what we do

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Global Rescue Relief focuses all of its energy and resources on direct victim impact and support. We assist and provide human trafficking victims with the following services:

medical mental health substance abuse treatment  dental prescriptions translation housing clothing

Global Rescue Relief programs were designed with a primary focus on the trafficking victims -- an understanding of their imminent danger, their need for urgent rescue, and their necessity for care. While local and national policy and legislative efforts are an important part of the anti-trafficking movement, Global Rescue Relief combats trafficking through a "Frontline Approach". Traffickers act with immediacy; so should the Anti-Traffickers. This is Global Rescue Relief's premise - act with immediacy to rescue and assist victims of human trafficking.

Medical and social services are provided for victims immediately. Any additionally required assistance is made available as these innocents are re-acclimated into our communities. While pro bono services are constantly being solicited, funds are greatly needed for the urgent short and long term care of these rescued people.

First, victims require an instant secure environment: a safe house, temporary housing, a government facility or a previously approved support family. Secondly, rescued victims need urgent care including physical exams and subsequent medications, ongoing mental health care and dentistry. Finally, they require immediate products such as food, toiletries and clothing. Global Rescue Relief activists continue to be available for all rescued victims as they are rehabilitated for any additional long term care they necessitate.

The National Institute of Justice asserts victims of human trafficking are in desperate need of vital services with 96-98% in need of housing, medical attention, legal services, food, and transportation. In the United States, because these victims are often foreigners, less educated, and face the contention of an exceedingly organized network of crime, they are extremely 'vulnerable to re-victimization'. The quicker and better assistance offered to these individuals, the greater the chance of re-victimization prevention.

Some of the immediate problems facing these children are mental health concerns, sexually transmitted diseases, poor health, physical abuse, and drug abuse. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, victims of human trafficking can suffer from a multitude of long-term effects:

• sleeping and eating disorders
• sexually transmitted diseases/HIV/AIDS
• physical ailments:  back, cardiovascular, or respiratory problems
• fear/anxiety/depression
• guilt and shame
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Stockholm Syndrome

According to the United States Department of State:

"a study of women trafficked for prostitution into the European Union found that 95% of victims had been violently assaulted or coerced into a sexual act, and over 60% of victims reported fatigue, neurological symptoms, gastrointestinal problems, back pain and gynecological infections. A nine-country assessment first published in the Journal of Trauma Practice concluded that 73% of women used in prostitution were physically assaulted, 89% wanted to escape, 63% were raped, and 68% met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Additional psychological consequences common among prostituted women include dissociative and personality disorders, anxiety and depression. Another study in 2001 revealed that 86% of women trafficked within their countries and 85% of women trafficked across international borders suffer from severe depression. As with sex trafficking, those who are trafficked for labor also suffer physical and mental health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder due to physical assaults and beatings, and depression that elevates the risk of suicide. Victims of labor servitude have limited ability to determine the conditions in which they work, which may put them at higher risk of physical and mental health damage."

It is clear that without vital and life-saving services, these beautiful and innocent trafficking victims will have little chance for a full, healthy, and hopeful life.  They need our help now; they need your help now.