Florrie R. Burke, M.Ed., MA, LMFT, is a human rights advocate, specializing in combating

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

. Secretary of State

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

presented Ms. Burke with the inaugural ''Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons'' in May 2013. The Award was granted in recognition of “her sustained dedication and unparalleled leadership in combating modern slavery through the development and delivery of comprehensive services, the empowerment of survivors to move from slavery to independence, and the transformation of policy to eradicate all forms of human trafficking.” Florrie Burke is a consultant on Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery to both governmental and non-governmental agencies. With a decade and a half of specialized experience, she is a leading expert on the victim-centered approach in human trafficking cases and collaborative efforts of criminal justice actors and victim care providers. She is a founding member and currently Chair Emeritus of the Freedom Network, serves as advisor to the Freedom Network Training Institute and is on the Steering Committee of the New York Anti-Trafficking Network. She has done extensive training, speaking and consultation on Human Trafficking issues, trauma and torture in the United States, and internationally. She serves as an expert witness on cases of human trafficking. She is a member of the Global Training Initiative on Human Trafficking at the UNODC in Vienna and is on the faculty of th
Warnath Group
developing materials and training for first responders, criminal justice actors and others. Ms. Burke has been working with trafficked persons since 1997 when she designed and implemented specialized social services to sixty deaf

Mexicans Mexicans ( es, mexicanos) are the citizens of the United Mexican States. The most spoken language by Mexicans is Spanish language, Spanish, but some may also speak languages from 68 different Languages of Mexico, Indigenous linguistic groups ...

who were held in slavery in a peddling ring in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She helped start the Anti-Trafficking Program at

Safe Horizon Safe Horizon, formerly the Victim Services Agency, is the largest victim services nonprofit organization in the United States, providing social services for victims of abuse and violent crime. Operating at 57 locations throughout the five boroug ...

in 2001 and also designed and implemented a model for Community Trauma Response following the attacks on September 11th. In 2007 Ms. Burke received the National Crime Victims Recognition Service Award from the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. She has been honored by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor, and was awarded the Annual Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award by the Freedom Network USA. Florrie is a lesbian and her partner of over 30 years was

Barbara Hammer Barbara Jean Hammer (May 15, 1939 – March 16, 2019) was an American feminist film director, producer, writer, and cinematographer. She is known for being one of the pioneers of the lesbian film genre, and her career spanned over 50 years. Hamm ...

up until her death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Florrie R. Anti–human trafficking activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American lesbians Queer people Lesbian feminists