2011 Asia-Pacific Workshops

Workshops Facilitator: Derek Duncan, Program Associate, Advocacy and Education Global Ministries (United Church of Christ / Disciples of Christ)

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Trafficking in Human Beings: Can It Really Be Happening Here?
(co-sponsored with Domestic Workshops)

Human trafficking, a form of modern slavery, is a complex phenomenon, whose causes and consequences are violations of human rights.  Worldwide, the International Labor Organization estimates that there are more than 12 million adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor and forced prostitution, 56 percent of whom are women and girls.  “Trafficking in Human Beings; Can it really be happening here?” will explore the human trafficking industry in the United States, its victims, and federal anti-trafficking legislation.  Issues underscored in this Workshop; human rights, poverty, violence, gender inequality and corporate responsibility.

From boys sold into the fishing industry on Lake Volta in Ghana, to girls trafficked into the brothels of Thailand, to domestic workers enslaved and tortured by a Long Island couple, to farm workers locked in a box truck, chained, beaten and forced to harvest tomatoes in Florida fields, slavery is alive and well today in a new form: human trafficking.  Poverty, gender discrimination, violence, lack of free migration and conflict create the breeding ground for this phenomenon which is vicious, profitable, and complex.

In this workshop we will explore how human rights violations are the causes and consequences of human trafficking.  Participants can expect to be introduced to the topic and gain resources for working together to address this modern form of slavery.

Presenters:

• Rev. Noelle Damico, Campaign for Fair Food, Presbyterian Hunger Program, will discuss “Labor Trafficking into and originating in the United States.”
• Helene Hayes, PhD, Sisters of the Good Shepherd, will present research findings on “Foreign Women Trafficked into the United States.”
• Dana Chou, Interim Director for Children’s Services, Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service, will describe the unique vulnerabilities to being trafficked of unaccompanied immigrant children

Ending the War in Afghanistan Responsibly: Demilitarization, Development, and the role of Afghan Women 

Information not provided.