Human Trafficking

In August 2009, an Airline Ambassador humanitarian team rescued an abandoned little girl in Cambodia in 2009. (American Way 9-15-10 copy) On that trip, they learned about the dark reality of human trafficking and determined to get involved.  Inspired by Innocents at Risk to be aware, the following month on a mission to the Dominican Republic the team promised each other to be alert for anything unusual on flights out.  Amazingly, that team correctly identified trafficking incidents on four airlines! Their first “tip” led to the bust of a pornography ring of 86 children.

Congressman Smith, the author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, agreed to support AAI’s efforts to outreach to the airline industry. Read statement from Congressman Smith:

AAI then worked closely with Customs Border Protection to develop an industry-specific training consistent with the Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign. The new training was premiered in 2011 in San Francisco with support of Congresswoman Jackie Speier and more recently commended by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee before the Super Bowl in Houston and AAI was highlighted at the End Human Trafficking ATL in 2019.

Since then  Airline Ambassadors teams have provided 130  training presentations to 7,000 front line personnel  at airports across the United States as well as at Interpol and the United Nations as well as in Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Colombia, Latvia, Colombia, Philippines, Malaysia, Jakarta. Thailand, Japan, Jamaica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Romania and more.

AAI provides seminars with a team of three to four trainers (including survivors of human trafficking) via a power-point presentation and handout materials.  The training is tailored to airline /airport personnel, hotel employees, law enforcement and ground transportation.  AAI is the first organization to have their curriculum adopted by the (International Tourism Management Institute) and they have received support from 12 members of Congress.  See a list of our training’s and presentations here.

Click these links for more: Blue Brochure , Poster for Airports, Training Flier, and a new Saving Jane Comic Book for community outreach.

• The most recent 2017 study by ILO, IOM and Walk Free Foundation estimates that there are up to 40.3M victims of human trafficking annually for purposes of forced prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation every year. Human trafficking (sometimes referred to as trafficking in persons, or TIP) is estimated to be a $150 billion dollar annual business. Victims of trafficking are subject to gross human rights violations including, rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation, and threats of torturing or murdering family members.
• Nearly every country is involved in the web of trafficking activities. Major destination countries are the most affluent and include Australia, Brazil, France, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and the United States.
• Traffickers recruit women and children through deceptive means including falsified employment advertisements for domestic workers, waitresses and other low-skilled work. Traffickers include highly sophisticated networks of organized crime.
• Airports are major hubs of entry and exit for perpetrators and victims alike.  Training is needed for airport and travel industry personnel including airport employees, hotel employees, tourism companies, ground transportation and law enforcement.
• Airline Ambassadors provides training for travel industry personnel with TIP approved curricula at major airline hubs.
• Download our TIP Line App (free on Google & ITunes) to provide immediate time sensitive information to law enforcement.

Airline Ambassadors International has teamed up with Classroom24-7 and Counter Human Trafficking Compliance Solutions to deliver our Recognize It – Report It human trafficking awareness training program to the air travel industry.

We provide a series of short, impactful online training videos focused on teaching employees in the airline industry how to spot and report human trafficking victims. Our training programs are delivered through a learning platform that provides an engaging learning experience, reinforces key concepts and measures learning outcomes. We make our training extremely convenient – all that is needed is an internet connection.