Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
An international feminist nongovernmental organization campaigning against human trafficking, prostitution, and commercial sexual exploitation.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) is an international nongovernmental organization founded in 1988 by feminist activists in the United States. It works from a radical feminist and gender-critical perspective and treats prostitution, trafficking, pornography, sex tourism, and related forms of commercial sexual exploitation as connected manifestations of gender-based inequality. The organization argues that prostitution should not generally be divided into separate categories of forced and voluntary participation, maintaining that the commercial sex system itself is harmful to women and children and can create conditions in which trafficking flourishes. CATW emerged from the anti-pornography and anti-prostitution activism of the 1980s, including the work of Women Against Pornography and WHISPER, a survivor-oriented initiative whose name stood for Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt. A founding conference, described as the First Global Conference Against Trafficking in Women, provided the basis for establishing the coalition. CATW obtained consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1989 and subsequently developed a network of regional coalitions and affiliated organizations. Its principal policy position is commonly associated with the Nordic or Swedish Model. Under this approach, the selling of sexual acts is decriminalized or treated differently from the purchase, while buying sex, pimping, brothel-keeping, and trafficking remain criminal offenses. CATW campaigns for the adoption of this framework and for stronger measures against the demand for prostitution. It also supports prevention, survivor assistance, education, employment opportunities, safe houses, research, and training for lawmakers, police, educators, and community organizations. The coalition has worked through national and regional networks in parts of Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. Its reported areas of influence include legislative and policy debates in the Philippines, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. Programs described by the organization or its affiliates have addressed trafficking prevention, male demand for prostitution, documentation of human-rights abuses, and training for women’s groups. CATW has been an influential but controversial participant in debates over prostitution policy. Supporters regard its advocacy as an effort to reduce sexual exploitation and trafficking by challenging the commercial demand for sex. Critics, including sex-worker-rights organizations and some international public-health and human-rights bodies, argue that conflating consensual adult sex work with trafficking can undermine the autonomy, safety, and access to services of sex workers. Critics have also described the organization’s approach as neo-abolitionist, carceral, insufficiently attentive to race and class, and inclined to promote policies that increase policing and surveillance of marginalized communities. Academic and activist criticism has included allegations that some of CATW’s representations of Asian women in prostitution rely on racialized stereotypes. CATW has also participated in disputes concerning media portrayals of prostitution and the legal status of sex work. In 2008 it supported opposition to San Francisco Proposition K, a proposal associated with full decriminalization of prostitution, and encouraged viewers to challenge television programming that it believed normalized or promoted prostitution and trafficking. It organized a New York City Bar Association discussion that year on Swedish and United States prostitution and trafficking law. The coalition continues to present itself as an advocacy and education network seeking abolition of commercial sexual exploitation through legislation, international policy work, public campaigning, survivor support, and institutional training.
History
CATW was formed in 1988 in the United States after the First Global Conference Against Trafficking in Women. The event grew out of feminist organizing against pornography, prostitution, and the sexual exploitation of women and children. Participants included activists connected with Women Against Pornography and WHISPER, a program founded by women who had survived prostitution. Dorchen Leidholdt became one of the organization's principal founding figures, while other early leaders, including Norma Ramos, had backgrounds in related anti-pornography activism. In 1989 CATW obtained consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. This gave the organization a formal channel for presenting its views in international discussions on trafficking, prostitution, violence against women, and gender equality. It subsequently developed an umbrella structure made up of regional networks, national coalitions, and affiliated organizations. The network has been associated with groups in the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America. A regional Asia-Pacific chapter was created after a 1993 conference in Manila focused on women affected by trafficking in Asia. The coalition has since identified national or affiliated networks in countries including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Chile, Canada, Norway, France, Spain, and Greece. Its regional work has involved advocacy, public education, training, survivor assistance, and support for legislative reform. Teresa Ulloa Ziáurriz was identified as a regional leader in Latin America and the Caribbean. CATW's central ideological position is that prostitution is inherently exploitative and should be addressed as part of the wider system of commercial sexual exploitation. It therefore rejects policy frameworks that sharply separate trafficking from consensual prostitution. Instead, it promotes laws that remove criminal penalties from people who sell sex while penalizing buyers, pimps, brothel operators, and traffickers. CATW has described this model as a way to reduce demand and weaken the market conditions that facilitate trafficking. Activists associated with the coalition have supported similar legislation or policy debates in a number of countries, including Sweden, Norway, Iceland, France, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Israel, the Philippines, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Japan, and the United States. The organization combines advocacy with practical and educational activity. Its reported methods include fundraising for safe houses and other resources, meetings with legislators and government officials, testimony before parliaments and law-reform bodies, submissions to United Nations committees, training sessions for law enforcement and educators, and outreach to students and local communities. Projects have addressed trafficking prevention, the demand for prostitution, gender equality, and feminist methods of documenting human-rights abuses. The coalition describes its activism as relatively low-risk and institutionally oriented rather than based on disruptive protest. CATW's public work has generated sustained opposition. Sex-worker-rights organizations and some public-health and human-rights institutions argue that the Nordic Model can drive sex work underground, reduce access to health and social services, and conflate trafficking with consensual adult activity. Critics have characterized CATW as a neo-abolitionist or carceral-feminist organization whose policy prescriptions may intensify policing of racialized, migrant, transgender, and economically marginalized communities. Alison Murray separately criticized what she viewed as racialized depictions of Asian women in prostitution. The coalition has also drawn controversy over relationships between some of its regional structures or representatives and Women's Declaration International. These disputes form an important part of CATW's public profile, although the organization continues to present its work as a human-rights campaign against sexual exploitation and trafficking.
- 2008
San Francisco Proposition K campaign
[1]CATW supported efforts to defeat Proposition K, a measure connected with full decriminalization of prostitution.
- 1993
Asia-Pacific chapter developed
[1]Following a Manila conference on trafficking in Asian women, CATW created an Asia-Pacific regional chapter.
- 1989
United Nations consultative status
[1]The coalition gained consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
- 1988
Coalition established
[1]CATW was formed after the First Global Conference Against Trafficking in Women, with roots in United States feminist anti-pornography and anti-prostitution activism.
Products and positioning
A radical-feminist, abolitionist anti-trafficking organization that links prostitution and trafficking and advocates criminalizing the purchase of sex while protecting people who sell sexual acts from criminal penalties. It contrasts its approach with full decriminalization and with sex-worker-rights organizations that distinguish consensual sex work from trafficking.
Advocacy · 1988
Anti-trafficking policy advocacy
CATW campaigns for laws and public policies addressing trafficking, prostitution, commercial sexual exploitation, and demand for paid sex. Its preferred framework exempts people who sell sexual acts from criminal penalties while retaining or strengthening penalties for buyers, traffickers, pimps, and brothel operators.
Program
Prevention Project
A multi-level initiative intended to prevent sex trafficking and sexual exploitation by developing practices and interventions for participating organizations and communities. The project has been associated with work in countries including Italy, Nigeria, Mali, Mexico, and Georgia.
Campaign
Project to Curb Male Demand for Prostitution
An advocacy project focused on reducing demand for prostitution through public education, policy reform, and engagement with institutions in locations including the Baltic countries, India, and the Philippines.
Training and research
Human Rights Documentation Project
A project that trains women's organizations in documentation and research methods that CATW describes as feminist approaches to recording trafficking, prostitution, and sexual-exploitation abuses.
Controversies
Dispute over conflating prostitution and trafficking
Sex-worker-rights groups and some public-health and human-rights organizations criticize CATW's refusal to make a strong distinction between trafficking and consensual adult sex work, arguing that its preferred laws can increase criminalization and undermine safety.
Accusations of racialized advocacy
Alison Murray criticized CATW for what she regarded as stereotypical and racialized portrayals of Asian women in prostitution.
Links with anti-transgender organization
CATW-linked regional structures and representatives have been criticized for involvement with Women's Declaration International, producing controversy among transgender-rights advocates and other critics.
Marketing campaigns
- 2008No on Proposition K
United States · San Francisco
CATW supported the campaign against San Francisco Proposition K, opposing a proposal linked to full decriminalization of prostitution.
Outcome. The measure was defeated.
- 2008Opposition to media promotion of prostitution
United States
CATW encouraged supporters to contact HBO over programs such as Cathouse, which the coalition argued could normalize prostitution and promote trafficking.
- Measures to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings
Albania · Bulgaria · Croatia · Czech Republic
A policy initiative addressing perceived weaknesses in anti-trafficking systems, with emphasis on gender equality, demand, and links between prostitution and trafficking.
Brand decisions
- Adopt the Nordic Model as a core policy positionStrategy
Background
CATW views prostitution and trafficking as connected systems of sexual exploitation and argues that demand sustains those systems.
Action taken
The organization advocates decriminalizing the sale of sexual acts while criminalizing purchase, pimping, brothel-keeping, and trafficking.
Aftermath
The position has influenced legislative debates in multiple countries and has also generated opposition from sex-worker-rights, public-health, and human-rights organizations.
- Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women — The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women is identified as holding a substantially different perspective, particularly concerning the distinction between trafficking and consensual sex work.
Recent events
- 2008
CATW supports campaign against San Francisco Proposition K[1]
Campaign · Regulation
CATW joined opposition to Proposition K, which was associated with full decriminalization of prostitution in San Francisco.
- 2008
CATW challenges television portrayals of prostitution[1]
Campaign
The coalition urged supporters to ask HBO to stop airing programs such as Cathouse, arguing that such programming could normalize prostitution and contribute to trafficking.
- 2008
CATW hosts discussion of Swedish and United States prostitution law[1]
Campaign · Regulation
A New York City Bar Association event organized by CATW compared Swedish and United States approaches to prostitution and human trafficking.
- 1989
CATW receives United Nations consultative status[1]
Other
The organization gained consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, expanding its access to international policy forums.
- 1988
CATW founded after international feminist anti-trafficking conference[1]
Other
The coalition was established following a conference organized by American feminist groups active in anti-pornography and anti-prostitution advocacy.
Criticism of CATW's anti-prostitution framework[1]
Other · Regulation
Sex-worker-rights groups and other critics have challenged CATW's opposition to distinguishing consensual adult sex work from trafficking, arguing that its preferred policies can increase criminalization and harm marginalized people.
Criticism alleging racialized representations of Asian sex workers[1]
Other
Scholar Alison Murray criticized CATW for representations that she argued contributed to racialized and stereotypical portrayals of Asian women in prostitution.
CATW-linked activists participate in anti-trans networks[1]
Other
The coalition and some regional representatives have been criticized for collaboration or participation involving Women's Declaration International, an organization commonly described by opponents as anti-transgender.
Sources2 sources
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