Meet the Thai Sex Workers Fighting for Their Right to Earn a Living

Research has shown that when young people have their basic needs met and feel positive about their futures, they are less likely to engage in risky behaviors. The Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program has reduced pregnancy rates by 40 percent in New York by meeting teens educational, emotional, and employment needs.

Uganda has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Africa, but a unique mobile health clinic is helping to reduce the rates of conception. Marie Stopes’ tuk tuks brings health care, sexual education and contraceptives to women in poor communities.

Part 1 of a series on solutions to freeing victims of labor trafficking around the globe. Labor trafficking is a deeply entrenched problem, woven into global economies where the victims are often hidden in plain sight. Almost everyone in the US owns some product likely made with slave labor. But there is hope - from grassroots workers’ coalitions to multilateral treaties and geo-data manipulation to new law enforcement initiatives, individuals are finding new ways to counter labor trafficking.

Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) Clinic is taking a youth centered approach towards teaching reproductive health. Their methods, which include having youth days, hiring youth peer counselors, and providing private rooms for youth to discuss their sexual health, allow them to reach teenagers. “As a result, their uptake of contraception has increased.”

Delaware has a new statewide program to ask women of childbearing age if they are planning on getting pregnant in the next year during a primary care visit and to discuss birth control options if the answer is no. The goal of these discussions is to decrease the amount of unintended pregnancies and as a result increase women’s body autonomy and decrease medical spending.

Uganda’s education ministry requires all schools to have incinerators to burn used sanitary pads. Lack of funding limits schools’ ability to comply. Even when incinerators exist, girls don’t necessarily use them. Educating both girls and boys about menstruation reduces stigma and increases the likelihood that girls feel comfortable enough to collect pads instead of throwing them in pit latrines.

By making listening and communication a priority, employers can improve employee retention. In Ohio, Mansfield Plumbing Products designated an employee liaison whose job is to listen to employees and facilitate communication between workers and management. By implementing clear communication channels, employers can better learn how to address their workers' needs.

Since its April 2018 founding in Malaysia, the Be My Protector app has enabled interventions in 120 cases of suspected human trafficking, sparked by anonymous reports that its app enables. In about a third of those cases, which mostly involved migrant workers in South and Southeast Asia, the victims were able to return to their homes, while others were offered counseling. But, like the more than 90 such apps available around the world, Be My Protector has struggled to make a big impact. Many such apps capitalize on a trendy subject without a clear focus on improving conditions and helping victims.

The San Antonio Independent School District developed an app to help combat the Covid-slide among its students, including English Language Learning students. The app tracks interactions, class attendance, and completed assignments, but also correspondence and in-person interactions. Administrators took the data collected on its close to 50,000 students and developed strategies to direct special attention or make contact with students with decreased engagement. Out of 48,000 students, only 142 didn't have a contact log.

A growing number of governments, companies, and nonprofit organizations are working together with new technology and data to identify fishing vessels that are breaking laws and engaging in human rights violations. Using satellite imagery and tracking signals, for example, a philanthropic company and a nonprofit worked with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to help the Ghanian navy arrest four vessels for illegal fishing practices. Technology by itself won’t stop forced labor and unregulated ships, but it can be helpful for cash-strapped governments looking to increase oversight of their fisheries.