New York, Jan. 6, 2014 – The Board of Directors of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) has appointed Taina Bien-Aimé as its new Executive Director. CATW is one of the oldest international non-governmental organizations dedicated to ending trafficking in women and girls and related forms of commercial sexual exploitation as practices of gender-based violence. Ms. Bien-Aimé brings with her more than twenty years of effective leadership in grassroots and advocacy campaigns to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world.
In particular, Ms. Bien-Aimé’s expertise in human trafficking began over two decades ago when she joined the Board of the international human rights organization, Equality Now, and subsequently served as its Executive Director from 2001-2011. She led and participated in national and international coalitions that successfully advocated for strong anti-trafficking legislation from international conventions to the US federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act to New York State’s groundbreaking Human Trafficking Act of 2007. Also, under her tenure, Equality Now initiated the first campaigns against sex tourism and formed the Fund for Grassroots Activism to End Sex Trafficking, supporting community-based groups in a dozen countries on five continents that provide direct services to victims and push their governments to address trafficking in women and girls.
“We are thrilled that Taina is joining us as we march forward toward ending the scourge of human trafficking and the exploitation of human beings in the sex trade,” says CATW’s Board President Aurora Javate de Dios, who is based in the Philippines. “Together, we will strengthen our global alliances, from the ground up to the halls of power, to support the growing voices of survivors and to ensure that policies based on human rights are in place to protect the most vulnerable among us.”
Prior to joining CATW, Ms. Bien-Aimé most recently headed the Women’s City Club of New York, an advocacy organization; practiced international corporate law at the Wall Street law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (1996-2000); and was Director of Business Affairs/Film Acquisitions at Home Box Office (HBO) (1992-1996). She holds a Juris Doctor from NYU School of Law and a Licence in Political Science from the University of Geneva/Hautes Études Internationales in Switzerland. Based in New York City, Ms. Bien-Aimé will work closely with CATW’s and other partners around the world. Among her awards recognizing her efforts to protect the human rights of women and girls, she was named one of New York’s New Abolitionists in Lynn Savarese’s celebrated photography book published by Sanctuary for Families that includes Gloria Steinem, Mayor David Dinkins and Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York, among other advocates for equality.
“From Haiti — where my forbearers battled valiantly for their right to freedom and human dignity – to Sweden; from Australia to Zanzibar, brave advocates and survivors are fighting to end exploitation and trafficking despite cultures of impunity and indifference,” says Bien-Aimé. “I am honored and humbled to continue walking the path with colleagues here and around the world until no human being is ever again sold in any market or on any shore.”
