The National Leadership Award 2007 Current HonoreesGary Haugen and Linda SmithThe Board of Directors of the National Center for Leadership takes great pleasure in announcing that the Center will present its 2007 National Leadership Award to honor two individuals and recognize their groundbreaking work during the past decade as Christian leaders in the global fight against human trafficking, exploitation, and oppression. The recipients of the NCL 2007 Leadership Award are Gary Haugen, Esq., founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of International Justice Mission, who has been a guest preacher at National Presbyterian Church, and The Hon. Linda Smith, the former Washington State Congresswoman and founder and Director of Shared Hope International. The awards will be presented on April 18, 2007 during the Center’s Leadership Award dinner at The Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Gary Haugen founded International Justice Mission ten years ago. As a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, Gary was put on loan to the United Nations to direct its investigation into the Rwandan genocide. The atrocities he witnessed there prompted him to found IJM as an international human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression. The purpose of IJM is four-fold: Victim relief -- Relieve the victim of the abuse currently being committed; Victim aftercare -- Provide access to services that help victims transition into their new lives and encourage long-term success; Perpetrator accountability -- Bring accountability and just consequences under the law to the specific perpetrators of abuse; and Structural prevention: Prevent the abuse from being committed against others who are also at risk. Linda Smith founded Shared Hope International nearly a decade ago after her experience while traveling in India as a member of the U.S. Congress. In Bombay, at a location of one of the worst brothels in the world, she saw the hopeless faces of desperate women and children forced into prostitution. On her return, she was compelled to found Shared Hope International (SHI), a non-profit organization with the mission to fight sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation and to serve the long-term restoration needs of women and children in crisis. Through Linda's guidance, SHI has grown into a vibrant organization, active in 14 countries. SHI's strategy is three-fold: (1) Prevent: research, investigative work, and building public awareness; (2) Rescue: assisting woman and children out of exploitative situations; and (3) Restore: providing holistic, long-term restoration services to victims.
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