Charles Hounmenou, PhD

Affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)

Charles E. Hounmenou, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.Ed., M.A., is an Associate Professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He received his doctoral degree in social work from UIC in 2009. His research areas include human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and human rights of detainees. In 2009, Hounmenou conducted the first ever study on the input of a statewide coalition in the implementation of human trafficking policy in the United States. In 2013–2014, he was the principal investigator of an international comparative study of child sex trafficking and its links with child migration in three countries in West Africa. One of his research projects is a needs assessment of children actively engaged in the sex trade in a major city in the Midwest of the U.S. Hounmenou, a former Fulbright Scholar, has published a book, twelve peer-reviewed journal articles, and two book chapters on human trafficking. He has provided consultation on human trafficking in African countries and the U.S. In March 2020, Hounmenou received the UIC’s Rising Star Award in Social Sciences Research. In 2018, he received the International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference’s Influential Scholar Award for his work on human trafficking and social justice issues.

Research Interests:

• Human trafficking

• Commercial sexual exploitation of children

• Child welfare

• Human rights of detainees

• Community policing