The Dressember Network: Philippines Survivor Care
In the last two years, people have turned online for social connection at a time when so much of their day-to-day activity could only have been experienced online. Children were forced to attend school online as a result of the restrictions required to maintain public health. The pandemic has been a vulnerable time for everyone, perhaps most of all for survivors of human trafficking. In one of the programs the Dressember Network resources in the Philippines, survivors of human trafficking in became unemployed at a rate of 60% between March and May 2020. This digital livelihood brought a spike in Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC), with online sexual abuse cases tripled in the Philippines.
And yet.
The pandemic also highlighted the need for and impact of the programs that empower survivors of human trafficking in the Philippines.
It showed just how important dignified and well-paid jobs are and what can happen when vulnerable groups don’t have access to them. During the pandemic, many people were forced to do what they had to do to support their families. The Dressember Network resources a program that works to break cycles of poverty and exploitation through economic empowerment intended to allow for lasting restoration and community engagement for adult survivors of sex trafficking and sexual violence.
Through Economic Empowerment for Survivors of Sex Trafficking, Online Sexual Exploitation, and Sexual Violence, survivors have an opportunity to move toward successful community integration and sustained freedom. The program operates on the principle that, by providing psychosocial support and the tools necessary to achieve sustainable employment, survivors can be empowered to leave trafficking situations permanently. This program brings sustained restoration and freedom by breaking the cycle of poverty and exploitation beginning with a three-month Skills Training and Empowerment Program, which provides holistic life, workplace, and social skills training for survivors. With these soft skills, survivors are able to adapt to a variety of different types of employment, leaving them less vulnerable to economic insecurity in the future.
The pandemic also highlighted the risk of Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC). As children spent more time online, they became more vulnerable to sexual exploitation via the Internet. Dressember enables holistic aftercare and safe housing for survivors of OSEC in the Philippines. Children achieve their full potential in this program through counseling, education, caring for animals, tending to gardens and learning music.
Through this project, support is provided within the context of a holistic survivor care program. By recognizing that each child is unique, the program allows each participant to receive individualized services based on their own needs, skill sets, and educational and occupational goals. As part of the project, children also receive trauma-informed, specialized services that cover the biological, psychological, and social aspects of their lives as they recover from their victimization to be empowered as valued and productive members of their communities. In safe housing and with the trauma-informed care that they need, children are provided with hope, healing, and restoration, and allowed to grow and develop, and realize their worth; all of this works together to help children realize that they can have a new purpose in life.
The support provided by psychosocial, economic, and holistic aftercare services ensures that survivors will not be subjected to the same challenges and vulnerabilities after accessing escape pathways. By providing survivors with the resources that they need, we can make sure that the needs and vulnerabilities highlighted by the pandemic can be addressed such that all survivors can feel empowered to live their lives to the fullest. More importantly, we can ensure that survivors are empowered to feel valued, safe, and cared for in their communities. And by resourcing these programs, we can come one step closer to ending human trafficking once and for all.
The Dressember Network is made up of 20 organizations that support programs in the following impact areas: advocacy, prevention, intervention, and survivor empowerment. The Dressember Network partners with 10ThousandWindows to restore the lives of survivors from trafficking and stop the exploitation and abuse of the world’s most vulnerable by creating real freedom through sustainable jobs. We also partner with Love146 to provide residential safe homes for children who have been victimized by sexual violence and/or sexual exploitation. The Dressember Network partners with the International Justice Mission to combat OSEC in the Philippines by working directly with local justice and social service system officials to find and safeguard children victimized by OSEC, and ensure their abusers are prosecuted. When you support Dressember, you help dismantle trafficking holistically and in a way that prioritizes survivor needs and voices. Ready to join us? Register to become an advocate or make a donation today.
About the Author
Miranda Cecil is a second-year at Northeastern University School of Law. She graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2020 (go heels!) and shipped up to Boston. As a North Carolina transplant in New England, she loves exploring her new area on the weekends. In her free time, she enjoys cross-stitching, cycling, and reading. She hopes to use her legal degree and a passion for urban development to continue advocating for human trafficking survivors (and, despite the Boston winter, looks forward to the style challenge this December).