IJM is “a global organization that protects the poor from violence in the developing world”
Gary Haugen established the International Justice Mission (IJM) in 1997 to address violence in developing countries. The organization has 17 field offices and works with local investigators to rescue victims of violence, support survivors, strengthen law enforcement, and bring violent criminals to justice. In his 2014 book, The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence, Haugen argues that the progress made in the global fight against poverty means little when citizens’ basic safety is threatened.
IJM help combat a major social issue: human trafficking, a concept many people cannot fully understand. Human trafficking evokes painful and grotesque images, but this is the reality the victims live. Human trafficking is one of the world’s greatest human rights dilemmas. It destroys families, inflicts pain on innocent people, and destroys the morals people are founded on. Human trafficking steals women and destroys them to their very core. Women should be offered self-defense classes and informative classes over the subject. Human trafficking exists, also, because women sell themselves in order to have an income. If society instills free education to all people, then human trafficking would be greatly reduced.
IJM has worked to free hundreds of victims of sex trafficking. Many survivors have shared, on the IJM website (ijm.org), their stories in hopes of inspiring others. IJM partners with local authorities to rescue victims, bring criminals to justice, restore victims, and strengthen the justice systems.