The Institute for Trafficked, Exploited & Missing Persons
History of ITEMP
During the twenty-five plus years that Patrick Atkinson has worked in human rights and development in poverty-stricken areas and war zones, he has personally witnessed forced slavery and human trafficking. On numerous occasions he has intervened for the victims and forcefully documented these human rights abuses. In response to this growing problem, Atkinson, after returning from working in rural Africa in 2001, founded the Institute for Trafficked, Exploited, & Missing Persons (ITEMP) as a means for raising public awareness and social action against contemporary slavery and human trafficking. Since then, ITEMP has experienced tremendous growth and professional and public acceptance. Now an international coalition of volunteers and professionals, ITEMP raises social awareness throughout the United States, Central America, Southeast Asia, and Europe, conducts field research on human trafficking, and develops prevention, protection of victims, and prosecution of aggresors programs worldwide.
ITEMP is internationally headquartered at The Atkinson Center in downtown Bismarck, North Dakota, USA, in a facility seperate from that of The GOD'S CHILD Project. In Central America, ITEMP is based in Antigua, Guatemala. In Africa, ITEMP is based in Blantyre, Malawi. In Europe, ITEMP is based in London, England.
Patrick J. Atkinson with children from The GOD'S CHILD Project-supported Guatemalan charity, Asociacion Nuestros Ahijados
Founder and President of ITEMP
Patrick J. Atkinson, the founder and President of ITEMP, is also the founder and international executive director of The GOD'S CHILD Project, and several other associated charities in the United States, Central America and Africa. Mr. Atkinson holds an MNM from Regis University and is on the faculty of three American universities. He has been named the Benefactor of the City of Antigua- an international recognition last awarded four hundred years ago; knighted by the Spanish Order of St. James; and recently received the Guatemalan National Congressional Medal of Honor in recognition of the risks he took, and the thousands of Mayan Indian lives he helped to save, during the bloodshed of Guatemala's 36-year civil war.
In 2000 and 2001, Mr. Atkinson was invited by the United Nations to develop child development and educational programs for street children left orphaned by the rampaging AIDS crisis in East and South Africa. He is presently working in Malawi. He serves on the board of several for-profit corporations and non-profit charities and is a widely sought after national speaker on education, spiritual, and human rights issues. In April of 2006, author Monica Hannan's book about Atkinson, The Dream Maker, was published. This widely-selling book chronicles the life and work of Mr. Atkinson, who has battled war, prostitution, and poverty to set the children free. In 2007, Atkinson was named Goodwill Ambassador for Peace by the Government of Guatemala.
"The
greatest gift that Patrick Atkinson has given is that he taught us
about 3rd world poverty and, more importantly, each day he gives us the
opportunity to be part of the solution."
Mrs. Michal Hoeven First Lady of North Dakota
ITEMP Director of Operations, Charles Moore, with a family removed from a landfill in Antigua, Guatemala
"The Institute for Trafficked, Exploited & Missing Persons (ITEMP) is an international organization that is dedicated to ending contemporary slavery and human trafficking through public awareness, research, and direct intervention."
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