With 2020 behind us and a new year ahead of us, we’d like to take a moment to look back at all that we accomplished last year.
At the beginning of 2020, we had a three-year plan to dismantle the sexual exploitation industry as we know it, from all angles—advocacy, legislative, and legal perspectives. Despite the unexpected turns and seeming setbacks with the worldwide pandemic, our work has hastened and the results are world-changing. Somehow, we accomplished much of that three-year plan in just one!
- Filing Multiple Lawsuits Against the Kingpins of Sexual Exploitation
To bring the pro-exploitation industry to its knees, the NCOSE Law Center is matching survivors of sexual abuse with plaintiffs’ lawyers for the purpose of filing litigation against the sexual exploitation industry, specifically focused on bringing justice for those deeply hurt by pornography, sex trafficking, and child sexual abuse. In 2020, our attorneys filed three lawsuits and helped facilitate dozens more.
- Launch of the International Centre on Sexual Exploitation (ICOSE)
With new team members in England and Germany working to bolster the global abolitionist movement, we have been active at the governing bodies of the world and have coordinated worldwide advocacy campaigns leading to massive changes with social media giants and with all major credit card companies.
- Seeking Data-Driven Results With the New NCOSE Research Institute
Our movement needs evidence-based solutions that move it from addressing immediate needs and basic research, to holistic solutions that prevent victimization before it begins. NCOSE formed a team of experts to harness the power of objective data and methods to not only inform, but to help impacted individuals, communities, and policymakers identify and advance the best evidence-based solutions to prevent and eradicate the web of sexual abuse and exploitation
- 22,000 Advocates From 112 Countries Gathered Under NCOSE Leadership
In the wake of COVID-19, we held our annual Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Global Summit virtually this year spurring massive momentum for our movement and more connection and unity than ever achieved in the past. In addition to the CESE Summit, ICOSE organized the first Pan-African conference on the public health harms of pornography.
- Acquisition of Demand Forum—A Key Resource to Combat Prostitution and Sex Trafficking
Demand Forum is a website that has been used by law enforcement agencies, task forces, and collaborating institutions from all 50 states and 175+ countries to design, improve, and sustain programs to combat sex buying behavior (demand), as well as a resource for state and federal legislatures to help craft human trafficking and prostitution statutes.
Despite the onset of a global pandemic grinding much of the world to a halt, our momentum absolutely surged in 2020—and beyond! We are constantly growing to meet the demands of the movement. We’ve tripled our staff size in just the last two years and as a result our impact has more than tripled as well.
Thank you for standing alongside us as we relentlessly build on these incredible victories and capitalize on the momentum we have going into 2021.
Your partnership is helping to create a world free of sexual abuse and exploitation with each passing day.