About International Justice Mission

International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.

IJM's founding principle is the defense and protection of individual human rights for all people by bringing the law to bear on their behalf and by prosecuting perpetrators who violate local and international laws.

IJM works in collaboration with local authorities to bring freedom to victims of human trafficking.

Through individual casework, IJM confronts aggressive human violence: violence that strips widows and orphans of their property and livelihoods, violence that steals dignity and health from children trafficked into forced prostitution, violence that denies freedom and security to families trapped in slavery.

IJM's local justice professionals work in 14 offices in their communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where they serve on the frontlines of the fight against oppression. IJM takes on cases of slavery, trafficking, sexual violence and other forms of oppression.

In the tradition of abolitionist William Wilberforce and transformational leaders like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King, Jr., IJM’s work is founded on the Christian call to justice articulated in the Bible (Isaiah 1:17): Seek justice, protect the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

IJM seeks to restore to victims of oppression the things that God intends for them: their lives, their liberty, their dignity, the fruits of their labor. By defending and protecting individual human rights, IJM seeks to engender hope and transformation for those it serves and restore a witness of courage in places of oppressive violence. IJM helps victims of oppression regardless of their religion, ethnicity, or gender.

Every day, IJM lawyers, investigators and social workers around the world are:

• Conducting undercover investigations necessary to rescue victims of slavery and trafficking and document evidence against their abusers.
• Working with local aftercare partners to ensure that victims have access to the vital services they need as they are restored to wholeness and hope.
• Ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable for their abuse in their local justice systems. Accountability changes the fear equation: When would-be perpetrators are rightly afraid of the consequences of their abuse, the vulnerable do not need to fear them.
• Training and mobilizing local authorities to stand for justice in their communities and building demand for responsive law enforcement and judicial structures among citizens.

Released from a life of slavery through IJM intervention, these children now live with their families in freedom.

While IJM's casework is on the individual level, the cumulative goal is long-term structural reform of broken justice systems to prevent the abuse of vulnerable people. In the 10 years since its founding, the organization has grown to a staff of nearly 300, the vast majority of whom are local professionals serving in their own countries. Through the work of IJM and the commitment of people of good will, thousands of victims of violent oppression have been brought to freedom and restoration: widows can provide for their children with the return of their homes, young girls are no longer raped nightly in brothels, and entire families are free from slavery.

Visit www.ijm.org to learn more and join us in the fight for justice.