This document provides a focused, practical, and evidence-informed review of promising practices for protecting and supporting survivors of human trafficking. It draws on an international review of research, policy, and practice literature published between 2020 and 2025. The document sets out a conceptual framework and offers practical examples that can inform policy and practice in this area.
The review brings together guiding principles identified in the literature and in international experience, alongside examples from practice in selected countries. These examples illustrate how these principles are put into practice through specific mechanisms and services. The document focuses on five core areas: trauma-informed care and assistance; comprehensive services; housing; economic recovery and employment support; and survivor involvement in designing and implementing services and policy responses.
The literature indicates that protecting trafficking survivors and supporting their recovery requires a cross-sectoral, holistic, and sustained response, one that creates a safe and stable environment as a necessary foundation for a long and complex recovery process. Several practical implications emerge from this review for the wider service system involved in protection and rehabilitation: developing a comprehensive government policy for the rehabilitation of trafficking survivors; making trauma-informed practice a core principle across all support systems; developing and strengthening wraparound or comprehensive service models, such as one-stop-shop approaches, with cultural and gender sensitivity; and formally integrating survivor participation into care policy.
The document was prepared as part of a broader evaluation of the 2022–2026 Israel Government Program to Combat Human Trafficking. The study was commissioned by the Government Coordination Unit for Combating Human Trafficking and Prostitution, within the Social Division of the Ministry of Justice.
Citing suggestion (APA):
Brender, D., & Toporek Bar, O. (2026). Protecting Survivors of Human Trafficking A Review of Promising and Evidence-Informed Practices from Around the World. S-246-26. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute.