*Resources below*
January marks Human Trafficking Awareness Month, a time dedicated to elevating survivor voices, deepening public understanding, and mobilizing collective action against one of the world’s most persistent and devastating crimes. Human trafficking continues to impact millions across the globe, with women and girls disproportionately harmed. Traffickers exploit vulnerabilities through manipulation, coercion, and force—fueling exploitation in the forms of sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and domestic servitude. Because this crime thrives in isolation and invisibility, awareness and education remain essential tools in disrupting trafficking networks and empowering survivors.
At the Conference on Crimes Against Women (CCAW), we recognize that combating human trafficking demands a unified, multidisciplinary response. Professionals across law enforcement, victim services, advocacy, healthcare, social services, research, and the legal field all play vital roles in prevention, identification, and survivor‑centered support. CCAW provides a national platform where these practitioners can collaborate, strengthen skillsets, and share innovative strategies to dismantle trafficking systems.
At CCAW 2026, human trafficking remains a central focus. Through specialized workshops, expert‑led sessions, and powerful survivor‑driven panels, attendees will gain actionable insights into the complexities of trafficking and the evolving methods used to exploit vulnerable populations. These sessions equip attendees with practical tools to improve response efforts in their own communities—from early identification and trauma‑informed intervention to coordinated investigations and long‑term survivor support.
How You Can Make an Impact This January
Human Trafficking Awareness Month is an opportunity for everyone—professionals, community members, and organizational leaders—to engage in meaningful action:
- Educate Yourself and Your Network: Learn the indicators of human trafficking and share this knowledge with colleagues, partners, and your community.
- Support Survivor‑Focused Organizations: Consider donating, volunteering, or amplifying the work of local and national organizations dedicated to supporting survivors.
- Advocate for Change: Encourage policies that strengthen trafficking prevention, expand victim services, and improve justice system responses.
- Join Us at CCAW 2026: Connect with experts and peers committed to ending trafficking and other forms of violence against women. Your participation helps drive innovation, collaboration, and change.
Human trafficking persists in silence. By dedicating January to education, awareness, and action, we take an essential step toward breaking that silence. At CCAW, we remain committed to building a community that is informed, empowered, and prepared to make a lasting impact.
Resources from CCAW programs on Human Trafficking:
Click each title to access the resource.
CCAW Workshops: Human Trafficking-focused
All of these workshops will be available to attend at the upcoming 2026 Conference on Crimes Against Women:
*Click HERE to view workshop descriptions.
- Avoiding Cascading Affects: Understanding the Nexus Between Natural Disasters & Exploitation
- Better Outcomes, Few Roadblocks: Combatting Human Trafficking with No Victims & No Resources
- Bridging Systems: Survivor-Led Strategies for Trafficking, DV, & Sexual Assault Cases
- Buyers Unmasked: Exposing the Links Between Incel Culture, Sex Buyers & How to Prevent Exploitation
- Call an Advocate! A Coordinate Response to Human Trafficking
- The Dark Reality: Shining a Light onto Human Trafficking
- Delving into the Mind: Typologies of Pimp-Controlled Sex Traffickers
- The Empathy Tightrope: Balancing Trauma-Informed Responses & Prosecutor Resilience
- Failing Profits: Scrutinizing Sexually-Oriented Businesses, Sex Trafficking, & Organized Crime
- From Hashtags to Handcuffs: Tracking Traffickers with OSINT
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Victims & Perpetrators of Labor Trafficking
- How Culture Impacts Demand: Discussion on Human Trafficking Reduction
- “I’m Just a Bill”: Developing a Human Trafficking Policy Framework
- The Impact of Sex Trafficking in the Latina Community
- Interstate Intersection: A Rural County’s Collaborative Approach to Combat Human Trafficking
- Missed Opportunities: Closing Gaps in Identifying Forced Labor
- Missing & Stolen: Understanding the Issue & Trends of MMIW & Trafficking of Indigenous Individuals
- Moving Towards Justice: Pretrial Motion Practice in Sex Trafficking Cases
- On-The-Ground & In the Field: Practical Strategies to Strengthen Victim-Centered Approaches to Human Trafficking
- Regulators, Mount Up! Using Code Enforcement to Address Human Trafficking
- A Strategy for Success: Bringing Traffickers to Trial
- Triple Threat: Prosecuting Human Trafficking Cases with Law Enforcement & Advocate Collaboration
- Tailored Tactics: Effective Responses to a Variety of Human Trafficking Typologies
- “Tell Me, How Are They Different?” When Sex Trafficking Meets the Military
- Trust Matters: Building Relationships in Human Trafficking Cases
- Understanding the Game: Inside Human Trafficking & Forced Criminality
- Walking Her Path: A Reentry Simulation on the Experiences of a Human Trafficking Survivor
- Why Won’t She Leave? A National Study of Sex Trafficking Survivors Motivations for Exit
ICCR Webinar: Healthcare Implications for Intimate Partner Violence and Human Trafficking
Presented by Mary Ann Contreras, RN, Injury and Violence Prevention Trauma Service at JPS Healthnetwork.
PCAW Episodes: Human Trafficking-focused
Click each title to listen to the corresponding episode.
The very streets of Dallas light up with a somber blue, a hue that’s become the rallying cry against the night’s darkest secret – human trafficking. It was a privilege to have Bianca Davis, CEO of New Friends, New Life, join us to unravel this crisis that casts shadows over our city. With January marking National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, our conversation wove through the brutal realities of the trade, the importance of vigilance, and the powerful legislative milestones that propel our fight forward.
Faced with the chilling statistic of four hundred trafficked teen girls a night in Dallas alone, the magnitude of this issue is staggering. We dug into the subtle yet coercive tactics that traffickers use to ensnare victims, often exploiting the most vulnerable among us. Awareness is our strongest weapon, and this dialogue serves as an urgent call to action for all. It’s not just about recognizing the signs; it’s about understanding the hidden languages of control and manipulation that traffickers speak.
And it’s not only about the victims but also the demand that fuels this black-market industry. Engaging men in the conversation around sex trafficking, through innovative programs like the manKINDness Project, is pivotal in dismantling the societal constructs that allow such exploitation to thrive. In crafting a future free from these chains, we highlighted the vital partnerships between support networks like Genesis and New Friends New Life. Their collaborative efforts not only rescue survivors but also equip them with the tools to rebuild and thrive. Our episode is a clarion call – a plea for engagement and education in the digital age where predators lurk behind screens, targeting our youth. Together, we can turn awareness into action and transform the narrative of human trafficking.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. Domestically, per the United States Dept. of Justice, the definition is similar, stating that trafficking of persons involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor services, or to engage in commercial sex acts. Locally, the Texas Attorney General’s Office also includes in its definition that human trafficking is modern-day slavery. Wherever you are in the world, individuals are suffering at the hands of offenders whose tips and tricks are so insidious that it seems impossible to combat. However, ranging from the simple, yet skillful, to the sophisticated, effective law enforcement investigations are happening that are ultimately holding offenders accountable. This episode will explore various facets of those investigations with seasoned investigator Joseph Scaramucci, and discuss both the pitfalls and best practices that can determine an investigation’s level of success.
Joseph Scaramucci began his career in law enforcement in 2004, and was promoted to Detective in 2008 with the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, investigating Crimes Against Persons. Since creating a Human Trafficking Unit in 2014, Detective Scaramucci has conducted sting operations resulting in the arrest of more than 600 sex buyers, and 160 individuals for human trafficking and related offenses, which has led to the identification of over 300trafficking victims. Detective Scaramucci has worked both state and federal investigations as a Task Force Officer with H.S.I., leading to investigations and arrests throughout the U.S. He further advises and participates in sting operations throughout Texas, the U.S., and abroad. Det. Scaramucci is certified in Courts of Law as a Subject Matter Expert in Human Trafficking and has further advised and testified in the State House and Senate, assisting with the creation and passage of laws leading to harsher penalties for human trafficking.
Ten percent – or one in ten – of men are buyers of commercial sex. In doing so they are perpetuating an industry that not only continues the objectification of women but also endangers the lives of women and girls. This episode explores the tactics of sex buyers and the traffickers they work with to buy women and girls for sex, how sex buyers are prosecuted, and what it will take to reduce or eliminate the commercial sex industry. Alisa Bernard and Benjamin Gauen join the conversation to offer perspectives from the front lines of supporting survivors and prosecuting traffickers and sex buyers.
Alisa Bernard is the Equality Model Campaign Manager at World Without Exploitation and has a deep background in and extensive ties to the anti-trafficking movement having collaborated with several major stakeholder groups including the EPIK Project, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, World Without Exploitation. Ms. Bernard previously served as Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at Thistle Farms and the Executive Director of Education and Partnerships for the Organization for Prostitution Survivors. She also has developed and facilitated trainings at conferences across the US and Canada as well as authored articles featured in the Seattle Times, Crosscut, and Dignity Journal.
Benjamin Gauen is a Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Mr. Gauen leads his office’s work in combatting sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation offenses through investigations and prosecutions, policy development, and community engagement. He has nearly 12 years of extensive felony trial experience specializing in cases involving sex trafficking, sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence. He is a member of several anti-trafficking task forces in Washington State and frequently partners with stakeholders to strengthen laws and system responses that help victims and survivors. Additionally, Mr. Gauen conducts training on sex trafficking for prosecutors and law enforcement around the United States. He also serves on the board of directors for the non-profit organization Stolen Youth, which works to end child sex trafficking in Washington state.
Is it possible to end gender-based violence and human trafficking in just one generation? Programs like manKINDness, a men’s advocacy program at New Friends New Life in Dallas, Texas, are working to do that and much more. By addressing gender-based violence and human trafficking directly with young men, the manKINDness program is taking steps to usher in a cultural shift that reverses toxic masculinity and embraces respect. In this episode, Matt Osborne explains the enormity of the problems of human trafficking, objectification of women, pornography addiction, et al, and how educating young men to reject traditional roles of manhood like anger and violence and demand more of themselves and their peers can ensure a safer future for all.
Matt Osborne has been fighting the crime of human trafficking in some form since 2006 and currently leads the New Friends New Life Men’s Advocacy Group in Dallas Texas where he coordinates the activities of one hundred men in North Texas as they mobilize to take action against sex trafficking and exploitation of women and girls by raising awareness through advocacy, education and volunteerism. Mr. Osborne served a 12-year career with the CIA and U.S. Department of State, where he worked issues related to terrorism against the homeland, illegal narcotics, organized crime and human trafficking. He regularly provided secrets and analysis to U.S. presidents, senior cabinet officials, and the National Security Council. As part of his mission to fight trafficking, Mr. Osborne has led a total of 16 undercover rescue operations that resulted in the liberation of 178 human trafficking victims and in the arrest of 55 traffickers.
Dan Nash co-founded the Human Trafficking Training Center in response to the lack of hands-on, practical skills training for law enforcement officers, advocates et al in the areas of human trafficking investigation and related victim support services. Today, the center provides solutions to law enforcement on conducting investigations that ensure arrests and prosecutions of traffickers, how to interview a possible victim or offender, and how to set up a proactive operation or prepare related reports. As a result of this work, the center has trained thousands of first responders around the world and increased the number of human trafficking victims rescued and moved to safety. In this discussion Dan Nash, a retired Missouri State Trooper with 27 years of experience in human trafficking investigation, provides real-life examples of how the center’s skills training is used to solve crimes and rescue victims, shares best practices for conducting human trafficking investigations at large national sporting events, explains how the center’s special victims methodology is causing a paradigm shift in law enforcement attitudes toward trafficking victims, and describes the value of including survivor leaders in the work of training law enforcement.
One in four black girls will be sexually abused before the age of 18. Forty-five percent of black women have experienced abuse from an intimate partner. Forty percent of human trafficking victims are black. As fragments of data, these statistics are alarming. Contextualized within the historical experiences of black women and girls in America, they are the results of the sexualization of black women rooted in generational trauma steeped in racism, slavery, dehumanization and so much more. We dive into the history, data and language of these experiences; how they are shaped by policy making and practices in the U.S.; and the role each of us can play in shifting the experience from black woman tropes and victimization to beautifully complex and deserving of multilayered support. Ayana Wallace, Training and Technical Assistance Manager at Ujima: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community, lends her unique and courageous voice to this conversation providing both history and hands-on understanding of black women survivor needs and experiences. Ms. Wallace has worked for over a decade in the domestic violence field providing direct service to survivors, technical assistance to advocates, law enforcement, community-based partners and faith communities, and toward the advancement of national initiatives that benefit survivors.
Episode three of the third season of the Podcast on Crimes Against Women continues our multi-episode series delving into the criminology of offenders. The third episode in this series welcomes public speaker, victim advocate, trafficking survivor, consultant, Rebekah “Bekah” Charleston. At the age of 17, Bekah became a victim of sex trafficking when she ran away from home. She remained a victim for more than 10 years with multiple traffickers. She was able to escape, and eventually received a full pardon from President Trump in 2020 for the crimes she was forced to commit during her victimization.
In this episode, Bekah helps us take a deeper look into the world of human trafficking and the role of the bottom girl. Bekah explores what a bottom girl is and what her duties generally consist of, the criteria for becoming a bottom girl, and the “benefits” of holding the title of bottom girl. Bekah then delves into Stockholm syndrome in human trafficking victims, the future of decriminalization of bottom girl activity, and how bottom girls are currently treated in the criminal justice system.
National Human Trafficking Resources
Click the title to access these resources.
