Giving Compass' Take:

• Ana-Sofia Baillet and Robyn Phillips explain how data is a crucial pillar in global trafficking prevention strategies.

• What other ways can technology be leveraged to address a social issue or need?

• Learn how donors can make an impact on ending human trafficking.

Automated technologies frequently give rise to concerns about privacy and, at our organisation, the human rights implications of using advanced tools in anti-trafficking efforts. STOP THE TRAFFIK (STT) has been working to prevent human trafficking around the world and in the UK since 2005, and has recently adopted technology as a key component of successful counter-trafficking initiatives. While ethical risks are a reality that need to be addressed, the emergence of ‘tech’ as a disruptor of trafficking can enable proactive prevention.

Shaping prevention efforts through tech
STT’s intelligence-led model relies on innovative tech solutions and follows three main steps: identification, prevention and prediction. Over the past decade, STT has focused on identifying granular trafficking hotspots and trends to prevent future incidents and is developing digital tools to predict conditions under which human trafficking has the potential to occur. One of the key objectives is to amass a dataset of enough variety, volume and reliability to start predicting where trafficking will occur and to build resilience in that community before it has the chance to take hold. These steps aim to change the environment surrounding trafficking by influencing attitudes amongst vulnerable communities, the general public, NGOs, businesses, financial institutions and government agencies. Technology by itself is not the disruptor of crime; however, new tech can enable partnership-based strategies.

How does our model work?
To build an understanding of global patterns and trends, analysts collect non-sensitive data, including source, destination and transit locations; recruitment methods; control methods; transport methods; exploitation types; exploitation subtypes; and the demographics of offenders and victims.

Read the full article about using data to stop global trafficking by Ana-Sofia Baillet and Robyn Phillips at NPC.