multiple regions, the session identifies key barriers that prevent recognition of exploitation, including fragmented responses, limited frontline training, and systemic blind spots that leave the majority of trafficked persons invisible to protection systems. It also presents examples of how sectors can strengthen their role in recognizing indicators of exploitation earlier and responding collaboratively. Strengthening identification practices expands pathways to protection, accountability, and survivor-centered justice. Participants will gain a practical framework for engaging their own sectors in earlier recognition of exploitation and strengthening coordinated identification responses that make access to justice possible.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Explain victim identification and its critical role in recognizing exploitation and initiating pathways to justice

•  Describe key barriers that prevent effective identification across sectors

•  Discuss practical ways government, civil society, private sector, and faith actors can strengthen identification efforts

•  Identify strategies to improve coordinated identification pathways that support access to protection and justice

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This presentation has been informed by voices of various community members including survivors, and addresses the link between prostitution, pornography, and sex trafficking. The presenters will outline the use of the Sex Buyers Accountability Program (SBAP) as a restorative justice tool for educating offenders charged under The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA). PCEPA has been in place since 2014 in Canada, which criminalizes the purchase of sex but decriminalizes the selling of sexual services (with some exceptions). Restorative Justice operates on the premise that holding a person accountable is necessary for restoration and repair of harms they have caused. Attendees of the SBAP have historically been men from every age and demographic who have been charged and/or convicted with purchasing sex or other related criminal code violations. SBAP engages professionals, survivors, and community members to talk to attendees about the impact of receiving a criminal conviction, potential health risks, and emphasizing the extreme harm and extensive, complex trauma caused to the women. SBAP offers an opportunity for those charged to take ownership of the impact of their actions and to accept personal responsibility and accountability for their own behavior. They also receive an in-depth view of the commercial sex industry, along with the recognition that they have directly supported and enabled sex trafficking and other criminal activity every time they purchase sex. Effectiveness of the SBAP is measured by completion of questionnaires prior to and at completion, along with recidivism rates as provided by police services.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Outline the Restorative Justice approach: accountability, education, repairing harms, reintegration, and restoration

•  Describe the Sex Buyers Accountability Program

•  Discuss the benefits of a diversion program as an educational tool

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The U.S. political administration has significantly harmed people with lived experiences of sex trafficking and sex workers directly (i.e., criminalization of T-visa holders) and indirectly (i.e., anti-trans and anti-abortion legislations). This has created unprecedented challenges for researchers, practitioners, and participants (and those with multiple roles) in conducting meaningful research. This presentation will (1) describe how heightened surveillance and the changing political landscape has altered this research, including the experiences of community partners, participants, and staff with lived experiences, and (2) share current and planned strategies to maintain this research, continue advocacy, and reduce harm. Dr. Gerassi and Ms. Eng will primarily draw from their federally funded grant, which partners with multiply minoritized young adults who provide sexual acts for compensation under diverse circumstances. They will describe challenges and strategies to maintain federal funding, insights from participants and community members that have affected participation, and modifications made to conduct research while resisting overcompliance and prioritizing safety. PhD Candidate Fuentes will draw on her leadership in community-led sex worker research to examine how sex worker-led, harm reduction principles inform ethical data practices for criminalized and surveilled populations. She will highlight approaches to privacy protection and community accountability with undocumented, trans, HIV-positive, and street-connected people, and the compounded impacts of funding losses, anti-trans legislations, and increased ICE raids. The presenters will conclude with strategies needed to center the perspectives and safety of people with lived experiences in meaningful research and offer solidarity and hope to those engaged in these efforts.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Describe how heightened surveillance has altered research and the lives of community partners, participants, and staff with lived experiences

•  Describe changes to research based on political landscape

•  Analyze current and planned strategies to maintain research, continue advocacy, and reduce harm

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Awareness about sex trafficking is widening, but mostly only via scientific research of trafficking data and statistics. Voices of survivors trafficked by family members, especially Sadistic Ritual Abuse (SRA) survivors, remain silenced. Missing is the survivor’s perspective as THEY hold so much wisdom for their healing. As a family sex-trafficking survivor, Anjela was motivated to create her own Healing Toolbox. This continues to be a major obstacle as she heals, as fewer therapists have knowledge or understanding of this family-based trauma. The strongest trauma-healing practices center the survivor, emphasizing their need for ongoing healing tools. It must also prioritize how to offer support as THEY embark on their lifelong trauma healing journey. Those who are supporting family trafficking survivors, both personally and professionally, are invited to attend this session. Any attendees curious and asking, “What tools can they offer me?” are encouraged to join this workshop; and don’t forget to listen! When you start to embrace more intentionally the survivor's perspective, you’ll be amazed and inspired by all those who reach out to help YOU to help them heal. During previous IHTSJ Conferences, Anjela was inspired by all who joined her workshops in 2023 and in 2025. In this presentation, she will emphasize support for survivors and urge others to “ASK US & don't forget to LISTEN”. This is support that EMPOWERS survivors. Anjela will provide attendees with examples and a space for them to make their own Healing Toolbox flourish. Be prepared for your own CommUNITY of Survivor Support to deepen, for when you more intentionally embrace the survivor's perspective, you’ll be amazed and inspired by all those who reach out to Help YOU to Help Them.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Describe how to create a Healing Toolbox to support and EMPOWER family sex trafficking survivors

•  Guide attendees on how to reflect their INHERENT value and WORTH

•  Emphasize ongoing support for their ongoing healing

•  Emphasize how to support and welcome family sex trafficking survivors in your CommUNITY

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This workshop, led by two national survivor leaders, explores how to effectively support survivors in leadership navigating the complex and often unrecognized experience of ambiguous loss. Ambiguous loss, defined as a loss without closure or clear resolution, frequently manifests in survivors of human trafficking, years after leaving exploitation, through fractured identity, disrupted relationships, and the ongoing tension between past exploitation and present leadership roles. Drawing from lived experience and professional practice, this presentation introduces a conceptual framework for understanding how ambiguous loss uniquely impacts survivor leaders; particularly those engaged in advocacy, systems change, and peer support roles. The session will examine how traditional service models often fail to address these layered losses, leading to burnout, isolation, and emotional dissonance among survivors. Presenters will outline a holistic support model that integrates mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health as essential components of sustainable leadership. Emphasis will be placed on the role of spiritual identity, meaning-making, and restoration in healing ambiguous loss, alongside practical strategies for organizations to create environments that honor survivor leadership while reducing harm. Participants will gain actionable tools to better support survivor leaders within their organizations, including trauma-informed supervision practices, boundaries for sustainable engagement, and approaches that center dignity, autonomy, and long-term healing. This workshop ultimately calls for a paradigm shift toward holistic, survivor-centered leadership support that recognizes both the visible and invisible impacts of exploitation.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Examine how ambiguous loss manifests uniquely in survivor leaders and impacts their leadership, identity, and well-being

•  Analyze gaps within traditional service and organizational models that fail to adequately support survivor leaders

•  Introduce a holistic framework that integrates mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health in survivor leadership support

•  Provide practical strategies for organizations to sustainably support, retain, and empower survivor leaders without causing further harm

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Trafficking experiences are often obscured by mental health challenges, substance use, homelessness, immigration status, or justice involvement—factors that too often lead people to look away instead of lean in. Stigma and shame further complicate identification. Youth trafficking and juvenile justice involvement are deeply interconnected issues as many young people who experience trafficking are criminalized for behaviors directly tied to their victimization, leading to system involvement that often fails to address their underlying needs. This training will explore how these systems intersect and how professionals can better identify and support trafficked youth. The presenters will highlight insights from current research about the characteristics and challenges that exist at the intersection of youth trafficking and juvenile justice involvement as well as examine the complexities around predictors between trafficking experiences and juvenile justice involvement, how system involvement can both increase for and protect against trafficking experiences, and intervention and prevention opportunities to buffer against re-victimization and recidivism. Participants will learn practical strategies for screening, engaging young survivors, as well as cross-system collaboration. Ultimately, promising policies and practices shift responses from punitive approaches to protective. When we move beyond stereotypes and recognize the real conditions that shape vulnerability and victimization, we are better equipped to identify trafficking, respond appropriately, and build prevention efforts that actually work.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Explore the relationship between child and youth trafficking and juvenile justice involvement

•  Describe intersecting challenges as well as strategies to address those dynamics and engage young survivors in the specialized services they need

•  Discuss opportunities to expand multidisciplinary collaborative efforts to increase identification and improve outcomes for vulnerable minors

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Human trafficking (HT) is both a public health concern and a violation of victims’ human rights. Human beings are forced and coerced into exploitation through both sex and labor trafficking. Survivors of HT are frequently treated as offenders within the criminal justice system, despite the fact that their criminalized behaviors often result directly from their exploitation. This analysis examines the intersection of survivors of HT and their involvement in the criminal justice system, including its negative impacts on survivors’ mental health outcomes and the barriers they face to reintegration. Additionally, the study reviews policies designed to support survivors within the societal reintegration process. The analysis draws on 13 peer-reviewed studies focused on the United States, 8 reports, and 19 additional governmental and nongovernmental sources and examines the policy landscape at multiple levels. A human rights framework guides both the analysis and the recommendations for future practices. Findings highlight the lack of trauma-informed practices, limited training and awareness among law enforcement and prosecutors, and cultural norms and practices embedded in institutional practices places blame on victims and contribute to further retraumatization, particularly for women survivors who enter the justice system. Moreover, the results emphasize the absence of comprehensive legal protections for survivors with criminal records resulting from their victimization and a lack of standardized procedures for survivor identification. Some key recommendations include strengthening legal protections for survivors during and after involvement in the carceral system and expanding training for legal professionals and service providers to improve identification of survivors through survivor-centered, trauma-informed approaches.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide a comprehensive overview of the intersection of human trafficking and the criminal justice system through a public health and human rights lens, identifying systemic gaps and opportunities for policy change

•  Identify how survivors’ criminalized behaviors are often direct results of experiences within the carceral system and exploitation

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