At HAGAR, we are committed to expanding the impact of our work by building skills, awareness and knowledge in the communities we reach. In particular, it is our belief that awareness of human trafficking in Singapore needs to improve in order for exploitation to stop.

In Singapore, our awareness and capacity building highlights include:

• Vulnerable witness legal toolkit: In acknowledgement of how daunting the criminal justice process can be for vulnerable witnesses, HAGAR is working with the Singapore State Courts, the Community Justice Centre, and the National University of Singapore Centre for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education, to develop a legal toolkit to help vulnerable witnesses navigate the criminal justice process in Singapore. The toolkits comprise materials tailored for children, vulnerable adult witnesses including legal professionals and caregivers who are assisting them. Our hope is that in minimising the risk of re-victimisation or re-living trauma, the court experience can be as comfortable as possible for vulnerable witnesses, and emotional challenges associated with prosecution does not stop justice from being served.

• Advocacy conference: HAGAR hosted the Starfish hot-Spot in August 2017; an international conference that gathered 40 delegates from different agencies around the region to better understand issues related to trafficking-in-persons.

• Awareness campaign: To help increase greater public awareness of human trafficking within the Singapore community, HAGAR runs annual awareness campaigns tapping on various digital and social media channels to get the message out. In 2017, a digital and media campaign was launched in conjunction with International Women’s Day, which reached over 440,000 viewers through online videos and over 3 million readerships through news editorials.

• Police training: In partnership with the Singapore government to improve enforcement efforts, HAGAR trained over 4,000 Singapore frontline policemen in 2014 to identify trafficking victims.

Through partnerships with the Singapore government, businesses, educational institutions, community partners and the civil society, HAGAR influences positive systemic changes needed to combat human trafficking, slavery and abuse. For effective prevention, it starts with having a public that is aware of trafficking crimes and how every individual can play a part to tackle the problem.