Shared Hope International
| Formation | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit |
| Purpose | Prevent, restore and bring justice to victims of sex trafficking in the U.S. and around the world. |
| Location |
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Founder
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Linda Smith |
| Website | http://www.sharedhope.org |
Shared Hope International (SHI) is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that exists to prevent sex trafficking and restore and bring justice to women and children who have been victimized through sex trafficking. SHI is part of a worldwide effort to prevent and eradicate sex trafficking and slavery. The organization operates programs in the United States, India, Nepal and Jamaica. Shared Hope leads awareness and training, prevention strategies, restorative care, research, and policy initiatives to mobilize a national network of protection for victims.
Shared Hope International was founded in 1998 by former Congresswoman Linda Smith. While still a member of the U.S. Congress, Linda traveled to Falkland Road in Bombay, India, one of the worst brothel districts in the world. The hopeless faces of desperate women and children forced into prostitution compelled her to found Shared Hope International.
Shared Hope’s early efforts were focused on international sex trafficking. With a grant from the U.S. Department of State, Shared Hope spent three years facilitating meetings between government, law enforcement and the private sector in six countries to encourage protection, prosecution and prevention. Under another grant from the U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons the organization conducted a comparative examination of sex trafficking in four distinct countries, Japan, Jamaica, the Netherlands and the United States. The goal was to determine which factors (race, religion, socioeconomic status of citizens, cultural norms, government structure, etc.) contributed to sex trafficking in a country. The results from this DEMAND. report and documentary, concluded that demand, those individuals willing to purchase sex, are the driving force behind the market and that child sex trafficking is prevalent in America.
Under a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Shared Hope conducted further research on child sex trafficking in the U.S. This report to the Department of Justice in 2009, The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, documented these findings in ten U.S. locations and, along with the DEMAND report,
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