This year marks a major milestone—the 20th anniversary of the TIP Report Heroes awards program. Each year, the Department of State honors individuals around the world who have devoted their lives to the fight against human trafficking. These individuals include NGO workers, lawmakers, government officials, survivors of human trafficking, and concerned citizens.

They are recognized for their tireless efforts—despite some working in challenging environments where human trafficking concerns remain pervasive and facing resistance, opposition, or threats to their lives—to protect victims, punish offenders, and mitigate the underlying factors that cause vulnerabilities traffickers often target.

For more information about current and past TIP Report Heroes, please visit the TIP Report Heroes Global Network at www.tipheroes.org.

Al Amin Noyon, Manager, BRAC Migration Centre

Md. Al-Amin, or Noyon, is a welcoming first face to trafficking survivors and migrants as they return to Bangladesh. As a fellow trafficking survivor, Noyon is uniquely qualified and motivated to help them rebuild their lives. In his capacity as manager of the BRAC Migration Welfare Centre onsite at the Dhaka airport, Noyon has supported more than 34,000 Bangladeshi trafficking survivors and migrants over the last 15 years.

Born to a family of modest means, Noyon’s dream of a better life turned into a nightmare when he was exploited in trafficking in Malaysia in 2007, beaten, tortured, and held captive in the jungle. But as the 41-year-old now shares, that is not how his story ends.

His motivation to support fellow survivors has long motivated him to serve as a member of ANIRBAN (‘the flame that will not fade‘), a trafficking support platform made up of survivors who raise awareness about human trafficking and advocate for survivors and their rights.

Noyon believes education is one of the best ways to insulate Bangladesh’s next generation from the perils of human trafficking. He assists with safe migration campaigns at schools across Bangladesh and has supported thousands of students whose families are migrants or trafficking survivors secure academic scholarships.

Known by anti-trafficking stakeholders in the Bangladesh government, multilateral organizations, and likeminded partners, Noyon steadfastly supports others despite very real risks to his own safety.