Honors College Theses

Publication Date

4-3-2019

Major

International Studies (B.A.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Faculty Mentor

Courtney Burns

Abstract

Human sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that is prevalent in the United States and across the globe. Currently, a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) exist to diminish sex trafficking. I seek to discover how powerful the efforts of NGOs are in combating sex trafficking. I argue that NGOs are successful in combating sex trafficking to the extent that their efforts are coordinated. Although an NGO may experience individual success in decreasing sex trafficking in a given area, without coordinating their efforts with the efforts of other NGOs, they will lack attaining the full knowledge, power, and resources that are useful in combating sex trafficking. I test this argument on the domestic level by conducting interviews among sex trafficking NGOs in Savannah, Georgia. I ask these NGOs about the capacity of their funding and expertise, with whom they coordinate their efforts, and their perceived level of success of their efforts. I couple interview responses alongside data on the number of sex trafficking victims in Savannah over a ten year period. I find that there is a lack of coordination among NGOs in Savannah. While this lack of coordination does not support my hypotheses, I find that there is a desire among sex trafficking NGOs to coordinate their efforts, and it is likely that increased coordination among these NGOs would increase their effectiveness in combating sex trafficking.

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