A MESSAGE FROM TA HUB
It has been a little over two years since we launched TraffikAnalysis Hub (TA Hub) and as we approach the end of 2021 after what has been a tough year for the world and an even tougher one of those in exploitation, we are grateful to look back on a year where Traffik Analysis Hub has survived and thrived. Throughout 2021 we have continued to grow, not just as an organisation, but as a community, proving that Businesses, NGOs, Law Enforcement, Financial Institutions and Academic Institutions can all work together and help us on our journey to disrupt human trafficking.
2021 has been a year of many milestones for TA Hub, it has seen us open our first Regional Office of Representation in Bogota,Colombia, hold our first ever Intelligence Community Conference and double the number of organisations subscribed to the hub.What we have achieved is thanks to the TA Hub Team, theTrustees, the Developers at the IBM Tech for Good Lab, Dublin, but mostly the pioneering NGOs that shared their survivor stories; the smartest and bravest Businesses that got on board and pushed us and the LEAs like Interpol who focus their work to help prevent this crime.
We also want to thank all of our featured participants this year; STOP THE TRAFFIK, Allies AgainstSlavery, Fundación Pasos Libres, My Choices Foundation India, Chain Breaker (Aleph Mind), CuyahogaCounty Sheriff’s Office – Human Trafficking Task Force, Sustainable Rescue Foundation, TheUniversity of Alabama, Felipe Aros Vera (TA Hub Risk Model), and Interpol – Human Trafficking andSmuggling of Migrants Unit. You have all hugely contributed to our Analyst’s Calls this year and we look forward to hearing from more of you in 2022.
We will start 2022 more able than ever before, as the most extraordinary intelligence community, we will be able to assess and address trafficking and exploitation more than ever before.
OUR LATAM REGIONAL OFFICE
Sebastián Arévalo Sánchez, LATAM Regional Representative
The Latin American (LATAM) Regional Office of Traffik Analysis Hub based in Bogota, Colombia and led by Pasos Libres opened its doors in January 2021. This year we have supported the growth of TAHub, by growing the number of active members, establishing strategic partnerships, accelerating data collection, and providing permanent support in diverse idioms to the global TA Hub community.
TA Hub will unite every Latin American country and organisation around disrupting human trafficking through data-driven collaboration, intelligence analysis and continuous research
DEMOS AND OFFICIAL MEETINGS
During 2021 the LATAM Regional Office has facilitated 41 demos for organisations in Colombia,Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Dominican Republic and Canada. Non-profits, governmental institutions, financial institutions, businesses and international cooperations have learned about theTA Hub and are evaluating opportunities to become members.
The Regional Office has also presented the Traffik Analysis Hub platform at three workgroups: a roundtable with Colombian companies organised by Thomson Reuters Foundation, the HumanTrafficking Prevention Committee of Bogota, and the District Committee against Human Trafficking of Bogota. Those meetings have reached 51 representatives of businesses, cooperation agencies, non-profits organisations and public servants.
DATA
The LATAM Regional Office has also collected 19,066 human trafficking incident reports about missing person intelligence, business and points of interest data from Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay,Argentina and Spain. Moreover, in collaboration with the Pasos Libres team, the Regional Office has supported the winning solution of the DataJam Pasos Libres, Chain Breaker, to extract information from 32,000 sexual ads on websites that offer sexual services in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Canada.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The LATAM Regional Office will continue to work in coordination with the Headquarters in London to expand the TA Hub community into Latin America. To accomplish that mission, the Office aims to continue delivering demos for organisations from all sectors, accelerate data collection in the region, and make the TA Hub easier to use for Spanish-speaking users. Moreover, the Office will organise the first TA Hub Conference in Spanish and deliver workshops about the role of data science in the fight against modern slavery.
It has been 2 years since our biggest supporters helped to publicly launch in Washington DC - now we are a global movement and making the business of trafficking harder to do. Thank you to all who believed and continue to believe in the work.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
Our dream was to create the richest possible store of data around the issue of trafficking, for every actor, everywhere in the world. Now we are a global movement and making the business of trafficking harder to do. Thank you to all those who believed and continue to believe in our work.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday and all the best for the New Year ahead.
Stay Safe.
See you all in 2022!