On 25 March, Selene Martin, a LexisNexis employee and member of LexisNexis Cares, was invited to speak as part of a congressional panel before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Washington, D.C., to discuss LexisNexis efforts to combat human trafficking in the U.S. and worldwide.  This special congressional commission on human rights was developed to promote, defend and advocate internationally recognised human rights norms in a non-partisan manner, both within and outside of Congress.

According to The International Labour Organization (ILO), at least 12.3 million children and adults are in forced labour, bonded labour and commercial sex servitude at any given time.  INTERPOL estimates human trafficking to be a $28 billion enterprise.

LexisNexis is committed to fighting human trafficking around the globe and has developed a three-pronged approach that includes promoting awareness, providing victim support, and training.

In her statement, Selene discussed LexisNexis’s commitment to advancing the Rule of Law and protecting and safeguarding children.  She explained how LexisNexis is helping to raise awareness through partnering with Priority Films and the Redlight Children Campaign to premiere “Redlight,” a feature documentary that focuses on the personal stories of young Cambodian victims and two remarkable advocates for change:  Somaly Mam and Mu Sochua.  This initiative will help raise awareness of human trafficking in the U.S. and around the world. 

Selene highlighted LexisNexis’s work with the Somaly Mam Foundation. Somaly Mam, who was sold into sexual slavery at the age of 12, established this not-for-profit organisation to help rescue other victims of human trafficking.  Selene also discussed LexisNexis’s involvement with the Polaris Project, an NGO that operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and 24/7 hotline.  The Polaris Project conducts direct outreach and victim identification, and provides transitional housing and social services for thousands of trafficking victims in the U.S.  Leveraging its expertise, LexisNexis has created a web-based system to replace manual spreadsheets, which provides immediate access to vital state specific emergency contact information and enables operators to expedite hotline calls.

Selene concluded by thanking the Commission for the opportunity to share the LexisNexis story and pledged to work with the Commission to build legal capacity, drive awareness, and support key NGOs providing victim services in an effort to address the growing problem of human trafficking.