Uber has partnered with Polaris, which aims to fight human trafficking at the global level, to empower its drivers to combat this form of modern-day slavery. Worldwide, there are an estimated 20.9 million victims of human trafficking, according to the International Labour Organization.
The partnership will help educate Uber drivers about some signs of human trafficking and empower them to report any suspected cases of human trafficking to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. One effort is to provide drivers with the Polaris hotline phone number and educational information about human trafficking via the Uber app.
Uber “drivers are uniquely positioned to help identify and ultimately prevent human trafficking,” Uber Safety Communications Lead Tracey Breeden said in a press release. “Working together with our national partners, we will utilize our innovation and technology along with the scope and scale of our global community to commit to helping prevent and raise awareness and empower community heroes. Together we can help disrupt and end human trafficking in the cities we serve.”
Uber has also partnered with organization Thorn to support its work in building technology to protect children from sexual abuse.
“Our recent Survivor Insights report found that 2 out of 3 of child sex trafficking survivors never knew help resources were available to them during their abuse,” Thorn CEO Julie Cordua said in a statement. “Partnering with Uber is an opportunity to ensure that we are attacking this issue from all sides, and today we are empowering drivers to provide help to those in crisis. When we work together we can build a world where every child can be a kid.”