Betty Pedraza Lozano

Betty Pedraza Lozano is the founder and director of a Colombian NGO that provides victim services, spreads awareness, and encourages international cooperation.

Betty Pedraza Lozano founded the Corporacion Espacios de Mujer in 2003. Since then, she has served as the director of the organization. Her tireless advocacy has helped to change Colombia, to redirect its policy, to spread awareness about human trafficking, and to coordinate Colombian civil society around the issue of modern-day slavery. She co-founded the Colombian Alliance of Civil Society Organizations against Human Trafficking, and represents the Colombian alliance in the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (GAATW). 

Her organization fights against trafficking through advocacy and outreach. She has coordinated a public awareness campaign that focused on prevention, victim identification, and victim services. She has developed a training "school" where women who are vulnerable can come to learn about their rights and how to protect themselves against human trafficking, exploitation, and other dangers. They also help migrants to return to Colombia, many of whom would otherwise be vulnerable to exploitation. She focuses her efforts on the area of Colombia's capital city, Medellin, and the surrounding province, the Department of Antioquia. 

Ms. Pedraza Lozano has helped integrate human rights law into Colombia via various protocols that she has worked to implement with the aid of international organizations and with the Colombian government. In 2015, she was named as a Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery in recognition of her efforts to combat human trafficking.