Panel to shed light on human trafficking

Panel to shed light on human trafficking

by Staff Writer
MTSU Sidelines
March 12, 2007

An open panel discussion on human trafficking and the sex slave trade will take place March 21 at 6 p.m. in room 108 of the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building.

Amber Beckham of the Network of Emergency Trafficking Services (NETS), Elena Dering, an independent activist against human trafficking, and Colette Bercu, founder and president of Free for Life Ministries, a Nashville-based nonprofit organization will be the featured speakers.

Human trafficking is described by the United States Department of Health and Human Services as "a modern-day form of slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor. … After drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today, and it is the fastest growing."

"It's a pretty difficult problem to identify if people aren't looking for it," Beckham said.

The United States Department of State estimates that between 18,000 and 20,000 victims are trafficked into the U.S. every year, usually from Asia, Central and South America, and eastern Europe. Experts say these victims either wind up in the sex trade or in low-paying exploitative jobs in professions with a highly transient and sometimes loosely documented or undocumented work force.

The panel discussion is co-sponsored by the American Democracy Project, and two student organizations, GLOBAL (Get Lost Outside Boundaries and Limitations) and AID (Americans for an Informed Democracy).

For more information, contact Dr. Andrei Korobkov, associate professor of political science, at 615-898-2945 or korobkov@mtsu.edu; or AID President Angie Feeney at amf3g@mtsu.edu.