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

A new law seeks to protect vulnerable guest workers and unwary businesses from unscrupulous recruiters by requiring them to register with the state and meet certain requirements.

Two Nepali relatives were trapped in the same home in the United States. One sneaked out after six months. Freeing her mother's cousin would take a little longer, but a Nepali organization was able to rescue her by providing a literal escape route.

Colorado causes a large decline in teen pregnancy and abortions by implementing free, long-term birth control to prevent pregnancy. While demonstrating massive success, its continuity is in the air considering the ongoing fight over health insurance at the federal level.

A non-profit in Bangladesh is fighting domestic violence by having female and especially male Bangladeshi volunteers give sexual education and women's rights classes.

Historically, decisions to make birth-control methods affordable to low-income women have ignored women's reproductive rights and discriminated against minorities. A counseling model that explicitly focuses on a woman’s preferences could be used to overcome latent bias.

Girls in India are sometimes forced into the prospects of child marriage, prostitution, or slave labor; alternatively, families often teach girls to be wives and mothers. To empower girls to make their own choices, Yuwa, an NGO based in India, introduces girls to sports for social development. Yuwa also promotes educational workshops for girls, where girls can discuss women’s rights and their thoughts about their own bodies.

A non-traditional program called the Family Independence Initiative (F.I.I.), uses a radically different approach from the traditional American social service model to empower entire families alleviate themselves from poverty. The results in multiple states thus far have been so striking, that this model of self-sufficiency may be able to have a significant impact reducing poverty nationwide.

For decades, migrant workers in Florida have been employed under dreadful conditions, picking produce without breaks under extreme temperatures and women being sexually harassed. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has demanded that growers increase wages, mandate rest breaks, and prohibit sexual harassment. The Coalition has partnered with big food companies, notably McDonald’s, Yum Brands, and Walmart, which have pledged to buy only from growers who follow these standards.

To give support to struggling families without prescribing solutions requires respect and discipline. The Family Independence Initiative (F.I.I.) encourages low-income families to define their own goals and work towards them in mutual support groups, while carefully documenting their successes.

Human trafficking is a rampant problem throughout the world, but the signs can often be difficult to spot. A collaboration between Catholic churches and police officers to fight the issue together takes shape.