2007 Year in Review: Tangible relief brough to 1663 through IJM intervention

In 2007, more than 1500 clients were served by IJM’s legal, investigative and social work staff in 14 field offices around the world. The year marked unprecedented success in IJM’s work to combat slavery, sex trafficking and other forms of violent oppression.

Through IJM intervention in collaboration with local authorities, these girls were released from the brothel where they had been trafficked. Here, they learn to make pizza together in their new home.

267 people like Gunnamy* and his family were freed from slavery through IJM casework in 2007. Gunnamay’s family was held in a rice mill in India, where he, his wife and his young sons were forced to perform the grueling physical labor of the mill every day with no pay. When IJM staff intervened in collaboration with government authorities, the family was released from the mill along with 12 other victims. The family received official release certificates from the government and participates in IJM’s aftercare programs today.

Charu* was one of 207 women and children freed from forced prostitution through IJM intervention in 2007. When she accepted an offer to sell scarves at a fair in a neighboring town, Charu was instead taken by force to a brothel far from her home, where she was held captive and was subject to extreme sexual violence and emotional abuse. Charu was discovered by IJM investigators, who documented proof that she had been trafficked to the brothel, which they provided to local authorities. IJM staff worked with local police to ensure that Charu was safely removed from the brothel. Through the support of IJM’s aftercare team, she has now returned to her family and home.

In Thailand, 393 people received citizenship to which they were entitled and 567 received upgraded legal status in 2007. Documentation of citizenship and legal status is vital for members of Thailand’s hill tribes – without this documentation, members of these minority ethnic groups face restrictions on their ability to access health and educational services, as well as major obstacles to securing stable employment or owning land. Because of these issues, hill tribe girls and women are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. IJM Thailand assists hill tribe members in the complicated process of applying for citizenship or change of status (such as securing work authorization or permission to travel) in order to decrease this vulnerability and ensure that hill tribe members have access to vital social services.

In 2007, 172 people recovered illegally seized property through IJM intervention in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. Victims of this crime are primarily widows and orphans who have been stripped of their property in the aftermath of the death of a father or husband. IJM staff work to combat this practice through intervening in individual cases of abuse, as well as through providing community trainings that educate vulnerable individuals on their property rights and local laws against the crime.

In 2007, IJM also had significant success in its work to ensure that perpetrators of these violent forms of oppression are held accountable for their crimes. Over the course of the year, 281 perpetrators were arrested, leading to 63 convictions. These arrests and convictions create a deterrent for would-be perpetrators, who must now factor in the risk of jail time as they weigh their decisions to abuse vulnerable members of their communities.

Sean Litton, IJM’s vice president of field operations, explains the significance of these statistics: “These results are critical because they are our best measurement of whether we are actually helping anyone. Each instance of victim relief is a human being who is no longer being raped, enslaved, unlawfully imprisoned, tortured, abused or denied the right to live and work in freedom.

“But they are not the only people impacted. Because of the 218 arrests, 172 charges and 63 convictions, hundreds if not thousands more vulnerable men, women and children will never be abused.”

IJM also continued its efforts to build capacity in local justice systems in 2007, providing training for police in several casework regions. Staff in the Philippines and Cambodia alone offered 16000 student hours of training to members of anti-trafficking police forces. These trainings contribute to IJM’s goal of achieving the structural change that will prevent oppressive violence from occurring in the first place.

IJM is committed to continue to serve victims of violent oppression in 2008, as it enters its second decade of casework energized by these successes. Learn more about what’s in store for 2008 by reading IJM’s Justice Agenda.