Internal and cross-border trafficking of people in Haiti remains an important challenge, with an estimated 59,000 Haitians living in situations of modern slavery. Children are regularly trafficked to residential institutions as well as for child domestic servitude, a socially normative practice known as restavek. Researchers will examine the attitudes and practices of people who place children in residential institutions, place children in child domestic work, or employ child domestic workers in their homes.

Migration intermediaries play a legitimate role in the efficient matching of labor supply and demand across borders. However, exploitation, indebtedness, and forced labor can occur when unethical intermediaries take advantage of information asymmetries to charge exorbitant fees to migrant workers for their services. Previous research suggests that social media can help increase awareness of information barriers that exist. This study is assessing the feasibility and suitability of conducting a randomized evaluation to determine the effectiveness of Hong Kong-based NGO Migrasia’s social media campaigns in reducing the incidence of migrant worker exploitation.

HTRI is supporting early-stage research and full-scale impact evaluations in 13 countries through its Competitive Research Fund. Researchers and implementing organizations are examining the effectiveness of counter-trafficking interventions across the 4 Ps (prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership). Projects range from the use of school-based curricula to reduce child sexual exploitation in Brazil, to offering financial incentives for micro-contractors in the construction industry in India, to the provision of safe migration information for prospective migrants in Nigeria and asylum-seekers in Greece.