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Pascal said that “Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.”

Human trafficking is an urgent issue, but injustice takes many forms and plagues communities around the world. Take the first step in fighting injustice by educating yourself to become part of the solution.

FAQs

The International Labour Organization estimates that nearly 50 million people around the world live in modern slavery.1 More than half of these people are victims of forced labor, which includes private sector exploitation (in industries such as manufacturing, construction, and agriculture), commercial sexual exploitation (predominantly women and girls), and state-imposed forced labor. About 22 million people are victims living in forced marriages, which disproportionately affects women and girls, accounting for over two-thirds of those affected. Of the estimated 50 million enslaved people, 11 million are in India – as many as the next four nations combined.

1https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_855019/lang–en/index.html

Jeff Pankratz founded JVI in 2007. He is an American attorney who moved to India over 20 years ago with his wife and children to serve with International Justice Missions in Chennai. In Chennai, Jeff did legal work and participated in investigation and rescue operations. After serving for a year in India, Jeff and others with a growing vision of the need for this kind of justice work were stirred to form JVI in the U.S. to strengthen partnerships that promote justice. Since then, JVI has grown to over 140 team members in South Asia, working in 10 Justice Hubs in five states and looking to expand to 20 Justice Hubs by the end of 2027.

JVI works through a partnership model, collaborating with local civil society organizations (CSO) on the ground in South Asia and a range of governmental agencies to implement its programmatic activities. Because justice is sustainable only if it is embraced and led by individuals in the communities where injustices occur, JVI builds the capacity of local grass roots organizations that work to eradicate human trafficking, empower the urban poor, and ensure justice for other vulnerable groups. Our impact indicates that the partnership model is effective, efficient, sustainable, and scalable.

  • EFFECTIVE: The JVI partnership model leads to greater effectiveness through the combining of JVI and partner skills and understanding in designing solutions that work.
  • EFFICIENT: Partnering is assessed to be highly efficient through the reduction of costs and redundancy in fighting injustice.
  • SUSTAINABLE: Partnership organizations are equipped by JVI’s initiatives to become sustainable with greater capacity built within the community
  • SCALABLE: JVI’s partnership model is highly scalable, and through collaborations with both private organizations and government agencies, more lives have been reached with maximum effect in bringing about freedom, justice, and restoration
See our Impact numbers and read about our survivors.
JVI operates deeply at the community level through Justice Hubs while achieving wider impact through Justice Movements.
Check out our Do Something page or donate today.
78% of your donation will go directly to those serving and doing the work of bringing freedom, justice, and restoration to victims of injustice in South Asia. JVI maintains a small US staff to provide financial, organizational, and legal oversight of our South Asia work. JVI is accredited by Candid, Charity Navigator,  ECFA and Excellence in Giving demonstrating that we abide by the highest standards of financial accountability and governance and are committed to openness and accountability with our donors.
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JVI was founded by followers of Jesus who believe it is their calling to show his love to all those created in the image of God. We believe doing this work is a key way of answering Jesus’ prayer that God’s kingdom would come, which is to say, God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. JVI’s team looks to the day when freedom and justice are fully established, when the world itself is restored. In the meantime, our work is a glimpse today of how things will fully be one day.

Our US team is made up of people who follow Jesus, though we are nonsectarian and have a diversity of traditions represented. Our South Asia team has key leaders who are also Christians, but we employ people of different faiths and partner with organizations who share our mission and values.

A Justice Hub is a local network of NGO, church, government, and private sector partners working together with a shared commitment to justice. The driving engine of these collaborative efforts is a core Justice Hub team, trained and equipped by JVI, comprised of lawyers, investigators, and aftercare professionals equipped with the tools they need to serve victims of extreme injustice. Crucial to the success of this project is the implementation of JVI’s three core activities of securing justice for individuals, empowering local partners, and strengthening justice systems. Justice Hubs exist first and foremost to secure justice for individuals, but they are also the means by which local organizations are able to be empowered and the platform through which the justice system at the local level is strengthened. 

  1. Sharing technical tools: JVI actively promotes coordination and collaboration across Justice Hubs and with organizations in different communities, catalyzing and strengthening broader Justice Movements. In recent years, JVI has been successfully doing this by sharing technical tools –such as our Anti-Human Trafficking Handbooks for India and Nepal– and training opportunities on our e-Justice Resource Center (e-JRC). Through this technology solution we have been able to reach a network of partners with tools and learning that are improving standards in the fight against trafficking and increasing collaboration.

  2. Building impact networks: JVI wants to facilitate a Justice Movement that goes beyond the Justice Hubs because we believe that more organizations are capable of joining the fight in their communities and that the current range of organizations and agencies engaged in anti-human trafficking have the potential to collaborate as an impact network like never before. We hope to see organizations previously working in isolation connect and build trust with others and move toward increasing coordination and collaboration. We hope to see disparate coalitions and networks joining hands by finding common ground in the fight against human trafficking. We plan to put in place sustainable and malleable network infrastructure that demonstrates how the hard road of partnership yields more fruit than the lonely road of fragmentation and isolation.

TERMINOLOGY

Human TraffickingHuman trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of individuals, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person; with the intent of exploiting that person through: prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery (or similar practices), servitude, and removal of organs.
Forced LaborForced Labor is all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. Forced labor is a highly profitable global industry. According to an ILO study, it generates over $150 billion in annual profits—comparable to the combined earnings of the world’s four most profitable companies. The annual profits generated per victim of forced labour are far, far higher in developed economies and the European Union than they are anywhere else in the world. Source: ILO Report on Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour.
Bonded LaborBonded labor, also known as debt bondage, occurs when individuals are compelled to work to repay debts, often under terms that are exploitative and make it difficult or impossible to clear the debt. In South Asia, bonded labor is particularly prevalent, with estimates suggesting that of the 18 to 20.5 million bonded laborers existing globally, approximately 84% to 88% reside in South Asia. Industries such as brick kilns, rice harvesting, and textiles are notable sectors where bonded labor is widespread. In India, bonded laborers are predominantly from Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and other marginalized communities. They work seven days a week, often for 12 hours a day or more, and are paid meager sums that are far less than the statutory minimum wage. They are often subject to physical abuse and live in communities that lack necessities. The structure of the debt transaction ensures that a debt can never be repaid, resulting in numerous generations inheriting the debt and becoming bonded laborers themselves. Certain areas of India have especially high rates of bonded labor, particularly the state of Bihar. JVI has three Justice Hubs in Bihar, where we have helped thousands of people experience freedom from bonded labor.
Sex TraffickingSex trafficking occurs when individuals are coerced, deceived, or forced into commercial sexual exploitation. Victims—many of whom are women and children—are often controlled through violence, threats, or debt, making escape nearly impossible.

RESOURCES

Stories

From Despair to Hope: The Journey of Three Sisters
Updates

From Despair to Hope: The Journey of Three Sisters

At first glance, sisters Mansi (17), Astha (15), and Sana* (11) seem like any other children, but their quiet demeanor belies a heartbreaking story of pain and neglect. Their childhood was not filled with love and laughter but overshadowed by the fear and cruelty of feeling unwanted. Their father Santosh abused their mother Sonia for years, blaming her for not bearing a son. Sonia did her

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March 31, 2025
Community
Updates

Empowered to Forge Their Own Futures

For generations, this community comprised of the most socio-economically disadvantaged sub-castes within the Dalit community endured the harsh realities of agricultural bonded labour—no legal identities, rights, or access to basic necessities like food, healthcare, and education. Trapped in poverty, their lives revolved around relentless labour while children grew up deprived of the opportunity to learn or break free from this cycle. Their lack of any government

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February 28, 2025
Diya's Journey image with woman watching the sunrise
Updates

Against All Odds: Diya’s Journey from Captivity to Freedom 

In November 2018, a JVI Justice Hub rescued five brave young girls from a life of captivity. Among them was 15-year-old Diya, who had been lured into sex trafficking by Kali, a man she worked with at a packaging factory. He proceeded to exploit her hopes and dreams with promises of a better life.  Once under his control, Diya was treated like a mere object, kept

Read More »
February 5, 2025
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