Trafficking and Prostitution

Dr. Leslie R. Wolfe is President of the Center for Women Policy Studies, the Nation’s first feminist policy institute, founded in 1972. The Center’s mission today is what it was at its founding – to improve women’s lives and ensure women’s human rights through enlightened public policy.

A hallmark of the Center’s work is the multiethnic feminist lens through which we view all issues affecting women and girls. The Center’s Contract With Women of the USA® sets out 12 key principles for women’s human rights and equality, derived from the 1995 UN Platform for Action adopted in Beijing. With its national network of women state legislators in all 50 states, the Center works to transform these principles into public policy. See www.centerwomenpolicy.org for more about the Center’s signature programs).

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Sienna Baskin, Esq. is co-director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center. Ms. Baskin provides non-judgmental legal education, advice and representation to sex workers on a variety of issues, including housing, criminal, employment, and immigration matters. She also assists victims of trafficking with immigration applications, family reunification, and cooperation with law enforcement. Ms. Baskin leads "Know Your Rights" workshops for sex workers in a courts and community settings and advocates for policy change on the state and federal level, educating legislatures and decision-makers about the effects of laws on sex workers. Ms. Baskin’s writings have been published on Huffington Post, the Economist, Alternet, RHReality Check, the City of New York Law Review, Research For Sex Work (forthcoming), and Wagadu; a Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies (forthcoming). Prior to joining the Sex Workers Project, Ms.

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Melissa Upreti is Regional Director for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights. In her ten years at the Center, she has helped position the Center as a leading advocate of women’s reproductive rights in the region and in the international arena. She has led fact-finding missions to investigate violations of women’s rights resulting from restrictive abortion laws in Nepal and the Philippines and has helped develop pioneering legal strategies to secure accountability for maternal deaths in India and access to safe abortion in Nepal. Melissa Upreti has conceptualized and co-authored several leading publications on women’s reproductive rights in Asia including two regional studies of laws and policies that affect women’s reproductive health and lives, fact-finding reports on controversial topics and analytical studies.

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Juhu Thukral is the Director of Law and Advocacy at The Opportunity Agenda. She has been an advocate for the rights of low-income and immigrant women in the areas of sexual health and rights, gender-based violence, economic security, and criminal justice for 20 years. Prior to joining The Opportunity Agenda, Ms. Thukral was the founder and Director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. She founded the Sex Workers Project in 2001, after recognizing the strong need for an organization that protects the legal rights of sex workers, many of whom are low-income and immigrant women of color. Ms. Thukral envisioned and developed the SWP’s legal and programmatic initiatives around sex work and human rights, trafficking in persons, and economic security. She also raised the funding for the project and managed its partnerships with a diverse array of collaborating organizations.

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Mallika Dutt is the President and CEO of Breakthrough, a global human rights organization that uses the power of media, pop culture and community mobilization to inspire people to take bold action for dignity, equality and justice. Ms. Dutt has served as Program Officer for Human Rights at the Ford Foundation's New Delhi Office and as the Associate Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University. She is a founder of SAKHI for South Asian Women. Ms. Dutt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and currently serves on Boards of WITNESS, the Open Society Institute US Programs, and Games for Change, and on the Rights Working Group Steering Committee.

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