Ethics or moral philosophy
OUR WORK
In order to ensure the high quality of our work and minimize the risk of any undesired impacts on the lives of the victims and communities we work with.
We treat all persons equally
We respect the principles of non-discrimination, gender equality and lack of all kinds of bias based on ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation. Although we do not support prostitution, we reject all types of prejudice towards women who are or have been in it. We consider that the perpetrators are the only persons responsible for sexual exploitation and abuse.
We don’t give false promises
In our work with donors and with victims and project stakeholders, we don’t give false promises about our work and aim to be as realistic as possible in explaining what we can offer. As far as we can, considering the nature of our work, we apply principles of transparency and accountability in both our substantive work and our finances, trying to make the most of the funding that we are trusted with.
We cooperate with other organizations
We cooperate with other organizations to ensure the best interest of the victims. Our organization is committed to working for the protection of women and children in difficult circumstances and we are trusted with cases especially in circumstances that make it is challenging to intervene. However, if we think another organization or the local authorities have the resources to handling a case more efficiently we refer it to them instead of doing it ourselves to boost our own rescue figures.
We work with the aim of becoming unnecessary
This is why, whenever it is not against the interests of the women and children we work with, AAT works together with local people, governmental agencies and organizations. We believe that legal and social protection mechanisms should be locally led, and any NGO support should aim to be temporary and to transfer capacities to local people, authorities and groups so they can take over the work and make it sustainable. We aim to adapt our working methods to the cultures we work in and most of our staff consists of locals.
We don’t organize trips to see victims
Although we understand the fact that many people are interested in seeing our work with victims of trafficking with their own eyes, most of the victims we work with find trips to see them in their home community undignifying. We want to maintain high standards in our social work and build a relationship based on confidence with former victims, treating every person with dignity and respect for their privacy. Please contact us about conditions for our work with journalists and researchers.
We never participate in sexual exploitation
We do not undertake investigation activities that include having sex with victims. Our staff is also committed to not in any way support prostitution or any kind of sexual exploitation, even outside working hours. Please contact us about conditions for our work with journalists and researchers.
Protection of victims comes first
This is why AAT never publishes photos of victims’ faces nor sensitive information about ongoing cases, even though it would help our own fundraising aims.
We don’t sell pity
Treating everyone with dignity is our number one priority. Victims of human trafficking are victims of organized crime, not powerless subjects that need us as caretakers. Our aim is to support victims and at risk groups to explore their own potential and to gain access to viable livelihood options – not to sell sad stories.
We do not refer to prostitution as “sex work”
In our opinion, the concept of sex work contributes to legitimize something that our day to day work shows to be closely linked to abuse, exploitation and organized crime. In our region, the vast majority of women who are not held in brothels against their will or who weren’t initially forced into the situation are there due to having no other option in a situation of extreme economic need. A large percentage of victims of commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking are children under 18 years of age.
We distribute information that we consider trustworthy
In the field of trafficking there are many, often not scientifically founded, theories about the causes of the phenomenon among other things. We do not support theories that lack concrete evidence or are not based on a proper investigation. This does, however, not mean that we agree with all the studies made that we post or link to on our web and social media pages.