Andrea Thinnes, OTD, OTR/L, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions recently c0-published in the American Occupational Therapy Association’s OT Practice, “Occupational Injustice and Human Trafficking: Occupational Therapy’s Role.”
Human trafficking has emerged as a crime, an occupational injustice, and a human rights violation that transcends international borders. The United Nations developed the fundamental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (3P Protocol) to guide national governments, private agencies, and individuals in enacting standards, laws, and philosophies for action. Minimal literature in occupational therapy addresses human trafficking (Bryant et al., 2015; Gorman & Hatkevich, 2016). However, occupational therapy practitioners possess important skills for developing interventions, education, research, and advocacy efforts to positively affect the occupational participation of persons who have incurred biopsychosocial deficits as a result of human trafficking situations.
