Every year, men from the United States and Europe travel abroad to sexually exploit children. Free a Girl's Global Intelligence and Rescue Unit finds them. Our investigators, digital analysts and legal experts work with local police to identify victims, gather evidence that holds up in court, and bring children to safety. Rescue is only the beginning: every child receives shelter, medical care, counseling and legal support. Your gift funds the work that gets a child out of sexual exploitation.
Men from wealthier nations increasingly travel abroad to sexually exploit children, choosing destinations where enforcement is thin and a foreign passport buys silence. Roughly 300 million children a year are affected by online exploitation, and 2 million are exploited in brothels, hotels and bars. Fewer than 5,000 convictions occur worldwide each year, and only 10 percent of cases ever reach a courtroom, since local police rarely have resources for crimes that cross borders.
Free a Girl has rescued almost 10,000 children since 2008. In 2025 we established the Global Intelligence and Rescue Unit: field investigators, digital analysts who trace offenders online, legal experts, training specialists, and aftercare coordinators present at the rescue itself. GIRU follows an eight-step model from identification through rescue, housing, and psychosocial care. We work alongside local NGOs, police and judiciaries under formal permission, and never replace them.
Each rescue frees a child, but the deeper aim is deterrence. When a sex tourist is arrested and convicted where he offended, the impunity that draws men there begins to break down. Every GIRU case leaves something behind: trained investigators, a working evidence protocol, and a lasting partnership between local and international teams. Survivors are not left at the courthouse door. Through the Dream Fund and School for Justice, some become the professionals who handle the next case.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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