Alone. Abused. Exploited. Fragile lives. Shattered dreams. Lost hopes. Stolen years. These words reflect the everyday lives of the victims of human trafficking, and people who are vulnerable to trafficking.

Human trafficking is an outrageous crime. But we can find it in every corner of the planet.

It shakes me to the core whenever I hear the story of a victim – and VIHAAN travels with them through the recovery for weeks, months and years, where I become amazed by the strength and resilience as they emerge as survivors to speak, act and inspire others to take action and fight human trafficking.

The theme of this year’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, ‘Reach every victim of trafficking; leave no one behind’ exactly parallels VIHAAN’s unique end-to-end approach and strongly supports our strategic priority areas. We educate vulnerable populations, free victims from the situations of abuse and exploitation, gather evidence to hold perpetrators accountable, provide care and support to reintegrate with society and collaborate with state actors to strengthen the ecosystem to counter trafficking across all levels.

The crime of human trafficking is woven into the very fabric of our society. We cannot do this alone. We need each one of you to create a real and lasting change and make human trafficking a rarity.