Week of September 23rd

So recently I have been thinking about starting a weekly tradition of posting a blog piece on important happenings and developments in the field of the anti-human trafficking movement. Ideally, I would love to do that on Mondays, but since my schedule right now is a little hectic (welcome to DC I guess!), that might not always happen. So here is the list for this week. 

09/23/2012: This past Monday, at the Human Trafficking Summit at the Florida State University Center for Academic & Professional Development, Tina Frundt, a survivor and founder of Courtney’s House, gave a speech on the particularities of domestic minor sex trafficking by recounting her own experiences. To see the speech, please click here. 

9/25/2012: Yesterday, President Obama offered an address at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting and the main theme of the speech was human trafficking. The event has now been hailed as a major and significant achievement by many organizations, but the outcome of the new approach remain to be seen, most importantly by the survivors. Some of the highlights of the speech include: 

·         An emphasis on the shift from the model of regarding trafficking survivors as criminals.

·         An emphasis on the U.S. Government’s zero tolerance policy on human trafficking when it comes to government contracts and sub-contracts, especially the federal overseas ones. 

·          An emphasis on the importance of providing the right tools, training, and guidance to those most likely to come across a trafficking situation/case (e.g. law enforcement, federal prosecutors, immigration judges, workforce agencies, and educators). The goal of the training is to endow these professionals with the skills and knowledge to detect, analyze, and properly handle trafficking cases.

·         An emphasis on the need to increase available services to survivors of human trafficking and making access to such services much easier. For example, one of the promises of this initiative is to streamline the current T-visa process. 

9/29/2012: Coming up this Saturday in Washington, DC is the Stop Modern Slavery Walk. I will be there supporting Courtney’s House and the many other organizations participating. Expect an account of that major event next week.

 - Krasi