The concept of human trafficking is a foreign one to many Americans, a problem often perceived as occurring outside the United States’ borders. However, a packed Kelley Center learned on Tuesday night that trafficking is an epidemic that hits very close to home.
Wendy Yu Perkins, a human rights programmer for the non-governmental organization Vital Voices Global Partnership, lectured a group of students, faculty and community members on the American implications of this devastating problem.
English Professor Gita Rajan, along with the English department and the Center for Faith and Public Life, brought Perkins in as part of a series of events to raise awareness about this problem. Perkins’s lecture was a preview to Wednesday’s all-day human trafficking conference.
“Human trafficking is a very complex problem that we as global citizens need to understand in its complexity,” Rajan said. “We must try to participate in various forms of advocacy and work to combat it.”
According to Perkins, approximately 15,000 men, women and children are trafficked into America annually. However, because of the issues surrounding identifying these victims, only 1,000 victims have been identified since 2000.
Perkins told the saddening story of an Ethiopian woman, brought into America by a United Nations official as a domestic laborer, who was then physically and emotionally abused.
“She was kept without food, basic clothing, not even a bed,” Perkins said. The woman was eventually discovered by a taxi driver with bruises covering her faces and body.
These crimes did not occur in a distant country; they occurred in a wealthy suburb of New Jersey.
While much of the lecture focused on the distressing elements surrounding trafficking, which Perkins likened to modern-day slavery, she also noted strides that are being made within the country.
In 2000, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which aids victims in obtaining temporary visas, and many individual states have passed anti-trafficking laws, including Connecticut.
Perkins encouraged students to become active in stopping this crisis.
“Do more research, learn all you can and spread the word to form a global movement,” she said.
Perkins also noted the importance of notifying local officials of suspicious behavior, as many trafficking victims are shrouded within the confines of suburban homes.
Students, the majority of the overwhelming turnout, were moved by the lecture.
Caitlin Rose ’08, a Vital Voices intern who helped coordinate the event, said the lecture reaffirmed the necessity for action.
“It’s obviously upsetting to hear about this problem, but it reminds you that if you really want to see a change in this epidemic, you must be an active part of it,” she said.
For more information on Perkins and the work of Vital Voices, visit www.vitalvoices.org
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