What Social Movements Can Learn from the Anti-Trafficking Coalition

Modern day slavery, or human trafficking, has received increased attention at all levels of public policy over the last few decades. Human trafficking is a crime of exploitation; it takes away people’s freedom by forcing them into service, any service, without their consent. Global attention became refocused on the topic beginning in the late 1990s, mainly due to the work of the anti-human trafficking social movement. The number of non-governmental organizations in the U.S. that address human trafficking has grown steadily both in number and influence since then.