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Christina A. Arnold

Biography

PROFILE:Christina Arnold is the founder and President of Prevent Human Trafficking Inc., a non-governmental organization established in 1999. Her organization has helped hundreds of men, women and children begin new lives, as well as educate young professionals and student activists. Christina grew up in India and Thailand where her Christian missionary parents forbade her from attending school or reading unapproved literature. At the age of 21, a (then) married and pregnant Christina moved to the US, where she started a new life and pursued higher education and she pledged herself to helping trafficking survivors she’d met in Thailand.

Since 2004, when anti-trafficking gained more widespread public support, her organization has been overwhelmed by a wave of volunteers, media attention and donations. Learning to handle these developments has highlighted her need for management training, which she will pursue through graduate studies. Once she earns a law degree, Christina hopes to play a role in crafting and reforming domestic and international law involving human trafficking.

INSPIRATION: Christina was inspired by her childhood in Asia where she witnessed children who were coerced to beg on the streets and participate in unsafe child labor and prostitution.

ASPIRATION: Christina aspires to prevent human trafficking and make a difference in the human rights of the most vulnerable populations in Southeast Asia. She also wants to understand the deeper causes of trafficking and the lack of educational and economic opportunity from which it springs.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Christina has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for her Southeast Asian partner organizations who have used the money to protect street children and give men and women viable economic options. She has brought hundreds of Westerners to Thailand to help them understand both the issues and the work being done at the grassroots level to address them. Finally, Christina has been involved in many legal issues, including securing representation for trafficking victims and advocating legal reform in the US and South East Asia.

ACCOLADES: Christina received a grant of $20,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation to lead a research team to assess the development of programs and rehabilitation of child prostitutes in Thailand. She has been invited to the White House and to speak about human trafficking internationally and her work has been recognized by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as senators and members of Congress. She is a Harry S. Truman Scholar, and a scholar-in-residence at American University in Washington, D.C.

INTERESTING FACT: Christina taught herself to play the guitar at the age of nine. The song “What a Wonderful World” sparked a life-long love of musical performance. She also trains martial arts. Her punching power belies her small stature.

 

 

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