Speakers Discuss Danger of Human Trafficking

The conference, titled "The Trafficking of Women and Children: Global Dimensions, Local Focus," was sponsored by the University Center for International Studies along with the International Vision Center in Raleigh.

Speakers identified trafficking as the process of transporting persons across international borders against their will.

The conference featured short presentations from four panelists followed by a question-and-answer session.

Lucie Sladkova, head of the International Organization for Migration, said trafficking is a worldwide problem. Sladkova cited a United Nations estimate that 50,000 people were trafficked into the United States in the past year.

Although the two do not always correlate, trafficking is often associated with prostitution and sweatshop employment, Sladkova said.

Bandana Rana, executive president of the Women's Communication Forum in Nepal, said her organization concerns itself with three main issues regarding trafficking: prevention of trafficking, providing support to victims and persecution of those who commit the trafficking.

Rana focused her comments on the prevention issue, emphasizing that unlike in the past, mainstream media and other community officials -- not just women -- need to be educated about the dangers of trafficking.

"Initially, we only educated women about the dangers of trafficking," Rana said. "But police, media, medical practitioners, journalists and lawyers are now all invited to workshops."

Braema Mathiaparanam, a manager of corporate communications in Singapore's Alexandria Hospital, said Southeast Asian women and children were especially vulnerable to trafficking because of the poverty of the region.

Mathiaparanam said young girls are marketable in the trafficking rings due to their potential profitability as prostitutes. She also outlined the trouble of homeless orphans disappearing across borders without notice.

"With these young children, accountability is not an option," Mathiaparanam said. "There is a lot of unrecorded data concerning children and trafficking."

Freshman Kristin Thompson said she found the conference intriguing and was surprised at some of what she learned.

"I wasn't sure of the difference between prostitution and trafficking," Thompson said. "And I had no idea that trafficking was a problem in the U.S."

Mathiaparanam insisted that there is a need for greater cooperation among nations regarding trafficking issues. While she said her efforts are focused on the Southeast Asian region, she emphasized that the situation is not isolated just to that area.

"(Trafficking) does not affect one country alone," she said. "We should help each other."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.