Hey all! Just wanted to put the word out about the Human Trafficking Conference at BYU this upcoming week, October 28 and 29. It is FREE which is amazing for a conference of this scale and with the quality of presenters/keynote speakers it is sponsoring. The conference is focusing on methods of assisting victims of human trafficking through research, policy, and practice. Kevin Bale, the President of Free the Slaves and author of several well known books about ending slavery, is the keynote speaker for the conference and I am SO excited! There are numerous other exceptional pioneers in the anti-trafficking field who will be presenting as well. I will also be presenting with a professor at BYU about the role of supply and demand in sex trafficking and different legal approaches of combating it.
This is something I would encourage everyone to take an interest in-- we applaud ourselves for ending slavery, but human slavery is worse than it has ever been. Every year 4.3 million people are trafficked into slavery, including 17,000 people into the U.S. Fifty-six percent are women and girls, and 1.4 million women and children are trafficked into sex slavery every year. The illegal sale of human slaves is the second most lucrative illegal market in the world, second only to the illegal sale of drugs (it recently surpassed the sale of illegal arms). The way these women and children are abused, violated, and treated is not unlike the description Moroni gives to Mormon in Moroni 9:9-10 of the Book of Mormon:
9 And notwithstanding this great aabomination of the Lamanites, it doth not exceed that of our people in Moriantum. For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken prisoners; and after bdepriving them of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is cchastity and dvirtue—
10 And after they had done this thing, they did murder them in a most acruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts, because of the hardness of their hearts;
and they do it for a token of bravery.
and they do it for a token of bravery.
This is a violent, brutal, and vulgar practice that Satan has encouraged for all of time, and now more than ever with this escalating global market, we need to do what we can to combat it. The brutalization, abuse and exploitation of our brothers and sisters is an unbearable offense that we must make an effort to end. I would encourage everyone to take the time to attend at least some of this conference and reflect on what we can to do aid our brothers and sisters who are being thus exploited. You can register to attend any or all of the sessions at this website: http://swevents.byu.edu/.
“Honor killings, sexual slavery, and genital cutting may seem to Western readers to be tragic but inevitable in a world far, far away. In much the same way, slavery was once widely viewed by many decent Europeans and Americans as a regrettable but ineluctable feature of human life. It was just one more horror that had existed for thousands of years. But then in the 1780s a few indignant Britons led by William Wilberforce, decided that slavery was so offensive that they had to abolish it. And they did. Today we see the seed of something similar:
a global movement to emancipate women and girls.”
-- Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl Wudonn, Half the Sky
If you haven't seen the film Amazing Grace before, I recommend seeing it. It's probably my favorite movie of all time. It's impossible to not be moved by the work, passion, and commitment of William Wilberforce in ending the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. We need that kind of commitment and compassion more than ever now, as the enslavement of the world's most vulnerable encroaches on becoming the most lucrative industry in the whole world.
a global movement to emancipate women and girls.”
-- Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl Wudonn, Half the Sky
If you haven't seen the film Amazing Grace before, I recommend seeing it. It's probably my favorite movie of all time. It's impossible to not be moved by the work, passion, and commitment of William Wilberforce in ending the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. We need that kind of commitment and compassion more than ever now, as the enslavement of the world's most vulnerable encroaches on becoming the most lucrative industry in the whole world.
