Why Human Trafficking Thrives and the Path to Freedom

Victor Boutros, Founding Director of The Human Trafficking Institute and co-author of The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence, will discuss the modern day slavery of human trafficking — why it still exists, and a path to freedom for its victims.

The Human Trafficking Institute exists to decimate modern slavery at its source by empowering police and prosecutors to stop traffickers. Working inside criminal justice systems, the Institute provides the embedded experts, world-class training, investigative resources, and evidence-based research necessary to free victims.

Mr. Boutros previously served as a federal prosecutor who investigated and tried international human trafficking cases of national significance around the country on behalf of the United States Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. He has taught human trafficking at the FBI Academy in Quantico, trained law enforcement professionals in the United States and other countries on how to investigate and prosecute human trafficking, and taught trial advocacy to lawyers from Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Prior to his work with the Justice Department, Mr. Boutros spent time on similar issues in the developing world. He has worked on improving prison conditions in Ecuador, documented bonded slaves in India, and worked on human trafficking issues as a visiting lawyer with the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa.

Mr. Boutros is a graduate of Baylor University, Harvard University, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago, where he was as an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review and received a grant to research human trafficking as a Human Rights Research Fellow. He has written on foreign affairs and human rights, including a feature article in Foreign Affairsand a piece co-authored with John Richmond in the AntiTrafficking Review, and developed and taught a course on human rights, human trafficking, and rule of law in the developing world at the University of Chicago Law School. Mr. Boutros has spoken to international bodies, legislators, think tanks, universities and professional schools.

Mr. Boutros and his family live in the metro Washington, D.C. area.