Sarah Byrne quoted in UNU CPR blog: Financial Inclusion: A Path to Recovery and Resilience for Survivors of Modern Slavery

Moore & Van Allen (MVA) Member Sarah Byrne was quoted and the firm’s work highlighted in the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU CPR) blog titled, “Financial Inclusion: A Path to Recovery and Resilience for Survivors of Modern Slavery” which was published on April 16.

“Access to safe banking has been instrumental in ensuring my clients’ financial stability and protection against re-exploitation... It seems to be empowering to my clients to become a bank ‘customer,’ fully integrated into the financial section.”

The article highlights how securing access to finance is an initial step in the financial recovery of survivors. “Another critical aspect is enabling survivors access to financial compensation/remedy owed to them. For instance, some sex-trafficked children experience poly-victimization when they are also victims of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) production. US federal law mandates offenders of CSAM to pay a minimum of $3,000 in restitution for each CSAM victim. In practice, however, providing this compensation can be challenging as minors may not have access to financial services, and banks may not know how to comply. In turn, MVA has worked alongside US SII participating banks, Truist and Ally, to meaningfully provide appropriate banking services to CSAM survivors. This follows MVA representing victims seeking restitution against defendants in federal criminal cases who traded survivors’ child abuse imagery, and helping to ensure that victims are provided safe and formal financial access to the restitution. Similar financial inclusion actions can be leveraged by institutions in support of CSAM and sex trafficked minors.”

Lastly, the blog highlighted MVA’s online financial wellness tool which can help survivors understand how to build good credit and ensure sustainable financial wellness. 

Please click here to view the complete blog post.