The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
The UWSP chapter of International Justice Mission invited local human trafficking experts to educate students about labor and sex trafficking.
Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery, with an estimated 21 million people worldwide becoming enslaved in this $32 billion business every year. Perpetrators of human trafficking use force, fraud or coercion to enslave people. By choosing vulnerable individuals, they are able to manipulate them easily.
Erin Gregoria is a professional with several years of experience working with labor trafficked victims in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Molly Roberts, senior social work and sociology major, made the connection with Gregoria and invited her to be a guest speaker as part of IJM’s International Justice Week.
Roberts said, “I feel driven to promote awareness of social justice issues, like human trafficking in Wisconsin, because it’s not something that just happens in third world countries.”
From Gregoria’s work with labor trafficked individuals, she warns that anyone can become a victim. Though labor trafficking is continuously caught and investigated, it is able to continue because there is always a demand for cheap labor.
Perpetrators work in a high-profit, low-risk system in which they face low conviction rates and brief sentences in jail. Their victims often do not know their rights, have unregulated contracts and come from backgrounds of poverty.
Andrea Oyuela works with domestic abuse and sexual assault victims as the Hispanic Advocate Program Coordinator of the Women’s Community, Inc. in Wausau. She emphasizes the correlation of poverty and human trafficking and urges community members to be vigilant and support individuals who seem to be going through a hard time.
To some students, this information helps them prepare for the real world.
Cindy Yang, junior social work and sociology major, said, “I was shocked by the information about sex trafficked children and some of the myths about them.”
Yang wants to enter social work and be able to help various groups of people.
Women and children are at the highest risk of being trafficked although Andrea has seen an increasing number of LGBTQ+ and transgender teenagers being trafficked within the last two years.
Andrea asks community members to be mindful of unusual changes in friends and acquaintances since human trafficking is highly underreported.
She said, “We cannot stop poverty. Poverty will always exist, but we can hold the [perpetrator] accountable to be able to prevent our children from becoming victims.”
Ta Xiong
Contributor
Txion355@uwsp.edu
