We're so excited to have Ioana join the team at Abolishion.  She will work to enhance our social media and as a result give you much more regular updates and useful information to equip you about how to fight human trafficking.  Her administration skills will also assist our CEO in getting even more done.  Ioana is fluent in both Romanian and English, opening up more opportunities to work at a a deeper level in Romania.  We're excited about the passion and energy she is already bringing to the team. Welcome Ioana!

Eighty-two social workers and university students from the Bihor and Satu Mare districts of Romania gathered over 3 separate days of training to learn about human trafficking.  Many arrived expecting a normal day of training but that thought was firmly challenged the minute they arrived.  Most who attended had heard of human trafficking before but had never been up close to it.

In the first two weeks of October, we had the Concordia University Around the World Team with us to fight human trafficking here in Romania.  This group was a team of 38, made up of students and their professors, Adam Lee, John Norton and Tim Preuss.  This unique course sees students travel to ten different countries, over a six month period, to study culture, local literature as well as volunteering with local organisations on the ground.

On Friday, July 11, our CEO, Leanne Rhodes, travelled to Mainz, Germany to be part of the "Unverkauflich" event put on by dieBasis church and Hope For Freedom.  The purpose of the event was to raise awareness about human trafficking and inform people about what they could do.

In January, 2014, Abolishion launched its online course on human trafficking. The course sends partcipants an email a day for 30 days. Each day details an aspect of human trafficking including topics such as statistics, supply and demand, traffickers, hot lines, how to identify trafficking where you live and why girls stay. Each day only takes 3 minutes to read but will equip you to join the fight, wherever you live.

On Tuesday May 20 they all started filing in. There were chiefs of police who headed up anti-trafficking efforts, organised crime and corruption units from all over Romania. National and regional directors of ANITP, the Romanian governmental agency for anti-trafficking also came along with prosecutors and judges. These 54 leaders were all gathering from across the country to spend two days to rewrite the National Referral Mechanism for victims of human trafficking. This work was important. It would have an effect on every victim that is rescued in or returned to Romania. 

2014 is flying by. It’s hard to believe it’s already March and the first two months of the year are over. These have been a jam packed two months at Abolishion. The year got off to an exciting start with the launch of our FREE online training course on human trafficking. We have specifically designed this course to help you understand how human trafficking happens and to know what you can do about it. The course covers a whole host of topics including, where to find statistics, supply and demand, how to identify traffickers and the psychology behind trafficker techniques. If you are not part of the 157 people who are already doing this course you can receive it free by signing up today. If you have done the course we’d love you to share it on social media and encourage your friends to sign up.

We are very pleased to announce that Cherith Wilson has joined our team at Abolishion.  She will be project managing all the work for our first shelter. She brings years of project management experience to the table as well as a passion for Europe, and particularly Romania. Although based in Australia, she will be spending 3 months each year in Romania to ensure everything is done like clockwork.

This year we're starting something new on our blog. We want to keep you informed on all the latest things that are happening in Human Trafficking around the globe. At the end of each month we'll give you a summary of things that have been happening including the good, the bad and the ugly. Email us at [email protected] if you see something you think should be included.

We are very pleased to announce that Anthony Wilson has joined our team at Abolishion.  He will be working in the role of Australian Operations Manager, managing our Australian base, building networks, fundraising and spreading awareness.  Anthony openly admits to being an incurable fanatic when it comes to fighting trafficking.  So much so he is focusing his retirement on doing something about it.  He’s taken the time to visit the field in Romania, Moldova and France and has seen the issues that contribute to sex slavery.