ABSTRACT
After over 20 years of anti-trafficking programming, the field remains reliant on promising practices rather than evidence-based ones. This article identifies eight key gaps in human trafficking research and shares the Program to End Modern Slavery’s approach to addressing them. It aims to inform future strategies to build the evidence base on “what works” and “what doesn’t” and identify model interventions. The gaps demonstrate the immense progress made so far; however, further research and evaluation is needed to better understand how and why a particular intervention works so it can be adapted and implemented at scale.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Disclaimer
The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by the Department of State or U.S. Government.
Notes
1 For more information regarding the meta-analysis, please visit https://macartan.github.io/hidden_populations/.
2 Please note that these minimum standards are different from the congressionally mandated “Minimum Standards for the Elimination of Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons” established under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act that are used by the U.S. Department of State to assess governments’ efforts in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report.