Our Sanctuary, a Bahamian non-profit, hits yet another milestone for the organization being named to Freedom Collaborative, a well know international organization with an online platform to facilitate cross-border cooperation between those working to prevent human trafficking in over 116 countries.
This comes after the organization joined the Global Modern Slavery Directory in March of this year, partnering with an international group of anti-human trafficking organizations tackling the issue of human trafficking through providing the public with a searchable database of over 2,900 organizations and hotlines working on human trafficking and forced labour around the world.
McCall Philippe, Our Sanctuary’s Executive Director, stated that since partnering with Freedom Collaborative, the organization has already been a part of various collaborative meetings such as ‘Sex work, Migration, Exploitation, and Trafficking’ which was attended by members from several European countries to explore and identify ways to include sex workers in the fight against human trafficking.
“This conference was very impactful in that it emphasized community lead responses which is one of our organization’s primary goals,” Philippe said. Acknowledging that, “sexual abuse and trafficking happens to all genders, ages, races and religious background, even in a country like The Bahamas which embraces the ideals of Christianity”. She emphasized that “we cannot just ignore that this threat has existed for a very long time now in our very homes, communities and places that we deemed safe but are truly not safe.”
The organization is also actively engaged in providing therapy services for survivors of sexual abuse – men, women and children, a service it has been providing free of charge to person in New Providence, Grand Bahama and other family islands. “We want to make a plea to our community and future partners that organizations like ours will only succeed in our respective and collaborative missions when all stakeholders commit to this cause in terms of volunteerism; education; and funding.
The ultimate goal is to eradicate the culture of human tracking and sexual abuse in our country,” said Philippe.
