# International Justice Mission

> International Justice Mission is a global human rights organization that protects people in poverty from violence - human trafficking, forced labor, sexual exploitation of children, and abuse of power by police. Rather than run parallel to broken justice systems, IJM embeds with local police, prosecutors, and courts to rescue victims, convict perpetrators, restore survivors, and make protection routine. Founded in 1997 by former U.S. Justice Department lawyer Gary Haugen, it now runs programs across roughly 19 countries on about $130M a year, funded largely by individual donors, churches, foundations, and government grants.

- **Founded:** 1997
- **Headquarters:** Arlington, Virginia, United States
- **Founders:** Gary A. Haugen (Founder & CEO)
- **Team size:** ~1,400 employees
- **Products:** Justice System Strengthening, Rescue & Freedom Operations, Survivor Restoration & Aftercare, Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) programs, Forced Scamming program
- **Notable:** Founded in 1997 after a global study on the abuse of power against the poor., Grew into one of the largest international anti-slavery organizations, operating across roughly 19 countries., Reports over 76,000 people rescued or protected from slavery and violence cumulatively; 13,557 freed in FY2025.

## Products & services

- **Justice System Strengthening** — Partnering with local police, prosecutors, and courts to train, equip, and reform them so they enforce existing laws against violence and trafficking - making protection routine rather than exceptional.
- **Rescue & Freedom Operations** — Supporting local authorities in operations to identify and free victims of trafficking, forced labor, and sexual exploitation.
- **Survivor Restoration & Aftercare** — Trauma-informed care, counseling, education, and economic reintegration programs so survivors can rebuild and stay free.
- **Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) programs** — Investigative and legal support against livestreamed child sexual abuse, with major work in the Philippines.
- **Forced Scamming program** — Response to the trafficking of people into Southeast Asian cyber-scam compounds where they are forced to run online fraud - victim support, casework, and perpetrator accountability.
- **Data & case-tracking systems** — Prevalence studies, victim case tracking, and trafficking-pattern analytics (built on tools like Salesforce and Tableau) used to measure whether justice systems are actually improving.

## Achievements

- Founded in 1997 after a global study on the abuse of power against the poor.
- Grew into one of the largest international anti-slavery organizations, operating across roughly 19 countries.
- Reports over 76,000 people rescued or protected from slavery and violence cumulatively; 13,557 freed in FY2025.
- Gary Haugen's 2014 book 'The Locust Effect' (with Victor Boutros) won the 2016 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.
- Gary Haugen's 2015 TED talk on violence and poverty has been viewed millions of times.
- Advocacy contributed to UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.2 (ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and violence against children).
- Early leadership on Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC) casework in the Philippines.
- Pioneered prevalence-measurement studies to prove justice-system reform reduces violence.

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — Reported freeing 13,557 children, women, and men from violence in fiscal year 2025.
- **2025-01** — Expanded its Forced Scamming program and partnered with UNODC on a regional campaign against trafficking into Southeast Asian cyber-scam compounds.
- **2024-06** — Published research linking child financial sextortion in the U.S. to scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
- **2024-01** — FY2024 audited financials reported ~$136M in total support and revenue.

## Links

- Website: https://www.ijm.org
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-justice-mission
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/IJM
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/InternationalJustice
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ijm/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/InternationalJusticeMission

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/international-justice-mission
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Last updated: 2026-08-13