Advancing a Human Rights Approach to Human Trafficking

 

Our Mission

Ending human trafficking through education, advocacy and empowering survivors.

Our
Values

Prioritizing Human Rights

Prioritizing policies and regulations that honor and protect the rights of all survivors.

Self-Determination & Dignity

Prioritizing the right to self-determination and dignity in services and justice, where survivors choose how or if they want to engage in services or the criminal legal system.

Learning & Sharing

Adopting a posture of learning, adapting and sharing what we learn with partners and other community members.

Equitable Access

Prioritizing equitable access to protection, services, support, and justice for survivors of human trafficking.

Accessibility

Creating accessible spaces and pathways as we work to end human trafficking.

Inclusion

Creating spaces that are inclusive, diverse, and where every person and voice belongs.

Anti-Oppression

Not contributing to or engaging in oppressive practices that are harmful to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and other marginalized communities, working towards repairing harm as we learn and grow, and aiming to shift oppressive policies and practices where we can.

Human Rights

We firmly believe in and commit to equal rights for all people, thus we approach our work through a human rights lens. We prioritize policies and regulations that honor and protect those rights. In alignment with the UN Convention of Human Rights, we prioritize survivors’ rights and dignity, regardless of race/ethnicity/nationality, sexuality, age, gender identity, or industry of work. We prioritize equitable access to protection, services, and justice for survivors of trafficking. We prioritize the right for survivors to choose how or if they want to engage in services or the criminal legal system.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging

We commit to cultivating and fostering spaces that are inclusive, where every person and voice belongs, and where Cast staff, board, and partners reflect the diverse communities we serve.

Learning

Over the years, we have learned that we need to listen to the diverse communities of individuals with lived experience, review data and outcomes, and continually adapt our approach to services and advocacy. As Cast moves forward, we continually commit to a posture of accountability, learning and adapting, and sharing what we learn with partners and other community members.

Accessibility

We commit to creating accessible spaces and pathways as we work to end human trafficking. Whether this means ensuring that information is easy to understand and accessible by all individuals, or ensuring services are accessible to all survivors including communities who have regularly experienced inequities in access such as, but not limited to BIPOC, immigrant, non-English speaking, LGBTQIA+, and disabled communities.

Equity and Justice

Cast acknowledges and deeply understands that systemic oppression leads to and perpetuates human trafficking, and that many of our existing systems in the United States endorse policies and practices that consistently harm BIPOC and other communities. We commit to carrying out our mission by not contributing to or engaging in oppressive practices that are harmful to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, and other marginalized communities, working towards repairing harm as we learn and grow, and aiming to shift oppressive systemic policies and practices where we can.

Who We Serve

Cast serves survivors of all forms of human trafficking (labor and sex) in Los Angeles County. Our policy, research, training and survivor leadership programs have national impact.

To date, we’ve served survivors from 91 countries.

Here are more details about survivors we served in FY2024 who reported their information.

Type of Trafficking

Sex 73%
Labor 18%
Both sex and labor 9%

Due to rounding, categories may add up to slightly above or below 100%.

Age

Adult 78%
Transitional Age Youth (18-24 years) 16%
Minor 4%

Due to rounding, categories may add up to slightly above or below 100%.

Ethnicity/Race

White/European 7%
Latine/a/o/x/Hispanic 21%
Multicultural & Other 7%
Black/African/African American 34%
Asian or Pacific Islander 6%
Native American or Alaska Native <1%

Due to rounding, categories may add up to slightly above or below 100%.

Our Approach

Human trafficking is a human rights issue because it happens when basic human rights of freedom, autonomy, and human dignity are denied.

Human Rights

Oppression (of women, BIPOC, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups) is a root cause of human trafficking. Despite being victims, survivors of human trafficking in the US are often arrested for crimes they were forced to commit, which only increases their vulnerability and stops them from seeking help. Honoring and advocating for survivors’ human rights is key to ending human trafficking.

Public Health

A public health approach to ending human trafficking focuses on addressing its root causes—like poverty, lack of housing, and barriers to healthcare—while ensuring survivors have the resources to heal and rebuild their lives. Rather than relying solely on criminal enforcement, this approach embraces prevention, harm reduction, and community-driven solutions that create long-term safety and stability.

Trauma-Informed

Being trauma-informed is recognizing the impacts of trauma and working to prevent re-traumatization. Trauma-informed care focuses on 6 core principles of prioritizing Safety, being Trustworthy and Transparent, Collaborating with partners to ensure survivors are not re-traumatized, Empowering survivors with their own voice and choices, Connecting Survivors together for support, and Recognizing the cultural and societal issues that impact our communities and survivors.

Survivor-Informed

To create lasting change, the movement to end human trafficking must be informed by those with lived experience. However, survivors of human trafficking face barriers to movement work, which led to the creation of Cast’s Survivor Leadership Program. Through client feedback and survivors’ recommendations, Cast ensures that our services, policy, research and training programs are impactful and lead to long-term change.

Our Story

In 1995, 72 Thai workers were discovered living in slavery and debt bondage in El Monte in Los Angeles, a shocking wakeup call that led to Cast’s formation in 1998.

Cast opened the first shelter in the US exclusively for trafficking victims in 2003. To date, we have served thousands of victims and their family members, and trained thousands of professionals to identify and serve victims. Cast was the first nonprofit to receive the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Positive reproduction from a photographic negative, El Monte Sweatshop, frame 11.

1995

El Monte Case Discovered

In 1995, 72 Thai people were found living and working in sweatshop conditions in El Monte, Los Angeles County, where they had been trafficked and enslaved for seven years. It was a wake-up call for our community and nation, and a shocking realization that human trafficking was happening in our own backyard. 

Photo: One of the El Monte sweatshop’s sewing rooms, 1995. Phillip Bonner, U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service.

Reporters and photographers wait for celebrities on the red carpet for CAST LAÕs From Slavery to Freedom Gala at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on Thursday May 29th, 2014 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Using the media to increase awareness is a major part of battling modern-day slavery and human trafficking. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Sonya Singh/castla.org

1998

Cast Founded

In response to the El Monte case, Cast was founded in 1998 the first agency to provide social and legal services to survivors of sex and labor trafficking in Los Angeles County.

 

Women holding sign Modern Day Slavery it ends with us

2000

TVPA Passed

Cast and our partners helped pass the first human trafficking law in the US, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which focuses on human trafficking prevention, protection of victims, and prosecution of traffickers.

Photo: Members of Cast’s Survivor Advisory Caucus, now called Resilient Voices.

person holding a United States of American Permanent Resident card

2002

Legal Services Launched

Cast launched our Legal Services department in 2002, going on to assist in securing the first ever ‘T-Visa’ for human trafficking victims in the US.

Nancy and Kay at Mariposa Haven Housing Program for Trafficking Survivors

2003

First Shelter Opened

Cast opened a transitional shelter for human trafficking victims, Mariposa Haven, and formed the Survivor Leadership Program in 2003 – both the first of their kind in the US.

Portrait shot of concerned Asian woman with face mask, listening voicemail message on the phone

2010

Hotline Launched

Cast launched its 24-hour human trafficking hotline in 2010, and supported the passing of the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, empowering consumers to compare company efforts on forced labor and human trafficking in their supply chains.

Presidential Award

2014

Presidential Award 

Cast received the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons from President Obama in 2014, the first non-profit organization recipient.

Group of people holding stop human trafficking signs

2019

Lost Income Bill Passed

Cast supported the passing of the ‘Victim Compensation: Ensuring Access to Lost Income for Human Trafficking Survivors’ bill, which provides survivors of human trafficking in California with compensation for loss of income, just like other crime victims.

Learn about human trafficking

Learn about what human trafficking is and who is at risk.

Our People