Our Work (Old)

Criminal Street Gangs and Human Trafficking: Establishing the Link

Over the last fifteen years, criminal gang activity in the United States has become a serious problem. At the same time, human trafficking has emerged as one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. GC uncovered over two hundred cases in which gang members have been involved in human trafficking (recruiting, transporting, harboring, obtaining, or selling a person for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or involuntary servitude). Global Centurion analyzed the case law for patterns, including recruitment methods, methods of coercion and control, age of trafficking victims, and more. Using this newly collected data, GC examined anti-gang and anti-trafficking law and policy and drew up a set of recommendations for government officials, policy-makers, community leaders and educators. The work influenced members of Congress, as well as state and legislators, resulting in new laws addressing the link between street gangs and sex trafficking. In addition, working with a local service provider, Courtneys House, GC created presentations for Washington area community centers, churches, and schools to educated citizens and students about the dangers of sex trafficking in street gangs.

First Offender Prostitution Programs (Johns Schools) Survey

Currently there are thirty-nine documented First Offender Prostitution Programs in the United States and eight in Canada. In an effort to better understand the nature and scope of the programs, as well as their efficacy, Global Centurion conducted a survey of the schools to obtain a general overview of their offerings. The survey documented a wide variety of schools with a broad range of educational components including legal, health, societal, community and personal safety consequences of buying sex. Based on preliminary findings, several articles have been drafted and one published to date. A full report will be available shortly.

Mapping Hubs of Demand

Global Centurion has created a set of maps identifying major hubs of demand for sex trafficking and labor trafficking around the world. The purpose of these maps is to assist in understanding what drives the trade in human beings worldwide. Most current information on human trafficking focuses on the victims, including the number of victims, their age, their nationality, and the harms they have suffered. These maps focus for the first time on the end buyer/user/exploiter. They give viewers a global look at the various types of demand. For example, in sex trafficking, major demand hubs are created by sporting events such as the Superbowl or World Cup; U.S. and other military presence or other R & R in economically or politically unstable countries; and sex tourism and child sex tourism, and more. In labor trafficking, any product that is labor intensive (i.e., requires many human beings to produce) has the potential for creating conditions of demand for labor trafficking and slavery. These include garment worker factories; agricultural work; construction work, mining of diamonds, gold, coltan and other valuable minerals; domestic workers, and more. This project is on-going: other hubs of demand are added to the maps as they are identified and documented.

International Human Trafficking Case Law Database

GCs anchor research project is an International Case Law Database, the purpose of which is to create a searchable, longitudinal database of all forms of human trafficking including sex trafficking, labor trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor, debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child soldiers, child sex trafficking, child sex tourism, commercial sexual exploitation of women and children. The project uses case law to obtain data on perpetrators, victims and the patterns of these crimes within and between countries. Over 10,000 human trafficking cases (arrests, prosecutions, convictions) have been reported by governments in the last ten years. Global Centurion has developed a unique methodology for identifying, analyzing, and coding these foreign national cases and extracting relevant data points to include in the database. The database contains data that provides victim profiles, perpetrator profiles, and crime profiles.

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Education, Awareness and Advocacy Training

Haiti Human Trafficking Project: Preventing Trafficking After a Natural Disaster

Following the earthquake in Haiti (January 12, 2010) Global Centurion brought a dozen NGOs together in partnership to form the Haiti and Human Trafficking Coalition (HHTC). The Coalition designed projects to raise awareness about the ways in which vulnerabilities following a natural disaster can lead to human trafficking. Global Centurion spear-headed these low-tech, grass-roots social marketing and education campaign. The campaign is designed to reach Haitians by distributing deliverables with messaging on them. Phase I of the campaign included distributing approximately one million food packets with anti-trafficking messages, as well as creating and playing a series of Creole anti-trafficking jingles on popular radio stations in Haiti. In addition, GC developed specialized briefings for relief and development workers, health providers, U.S. military, UN peacekeepers and private contractors emphasizing the importance of best behaviors while defending or protecting vulnerable and at risk populations. In Phase II of the Project, GC has trained over 60 Haitians, including health providers, attorneys, teachers, business leaders, pastors, and university students to serve as anti-trafficking trainers in their own communities. These trainings and briefings are presented around the theme, Its Time and feature a series of sayings in Creole on T shirts, water bottles, and other deliverables, including, Its Time to Protect our Children, Its Time to Remember our Anti-Slavery Heritage, Its Time for Human Rights.

Global Centurion Educational Curriculum

Global Centurion has created a basic introduction to and overview of human trafficking for middle school and high school children and teens. The curriculum describes various types of human trafficking (sex trafficking and labor trafficking; international and domestic trafficking; adult and child trafficking. The course introduces students to international, foreign national and U.S. law and policy on human trafficking, how to identify victims, and common health concerns among trafficking victims as background for a demand-related approach. The primary purpose of the program is to create age-appropriate modules to reach young men and boys to help them make informed choices and reduce the demand. The curriculum includes a syllabus, teacher-training manual, basic materials and exercises, special in-class and extra-curricular projects; and inter-active media technologies activities. Curriculum is complete and ready to be piloted.

Advising Policy on Street Gangs & Human Trafficking

GC uncovered over two hundred cases in which gang members have been involved in human trafficking (recruiting, transporting, harboring, obtaining, or selling a person for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or involuntary servitude). Global Centurion analyzed the case law for patterns, including recruitment methods, methods of coercion and control, age of trafficking victims, and more. Using this newly collected data, GC examined anti-gang and anti-trafficking law and policy and drew up a set of recommendations for government officials, policy-makers, community leaders and educators. The work influenced members of Congress, as well as state and legislators, resulting in new laws addressing the link between street gangs and sex trafficking. In addition, working with a local service provider, Courtneys House, GC created presentations for Washington area community centers, churches, and schools to educated citizens and students about the dangers of sex trafficking in street gangs.

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Establishing Networks & Partnerships to Fight Modern Slavery

Stop Sex Slavery (“Triple S”) Network

Global Centurion created a network of 85 survivor-centered service providers and anti-trafficking advocacy organizations across the United States. This network gives us unparalleled access to basic information about health, human services, and other needs of survivors across the U.S. and around the world. In addition, it provides a communication vehicle to bring the anti-trafficking community together when necessary to create action around a particular program or project. For example, last year, Craigslist came under scrutiny after a dozen cases of on-line child trafficking were uncovered on Craigslist. One of the largest organizations in the country, Polaris Project, sent out a petition calling on Craigslist to cease its erotic services ads. Polaris had three organization signatories until it contacted Global Centurion. We sent the petition around to Triple S Network members and within a week over 100 organizations had signed the petition which was then presented to Congress.

Haiti & Human Trafficking Network

Following the earthquake in Haiti (January 12, 2010) Global Centurion brought a dozen NGOs together in partnership to form the Haiti and Human Trafficking Coalition (HHTC). The Coalition designed projects to raise awareness about the ways in which vulnerabilities following a natural disaster can lead to human trafficking. Global Centurion spear-headed these low-tech, grass-roots social marketing and education campaign. The campaign is designed to reach Haitians by distributing deliverables with messaging on them. Phase I of the campaign included distributing approximately one million food packets with anti-trafficking messages, as well as creating and playing a series of Creole anti-trafficking jingles on popular radio stations in Haiti.