The number one reported crime on cruise ships is sexual assault of women and minors. Shockingly, most perpetrators get away with the crime. This project will enable us to hire a Cruise Ship Sexual Assault prevention intern to provide prevention and crisis response to Americans embarking on cruise ship vacations in the hopes of preventing increasing incidents of sexual assault. The intern will also provide guidance on what steps should be taken in case of sexual assault.
This project will enable us to provide a 5 month internship beginning January 2015 through May 2015 for a student as a Cruise Ship Sexual Assault Prevention Advocate, 20 hours a week, $12 an hour. The intern will provide sexual assault prevention training to cruise lines, and Americans embarking on cruise ship vacations, nationally via webinar and in person. The intern will also provide direct crisis services intervention over the international toll free hotline, 866uswomen, to victims.
This intern in this project will conduct sexual assault prevention webinars to the major cruise ship lines and vacationers before they leave with the goal of increasing personal safety and reducing the number of sexual assault incidents on cruise ships. The intern will also provide crisis response to victims, providing emotional support and coordinating resources. This will also enable the intern to gain solid experience as a sexual assault prevention and crisis response advocate.
According to RAINN, 208 thousand rapes occur in the USA annually. If we apply the same population proportion to the 65 million Americans that travel overseas every year, there would be 39,000 Americans raped in foreign countries and on cruise ships annually. From the sexual assault victims that have contacted us in various foreign countries, they are extremely grateful for our help and assistance when no one else would or could provide the services we provide to them.
