Founded in 1997 by lawyer Gary Haugen of the United States, it is based in Washington, D.C. All IJM employees are required to be practicing Christians;[3] 94% are nationals of the countries they work in.

[9][10][11] The International Justice Mission was founded in 1997 as a faith-based non-profit by American lawyer Gary Haugen of the United States.

[16] As of November 2022, IJM has two country programs (out of 30 total) that focus on sex trafficking: Kenya-Mombasa, Romania, and the Dominican Republic.

These included a number of brothel raids in Northern Thailand which were the subject of criticisms at the time due to their impact on non-coerced adults.

[20] IJM director Gary Haugen invited the American television show Dateline (NBC) to film a March 29, 2003 raid which it planned to conduct at a large Cambodian brothel in the village of Svay Pak.

[22] While IJM considered these "rescues" to be successes, critics questioned the organization's tactics, saying raids on brothels do not focus on the root causes of child prostitution, have led to the arrests of people not in the sex trade, and hindered HIV-prevention initiatives.

Children as young as age 4 have been subjected to forced labor in fishing in the areas around Lake Volta, sometimes as a result of human trafficking.

[24] In 2017 IJM Ghana team and local authorities rescued 31 children believed to be engaged in forced labor from fishing communities within the area of Lake Volta and placed them into custody.

[31] Google donated $9.8 million to International Justice Mission to lead a coalition focusing on fighting slavery in India, in addition to running advocacy and education programs in the country, and mobilizing Americans.

[40] Haugen denounced the killings as "an intolerable outrage and should serve as an abrupt wake-up call to the blatant injustices committed daily and incessantly against the poor and vulnerable around the world".

[39] International Justice Mission represents victims in cases of sex trafficking, forced labor, slavery, abuse of police power, theft of property and citizenship rights.

[50] In 2010, IJM reported the project documented a 79 percent decrease in the number of minors sold for sex in Cebu, Philippines.

[53] Additionally, IJM has endorsed proposed legislation in Washington, D.C., to enhance anti-trafficking efforts, including the End Modern Slavery Initiative.

A United States Agency for International Development-funded census of sex workers in Cambodia in 2003 found that underage prostitution increased in the area in the months following a series of brothel rescue missions organized by IJM.

[55] In 2016, Holly Burkhalter, IJM's senior advisor for Justice System Transformation, said that within 10 years of working with the government in Cambodia, less than 1 percent of victims of sex trafficking were minors.

[35] International Justice Mission's 2015 funding came primarily from individuals (71%), in addition to foundations and businesses (12%), IJM partner offices (6%), churches (4%), gifts-in-kind (4%), government grants (1%) and other sources (2%).

[62] Among its grants, the United States Department of Labor awarded International Justice Mission a three-year cooperative agreement on September 30, 2002.

[63] Then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell provided the organization with a $1 million grant to combat sex trafficking in Southeast Asia in 2004.

[66][67] Among the groups to receive those funds were International Justice Mission, BBC World Service Trust, ActionAid India and Aide et Action.

Still others have questioned IJM's focus on law enforcement tactics and close coordination with police agencies to carry out a human rights mission.

[68] In another raid in 2001, IJM sent men undercover to a brothel, used hidden cameras and produced a 25-page document alleging specific violations of Thai law.

[69] After the 2000 and 2003 raids on the Chiang Mai restaurant, IJM requested other local non-governmental organizations to provide translation assistance when its employees realized that the sex workers were not Thai citizens.

[73] Others have criticized brothel raids more generally as an ineffective way to fight human trafficking, likely to cause harm to those allegedly rescued, and disruptive of public health efforts.