Various aspects of dealing and tradingin particular, legislation, police involvement and systemic institutional abusewere major hot-button topics recently at the University of Illinois at Chicago's (UIC's) panel discussion, "Human Trafficking: Strategies and Solutions."
Housed in UIC's Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, the evening discussion featured a panel of experts from varied fields and organizations, including Lynne Johnson, advocacy director of Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation; Melissa Spatz, co-founder of Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Young Women; Shelby French, executive director of International Organization for Adolescents; Angela Hernandez, staff attorney for National Immigrant Justice Center at the Heartland Alliance; and Serpent Libertine, director of Sex Workers Outreach Project Chicago.
Both politically and legally, institutions, legislators and activists have long debated the meaning of trafficking, victim identification and its deviation and/or comparison to smuggling and migration. Each expert offered an inside look into what her prospective organization is doing to address the problem of human trafficking.
Libertine spoke of the support for human-trafficking victims from the sex-worker industry. She went on to share that not all sex workers are victims of human trafficking, but that human trafficking can produce a sex worker. Libertine also noted that sex workers sometimes do come in contact with human trafficking victims, however are hesitant to help due to fear of arrest and legal action for their line of work.
"We cannot generalize and say that everyone is trafficked. Some are consenting adults. However, SWOP is against the idea of human trafficking. Sex workers are under used allies in the fight against human trafficking," said Libertine.
Lynne Johnson, advocacy director for Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, shared her organization's "intentional efforts to deter and illuminate sex trafficking." Through various advocacy groups and programs, CAASE has worked to push human trafficking to the forefront of legislative bills such as the Illinois safe children act, which addresses sex workers under the age of 18.
"We want to redirect the law enforcement' attention against the sex worker and towards the people and institutions responsible for human trafficking," said Johnson.
No matter the approach, belief or mission, each organization believed that human trafficking is an attack on basic human rights and have worked to advance the rights of human trafficking victims.
Guest and UIC graduate student Lindsey McGrath felt she received a lot from the panel discussion. "I wanted to attend this event because it provided exposure to issues you might not hear about every day. I learned a lot and I want to spread what I learned tonight," she said.