Children's perspectives on human sex trafficking prevention education

Abstract

About 40.3 million people across the world are victims to human trafficking. Approximately a quarter of them are children, averaging an age of 12 years old. To disrupt the cycle of human sex trafficking, non-profit organizations (NPO) provide educational training seminars to dispel common misconceptions and identify signs of human sex trafficking. In partnership with Paving the Way Foundation (PTW), one such NPO, we present evaluations from 159 children PTW's human sex trafficking prevention education program. We qualitatively analyzed a secondary data set of surveys to understand: 1) how this prevention education effects children's perception of their relationships, 2) how it effects the potential risk-taking behavior of children, and 3) who do children think should receive this human sex trafficking training. This research brings attention to the importance of educating children on human sex trafficking and empowering them to act against it.