The Alliance to End Slavery & Trafficking (ATEST) is dedicated to ending modern-day slavery and human trafficking around the world. Modern-day slavery manifests itself in many forms—from forced labor to sex trafficking—but each is alike in posing a severe threat to basic human rights. The fact that the enslavement and trade in human beings exists in our modern world as a disturbingly large, highly profitable illicit industry is unacceptable. Legal nowhere and yet present in every country, slavery damages our communities, taints the products and services we consume, tarnishes the profits we earn, and is one of the most pressing human rights challenges of our time.
But this persistent crime can be stopped.
ATEST believes lasting solutions to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking require coordinated actions and respectful partnerships between civil society, governments, and businesses. By collaborating with each other, peers in the movement, survivors of slavery and trafficking, policymakers, like-minded activists, and business and thought leaders, we seek opportunities to create positive and enduring change—including building the fundamental legal, corporate, and cultural standards that will end modern-day slavery and human trafficking in all of its forms.
Humanity United, a foundation dedicated to building peace and advancing human freedom, founded ATEST in 2007, initially as a pilot project to strengthen U.S. laws and increase federal resources dedicated to anti-trafficking efforts. ATEST formalized its alliance in 2009 with a broadened mission, and has expanded to include 12 organizations, including ECPAT-USA.