Press Contact:
Alison Nakamura
Sr. Director of Communications
SMF
212-367-1366
anakamura@somaly.org
Fact Sheet
Mission:
SMF is dedicated to eradicating the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls in Southeast Asia, and empowering survivors as part of the solution. To that end, with our on the ground partners:
- We serve victims by providing counseling, medical care, education, and skills training to foster personal and economic empowerment.
- We empower survivors to use their voices and share their stories in order to raise awareness and advance social change.
- We advocate for systemic change by working with government and law enforcement, educating communities, and mobilizing students toward prevention efforts
Accomplishments:
Since 2007, in collaboration with our on the ground partners, SMF has:
- Touched the lives of nearly 100,000 women and girls in need
- Led effective programs that have helped thousands of victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation –– some as young as three years old –– to heal and rebuild their lives with hope, confidence, and dignity
- Engaged over 6,400 students in anti-trafficking activism
- Treated over 6,000 women and girls at a free medical clinic in Phnom Penh’s red light district
- Distributed more that 4.3 million condoms through our community outreach teams in areas where sex is sold
- Trained high-ranking military police and government officials from all 24 provinces in Cambodia on anti-trafficking law
- Raised global awareness of human trafficking – one of humanity’s most insidious and troubling problems
About Human Trafficking:
Human trafficking constitutes a grave violation of human rights. Also referred to as “modern slavery,” it is a term used to define the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of individuals through threats, coercion, abduction, fraud and deception for the purposes of compelled service.
As documented by the International Labor Organization (ILO), today, there are nearly 21 million people enslaved worldwide, 4.5 million of which are victims of forced sexual exploitation.
SMF Locations:
Phnom Penh, Cambodia | New York, New York
Why Cambodia:
While SMF works with partners throughout Southeast Asia, the majority of the work takes place in Cambodia, a country with a deeply fractured history and a people who continue to suffer from the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge genocide.
Today, the country remains impoverished with the rural poor particularly at-risk. These factors, coupled with a weak rule of law, civil unrest, and gender inequality, leave Cambodian women and girls highly susceptible to trafficking, exploitation, and gender-based violence.
In June 2013, the U.S. State Department issued the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, a global overview of the origins and scope of trafficking, which moved Cambodia to the Tier 2 watch list for failing to “demonstrate evidence of overall increasing efforts to address human trafficking over the previous year,” the report’s second-lowest ranking.
Leadership:
Gina Reiss-Wilchins, Executive Director
Jennifer Fonstad, Board Chair
Financials:
SMF is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
All revenue is retained by SMF for self-preservation, expansion, or future initiatives. In accordance with the U.S. government, and in an effort to remain as transparent as possible, the Foundation makes their financial and operational statements accessible to the public every year. You can view our past financial statements here.
Website:
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Please click here to download a PDF version of the SMF fact sheet.