Sporting Events and Anti-Trafficking Efforts in 2026
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Sharan Dhanoa discusses how Silicon Valley's major sporting events in 2026—the Super Bowl, March Madness, and World Cup—present both risks and opportunities for addressing human trafficking. While large events don't cause trafficking, they can increase demand for labor and services, creating vulnerabilities in supply chains and hospitality industries. The South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking is preparing through regional partnerships, consistent messaging, and proactive engagement with industries and law enforcement to raise awareness and provide coordinated victim services.
Key takeaways
- Human trafficking is expansive and includes labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, and domestic servitude, with victims often held through invisible coercion rather than physical force.
- Large sporting events don't cause trafficking, but economic demand can create vulnerabilities, especially in subcontracted labor and hospitality sectors where exploitation is harder to detect.
- The coalition's success relies on multi-disciplinary partnerships across nine counties to align messaging and ensure 24/7 service provider readiness for law enforcement operations.
- Immigration status is increasingly weaponized by traffickers and exploiters to prevent victims from seeking help, particularly in the current political climate.
- California's safe harbor laws protect minors from arrest for prostitution, but cultural shifts are still needed regarding adults in sex work and the victim-offender dichotomy.
About Sharan DhanoaSharan Dhanoa directs the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking and has worked in anti-trafficking efforts for over 15 years, beginning with an income generation project for survivors in Kolkata, India, and later pursuing law focusing on trafficking issues at Santa Clara.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
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Program: Sporting Events and Anti-Trafficking Efforts in 2026
Speaker: Sharan Dhanoa
We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.
2026 will see three major sporting events in Santa Clara County, the NFL Super Bowl, NCAA March Madness, and FIFA World Cup. There has been attention to the issue of human trafficking at sporting events, and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar brought the realities of labor exploitation to the international stage. Learn about what data tells us about sporting events, trafficking, and exploitation.
Santa Clara County hosted Super Bowl 50 in 2016 and a regional workgroup, No Traffick Ahead was created to provide a regional, comprehensive response to trafficking. There were accomplishments and lessons learned as it relates to messaging, law enforcement, outreach, and services. No Traffick Ahead is organizing once again, utilizing a social leverage model, to provide a comprehensive approach to human trafficking and human rights violations for the events. This includes making sure visitors to the Bay Area and community members can recognize trafficking and know how to get help or report harm.
Our speaker, Sharan Dhanoa, is Director for the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking. She facilitates collaboration amongst over thirty-five member agencies. In May 2014, she began facilitating the largest multi-county workgroup in the Bay Area, No Traffick Ahead, which is unifying efforts in eight counties in order to effectuate collective impact across sectors. Prior to joining the Coalition, Sharan worked with women trafficked into sexual exploitation in Calcutta, India, by aiding their development through economic empowerment. She started her career in crime research, has worked in crime surveillance, and in an emergency psychiatric facility.
Sharan holds a Master’s degree in Criminology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. Sharan was named 2015 Abolitionist of the Year for Advocacy by the San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking, received the Unsung Hero Award by the County of Santa Clara Valley in 2015, and was awarded the South Asian Bar Association's Community Impact Award in 2016.
Members and guests, please welcome Sharan Dhanoa!
To learn more, go to:
https://www.southbayendtrafficking.org
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