As part of its extensive philanthropic program, Google announced on Tuesday that it would award a $3 million grant to fight global human trafficking.The award goes to three non-governmental organizations stationed in various regions who will work together on the project.
Human trafficking is a diverse, complex, and globalized illicit trade, and its transnational nature makes efficient investigation quite difficult. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that fight trafficking often work on a domestic level, and information sharing between groups is limited.
But the grant, which will create a global network to share information and map trends in human trafficking, aims to change that. Polaris Project, La Strada International, and Liberty Asia shared the prize, and will collaborate on the project. The Global Human Trafficking Hotline Network, will allow NGOs to share data to identify the most vulnerable populations and areas, and highlight patterns in human trafficking, Polaris Project employees said in a project launch video. Network members will also standardize policies and data collection, and share best practices, USA Today reported.
La Strada International is a European NGO network with eight member organizations in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Moldova, The Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine, and an international secretariat based in Amsterdam. Polaris Project is based in the United States while Liberty Asia works across the continent.
Google Giving, the philanthropic arm of Google, sees the Hotline Network as a way to even the odds in the fight against trafficking. "The bad guys have been using technology in a much more savvy way," Jacquelline Fuller, director of Google Giving, told USA Today. "They are very savvy and sophisticated in identifying who's vulnerable and evading capture. We want to enable the good guys to use technology in highly leveraged ways, so they can innovate faster than the opposition."
The Google grant will be used to cover travel costs and aid network development through the addition of more hotlines and improved technology to share data. The organizations have seen success individually: Polaris Project has received more than 70,000 calls since it opened. Through this collaboration, the organizations hope to see their success multiply. "Hotlines work. Now it's a matter of taking the proof and scale that globally. Anywhere a victim is, there (should be a) hotline that covers that area," Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris Project, told USA Today.
Google has given more than $14.5 million to similar anti-trafficking efforts, including a previous grant to Polaris Project in 2011.